Right Now: The Environment 

Kehkashan Basu is the 2016 winner of the KidsRights International Children’s Peace Prize. 

Xiuhtezcatl Martinez is establishing ways for youth of any age to take action toward protection the planet. 

At 13 years old, Autumn Peiltier, a First Nation activist from Canada, addressed the United Nations on World Water Day.  This article features her address and her environmental work at large.

A powerful example of youth environmental activists!  Sisters Melati and Isabel Wijsen share their story of advocating for a plastic bag ban in Bali. Bye Bye Plastic Bags is their project.

This article from Vogue is both an inspiration and a call to action, as all of the 8 environmentalists featured share their own passion and projects to contribute to positive environmental change.

This film explores how plastics are breaking down in our oceans and their toxic, longlasting impact on the food chain. 

This Ted Talk is approximately 6 minutes long but will provide endless amounts of fun while cleaning up the planet.

An online magazine powered by Consilium Education, this direct link to their Environment page shares various articles about environmental action taking place in classrooms around the world.

TeachSDGs is a resource that aligns the Sustainable Development Goals to many cause-areas including the environment.

Find a detailed and well organized collection of environmental lessons per grade level here.  

From Teaching Tolerance, “This lesson helps students understand how pollution disproportionately affects people who are poor and members of racial and ethnic minorities as well as use a map to locate environmental injustice.”

WWF provides a list of environmental learning projects organized by topic that you can bring into your classroom.

NEA provides an annotated list of lessons, activities, resources, and games for classroom use, covering a wide array of environmental topics.

The Green Wave campaign is an excellent opportunity to involve your students in a fun international environmental campaign.

This is a wonderful resource to learn about how access to clean water is essential and in many ways a root human rights issue. 

“Action For Nature, Inc. is an international non-profit organization based in San Francisco, California, that encourages young people to take personal action to better their environments and to foster love and respect for nature.”

This super-informative site has explains the whys and hows of recycling in interesting and engaging ways, including interactive content, PSAs, and games. Resources are also available for students to use to get involved with this campaign themselves.

These awards, open to youth environmentalists aged 13 to 22, were established by Earth Island Institute to honor young people who are leading the way with their environmental protection work. 

Eco Schools is a global initiative that promotes environmental awareness and protection in schools throughout the world. Their site provides a framework for continuable action and also has a wealth of resources including articles, videos and lesson ideas.