Building a culture of health in the green: Participatory learning and action to address air and soil quality in rural underserved communities

PROJECT SUMMARY The Integrated Environmental Science and Health Risk Laboratory, in collaboration with multiple Arizona partners, propose to launch the project, “Building a culture of health in the green: Participatory learning and action to address air and soil quality in rural underserved communities”. Our overall goal is to create a national deep engagement learning model of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM) education that empowers students as environmental health advisory board members, photographers, scientists, and designers living in environmental justice (EJ) communities. EJ communities refers to areas affected by disproportionate exposure to environmental hazards and increased vulnerability to those hazards. There are fundamental and critical challenges that exist in environmental justice communities. Youth growing up in these spaces need the preparation to navigate through these challenges and be the future pillars of structural change. Students will acquire the tools, skills and support needed to (1) interpret intersectionality and environmental data and (2) communicate project results and recommend actions at local, regional, and national levels. The proposed project centers on the social and environmental factors that affect health and justice for 8th - 12th graders in rural Arizona communities with significant environmental health hazards posed from historical or active resource extraction activities. Intersectionality and environmental health and data literacy are essential for deriving meaning from the results of scientific inquiry. Potential outcomes for the proposed project are increased understanding and integration of intersectionality, environmental health (specifically air and soil quality), and data literacy among both youth and researchers, and the application such information to achieve social justice and health equity in EJ communities. This research education program aims to leverage intersectionality’s transformational power and help move the collaborating EJ communities closer to achieving social justice and health equity. Through the approach and rigorous learning research, the outcomes of this work will provide the evidence-base needed for building a culture of health in the green.