Environmental Racism in the Bronx: Why the Asthma Rate is So High in the Borough

• This video shows how environmental racism has produced higher rates of air pollution and respiratory diseases in the South Bronx. 
• The video focuses on Ilyna Hernandez, a teenager living in the South Bronx with asthma. 

Positives

• This video connects high rates of respiratory diseases in the South Bronx with factors such as more bus depots, truck facilities, waste sites, and traffic patterns in that area.

Additional Prerequisites

• Students should be familiar with the term environmental racism, which is defined in the video as "the intentional racial discrimination in infrastructural and environmental policy-making."

Differentiation

• Civics and social studies classes could use this video to supplement lessons about local governance and the effects of zoning determinations and municipal infrastructure decisions.
• Biology and health classes could discuss the pollutants found in vehicle exhaust, chemical applications, power plant pollution, and industrial facility pollution.
• Other resources about pollution include this video about chemical water pollution, this StC lesson plan about air pollution, and this water quality experiment.
  

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