Environmental Justice in the Classroom

This spring, the Rio Grande is ripping along, flush with snowmelt and boosted by spring rains. That’s good news for ecosystems along the river that have been gasping for water the past few years. 

One of those places is Albuquerque’s San Antonio Oxbow, a special place along the west side of the Rio Grande that hasn’t flooded in a few years. Recently, the University of New Mexico’s Wes Noe took the Our Land crew to the bluffs above the Rio Grande. He explained the oxbow’s history and importance—and the connection between the river and groundwater. The segment includes beautiful footage from NMPBS’ Benjamin Yazza and Joey Dunn and drone video from Antony Lostetter.

If you’ve never visited the 40-acre oxbow, or peered at it from the bluffs above, this would be an excellent time to go. 

There’s a huge beaver lodge visible from the bluffs, and on a recent evening, I saw ducks and geese, and heard a whole cacophony of sound and song from a Coopers hawk, yellow-breasted chats, northern flickers, lesser goldfinches, red-winged blackbirds, house finches, starlings, barn swallows, and nighthawks. It’s a magical place and it’s really lovely to see the oxbow full of water right now. 

Later this week, you can watch the second part of my interview with poet and author Michelle Otero. We dive into her book, Vessels: A Memoir of Borders, talk about the border and bodies, what growing up in the desert does for your attention to detail, and much more. 

If you missed the first part of the conversation, check it out on the PBS App.

Over the past couple of years, we’ve released a handful of middle school science lesson plans based around the content from Our Land. Now, we have a few new ones focused specifically on environmental justice in New Mexico. 

So often, when reporters use the phrase “environmental justice,” we’re talking about seemingly intractable problems and communities that continue to suffer from the impacts of structural racism. Here in New Mexico, there are so many ways we can also talk about environmental justice in terms of changes and solutions and sustainable visions for the future. 

That’s part of the reason why I’m so excited to share these new plans with students, teachers, and lifelong learners. One entire module is focused on public lands, featuring videos from the Pueblo of Acoma’s Theresa Pasqual, now-Interior Secretary Deb Haaland (Pueblo of Laguna), the nonprofit Tierra Nuestra, and the Pueblo of Cochiti’s Eugene Herrera. 

A second new module centers on the Water Back movement, tribes and rivers, and cultural change in water management. These lesson plans feature people like Julia Bernal (Sandia Pueblo/Yuchi – Creek Nation), Daryl Vigil (Jicarilla Apache Nation), and Christopher Ramírez (Together for Brothers).

Over the past few years, we’ve developed plans around water resources, wildlife, climate change, forests, fire, and careers in environmental sciences. You can see all our lesson plans in one place on the PBS LearningMedia Our Land collection page.

And I want to share a huge thank you to educator Mollie Parsons, who created all the lesson plans, and NMPBS’ Myah Wilmarth, who uploaded the content and made sure they’re accessible to everyone. 

If you know any teachers or students who need to see these lessons, please share them—and if you’re a teacher and you have students interested in the environment, journalism, or environmental journalism, contact me! I love connecting with students and their teachers. Drop me a note at lpaskus@nmpbs.org.

Thanks for reading!