Teaching Sustainability and Environmental Justice in Undergraduate Chemistry Courses

This article examines the intersection of environmental justice and undergraduate chemistry education through a review of existing publications that highlight successful strategies for chemistry educators interested in incorporating environmental justice into their classrooms. It emphasizes the key roles of racial and social justice in the Environmental Justice movement and their connection to the shift toward diversity, equity, inclusion, and respect in chemistry education today. Five co-operative educational strategies are exemplified through established project- and problembased learning examples, which include class-level as well as department and community-level projects. These projects demonstrate how powerful chemical content knowledge, socio-philosophical framing, eco-reflexivity, sustainable schooling and living, and student experience and engagement can all contribute to the successful teaching of environmental justice in chemistry. On the basis of its interdisciplinary nature, incorporating environmental justice involves providing the opportunity for students to develop their social agency and holding space and respect for those who have different cultural identities and/or come from historically marginalized backgrounds. The enrichment of existing chemistry curriculum through topics of environmental justice contributes to the achievement of the overall goal to graduate responsible, ethical, and compassionate members of the community from educational institutions.