Grade Level: 9th–12th Grade | Duration: 50 minutes

This role-playing activity introduces students to environmental and climate justice through the diverse perspectives of six fictional characters whose lives are affected by or connected to environmental issues. Students listen to first-person narratives ranging from an eleven-year-old with asthma who can’t play basketball on smoggy days to a NOAA research scientist analyzing climate models, then create and present their own environmental justice character stories. The lesson addresses Alabama College and Career Ready English Language Arts standards across all high school grades, focusing on comparing perspectives from diverse viewpoints, composing narrative writings, participating in collaborative discussions, and delivering oral presentations.

Learning Objectives

Students will compare and contrast the details of characters’ stories, listing issues and actions related to environmental and climate justice while actively engaging in collaborative discussion about multiple perspectives. Students will create a short character narrative related to environmental and climate justice and deliver an oral presentation representing their writing.

Background & Context

Although the American Dream includes the right to live in healthy, thriving communities, many populations lack access to safe places to live, work, grow, play, and learn. Historically, minority communities have been targets of industrial pollution and inadequate infrastructure, leading to increased health issues such as cancers and asthma. Now, those same communities are more likely to experience the impacts of climate change—flooding, extreme weather events, and additional health and safety concerns.

The environmental justice movement was started by individuals, primarily people of color, who sought to address the inequity of environmental protection. Environmental justice is defined as the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people, regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. Securing environmental justice and climate justice requires policy development and action on local, state, and federal levels.

Important strategies focusing on environmental justice include reducing harmful greenhouse gas emissions, advancing energy efficiency and clean energy, and strengthening community resilience and livability. This activity invites students to consider the perspectives of people from various backgrounds and their contributions to the environmental justice movement.

Lesson Activities & Structure

Role Play Characters

The lesson includes six pre-written character monologues representing diverse perspectives on environmental and climate justice:

Roberto Perez — A Cuban immigrant who relocated to Miami after Hurricane Ian destroyed his restaurant and part of his home. Now running a food truck with his pregnant wife Maria, he describes how extreme summer heat made Maria ill, forcing her to work only at home where it’s cooler.

Dr. Cynthia Zimmerman — A senior research scientist at NOAA whose team analyzes climate change models. She describes her work helping people understand and prepare for heat waves, droughts, hurricanes, flooding, and changing oceans, emphasizing the importance of communication as CO2 levels hit record highs.

Mia Evans-Jones — A teenage activist who positions herself as “the voice” for coral reefs threatened by warming oceans, third-world countries affected by carbon emissions from developed nations, rainforests facing deforestation, children lacking safe green spaces, and fellow teenagers taking a stand for the future.

Jasmine Johnson — Director of the Communities for Environmental Justice Law Center, providing pro bono legal services to low-income communities affected by poor air quality and pollution. She shares her personal connection: growing up near a toxic waste site where coal plant chemicals contaminated drinking water, causing cancer in many family members including her grandmother.

Governor Tony Rodriguez — A political figure delivering a campaign-style message committing to climate action through zero-emission vehicle targets, improved public transit, expanded environmental justice staffing, and a carbon neutral goal by 2050.

Michael Jenkins (“Mikey”) — An eleven-year-old aspiring basketball player with severe asthma who can’t always practice outside because of smog. He hopes making the middle school team will let him play on indoor courts where he won’t have to worry about pollution.

Materials Included

The lesson PDF contains two components:

Role Play Character Readings

• Six character monologues to be cut out and distributed to student volunteers
• Each reading is approximately one paragraph, designed to be read aloud in first person

Student Graphic Organizer (2 pages)

• Name, date, and class header
• Part 1: Analyzing Perspectives — Two-column table for listing “issues” and “action” with decorative illustrations (flooded house, solar-powered house, polluted water, clean environment)
• Part 2: Writing Your Own Story — Large open response area for students to write their original character narrative
• Part 3: Drawing Conclusions — Reflection space with prompt about whether students’ perspectives changed after hearing others’ experiences

Materials Required

For the class:

• 6 Role Play Character readings (cut from PDF)

For each student:

• Copy of “Talking About Environmental Justice Graphic Organizer” (2 pages)

This empathy-building activity humanizes environmental justice issues through storytelling, helping students understand how climate change and environmental pollution affect real people across different communities, ages, and life circumstances—while developing narrative writing and oral presentation skills.