2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Environmental justice research seeks to investigate and bring light to the disproportionate environmental burdens experienced by communities of low socioeconomic status. This paper presents the work done in two undergraduate courses to expand the scope of the environmental justice theme. We sought to encompass dimensions of social inequities by looking at government response times to environmental disasters in the United States as a function of location and socio-economic determinants in communities. Two courses in environmental engineering and chemistry were modified to include a module about natural and anthropogenic environmental disasters and their impact on the community as a function of government response time and the magnitude of resource allocations.

A survey was created to assess students’ basic understanding of social justice associated with environmental disasters. A list of primary research articles were compiled covering a range of topics including environmental disasters (e.g., hurricanes Maria and Irma), hazardous spills (e.g., East Palestine), and poor decision-making (e.g., Flint water crisis). Students working in groups were asked to read different articles from the list, select one disaster, research the event further, and either give a PowerPoint presentation or write a report. A post-project survey and a reflection paper were administered at the end of the module. In both the engineering and chemistry courses, students’ responses to Likert-scale questions on pre- and post-course surveys showed a notable increase in their interest and curiosity in how government responses and resource allocation can negatively impact remediation and recovery efforts of affected communities of low socio-economic status. Students in both courses recognized the value of learning about social justice implications of environmental disasters in STEM courses.

This work's first aim was to inform students of the environmental health risks resulting from exposure to hazardous chemicals or natural disasters. The second aim was to make them aware of the magnitude of social injustices that marginalized populations face in the aftermath of an environmental disaster. Initial findings demonstrate that our approach shows promise for achieving these objectives through the implemented coursework.