Earth Day 1970-2022: What's Changed?

• This video details the positive and negative human-caused environmental changes since the first Earth Day in 1970. 
• Students will learn about how human activity has negatively impacted the environment since 1970, what tangible positive changes have been made since the first Earth Day, and what we can do moving forward to fulfill the promise we made to our planet. 

Positives

• This video delivers a large quantity of high-quality information paired with simple and beautiful infographics. 
• There are no spoken words in the video, which may be helpful for students with certain processing challenges. 

Additional Prerequisites

• All of the information provided is written, so some students may need the video paused from time to time to process.

Differentiation

• Social studies classes could use this video in a discussion about the history of activism or Earth Day.
• Language Arts classes could use this video as an example of using facts to persuade.
• This video would work well for a debate on the statement: we are worse off than we were on the first Earth Day. Teachers could use the following steps:
  • Students can choose a position to debate or teachers can assign students to a side.
  • When watching the video, have students take individual notes. Then, have groups meet in "caucus groups" to discuss their top points.
  • A representative from each side can speak for up to a minute about their strongest point, then the groups can meet again to craft a rebuttal.
  • Allow each side to present their rebuttal and closing statements.
  • As a class, reflect on what points were made and which side made the most compelling case. 
• Other related resources include this video about the success of the Montreal Protocol, this mind map that focuses on human responses to global warming, and this video about extinction.

This resource addresses the listed standards. To fully meet standards, search for more related resources.