6. What is your reaction to the article? How does it change or reinforce your views from the warm-up activity on how one’s neighborhood and environment affect and shape your life?
7. Media Literacy. How would the article be different if it were a traditional, text-only piece on air pollution? What do the dynamic maps, graphics and visuals add to the story?
Going Further
Option 1: Create a one-pager.
Reflect on what you read, how it made you feel and what you are left thinking about by creating a one-pager. A one-pager is a way to visually share key ideas about a text using both words and images. At a minimum, your one-pager should include:
Three key takeaways from the article.
Two important quotations or statistics from the piece.
One word to capture the feeling or emotions that you are left with after reading the article.
One question you still have about air pollution or socioeconomic inequalities.
Visual elements that illustrate the essential points.
You can also include any other information you think is important to share.
Your one-pager can be arranged however you think makes the most sense. But, if you need inspiration, you can see examples of other students’ work here or find a template to print or copy here.
Afterward, you can go on an in-person or virtual gallery walk, spending about one minute with each one-pager in your class and writing down what you notice and wonder about each creation.
Option 2: Find Out About the Air Quality Where You Live.
The article describes the pollution in Delhi as “an almost physical presence”:
You can see it, a haze just up the street. You can smell it, like an acrid campfire, and you can taste it on your tongue. It can make your eyes burn, your throat itch and your head pound.
How would you describe the air quality where you live? How much pollution do you think you are exposed to each day?
Learn about the health of your air by looking up your town, city or ZIP code in this New York Times interactive or, if you can’t find it there, on the official website of AirNow, a partnership between the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and several other tribal, state and local air quality agencies.
