Sustainable and equitable choices for all

What you'll need

• “Sustainability challenge” slideshow game
• Digital projector and screen
• Optional: Individual whiteboards and markers, one per group of 4-5 students
• Paper, markers, and other tools

Sustainable choices for all

1. Discuss how sometimes, sustainable choices seem very expensive and therefore not everyone is able to access them. Have students share examples like installing solar panels on your home, purchasing a new electric car, or choosing sustainable clothing. These choices are not accessible to everyone and can still create waste. Instead of spending more money, let’s explore ways of living in environmentally friendly ways, that are available to us all.  
2. Put students in teams of four to five students and ask them to name their team. On the classroom board create columns each with a team name. 
3. Pull up the “Sustainability challenge” slideshow game. This game will task teams to find creative and accessible solutions to sustainability challenges.
4. At slide 2, share with students that you will present them with a challenge and their team will have two minutes to come up with a solution and present it to the class. 
5. Each solution will be awarded points based on the criteria outlined on slide 3. Ideally the goal is to meet all the criteria. The criteria can be written on the board so students can always see them. 
   • Is it expensive or free?
   • Does it create less waste?
   • Does it save energy or water?
6. At slide 4, present the example which shows that whether or not someone can afford to change all of their lights to LEDs, energy can be saved by turning off unneeded lights. In this example solution 1 is awarded one point, and solution 2 is awarded three points. 
7. At slide 5, present challenge 1, set a timer for 2 minutes and have students explore solutions to the challenge that meet the criteria. 
8. Next, taking turns, one person from each team presents their group idea. Remind students that it should be quick and easy to understand. Alternatively, individual size whiteboards could be used for teams to write their solutions and hold them up. Count the points for each team and record the results on the board.   
9. At slide 6, present challenge 2 and continue the game to challenge 5 on slide 9.
10. At slide 10, ask students to reflect on their solutions; what could be used in their lives and homes, and how they could share those ideas with their families.

52 ways to invest in our planet

1. Working in small teams or pairs, ask students to brainstorm ideas for an environmental campaign with simple and equitable actions. Ideas could include planning a lights-out, litterless lunch, a community or school clean-up, a pledge to eat more plant-based meals or meatless Mondays. 
2. Next, students put their ideas into action. Have student get creative and design posters for their campaign, write and perform skits for other classes, create videos to share, or come up with other ways to promote their campaign to the school or even to the wider community, such as writing to the local newspaper about their campaign.