When I began teaching undergraduate courses in Bangladesh, my primary goal was to complete the curriculum on time and deliver the course material effectively. But it didn’t take long for me to realize that many of my students were victims of oppression, facing their everyday hardships, and therefore, the fight for social justice seemed far away for them. I recall that many of my students in the Introduction to Environment and Society class came from climate-vulnerable areas, such as flood-affected or Haor basin regions, where floods, agricultural failures, and inadequate infrastructure frequently interrupted their travel for schooling, even interrupting their everyday life and well-being. I recall a student sharing how his entire family had been forced to relocate a couple of times due to flooding, which caused a delay in his education. The narratives and experiences of my students subsequently enabled me to see that instructing environment-related courses in these circumstances necessitated empathy and a curriculum that linked classroom knowledge to students’ everyday lives. To situate these lived experiences within a comprehensive sociological framework, I taught students about Ecologically Unequal Exchange theory from environmental sociology. This theoretical framework clarifies how global trade dynamics systematically intensify environmental degradation and climate susceptibility in Global South nations, while disproportionately favoring industrialized countries in the Global North. I believe that such theoretical understanding is crucial for developing knowledgeable and active citizens who can contribute to local, national, and international initiatives for environmental and social justice, especially in countries in the Global South.

During the first week of my Environmental Justice class at Utah State University, where I am now a PhD candidate, I asked my students to write about the meaning of environmental justice from their perspectives. Their reactions,  influenced by their individual, institutional, and community histories, demonstrated varying degrees of self-awareness and intrinsic motivation. I also noticed many of them mentioned that they are not familiar with the topic and are interested in learning from this course. For instance, one of the students mentioned in a one-week discussion post, “I had not previously considered the connection between my consumption and pollution in another nation.” Another student mentioned in a different week’s discussion post, “I think what is most interesting to me about this week’s readings was how in the dark I was about the topic. I feel like there really hasn’t been much news coverage on the pollution dumps in low-income places. This is probably for a reason because it’s an issue that some don’t really want to be fixed”. This experience inspired me to create course modules that delve more into Environmental Justice (EJ), covering its historical background, addressing how it relates to climate justice, and discussing its connection to larger movements for economic, racial, and social justice worldwide. In this way, I view teaching as a moral responsibility to educate students, empower them to critically engage with environmental injustices, and envision ways to make a difference in ensuring social justice for all. 

These varied teaching environments have enhanced and influenced my pedagogical philosophy. My goal as an instructor is to increase students’ knowledge, enable them to examine complex environmental problems, and empower them to take real action both in and outside the classroom. Learning experiences in both settings (the Global South and Global North) have shaped my evaluation techniques and mentorship strategies for students, considering their varied life experiences. First, I found that education serves as an instrument for promoting social justice, and second, teaching is a reflexive and evolving practice that always needs to be assessed based on cultural responsiveness. 

While teaching in Bangladesh, I presented material on environmental injustices, highlighting how development projects often do not benefit all groups in society equally, which resonated particularly with many students from lower-income backgrounds. A student noted the number of demolitions of slums in urban regions every year, attributing this phenomenon to development programs that mainly benefit the metropolitan elite. She said that she witnessed many families being uprooted overnight without being given any compensation or support for relocation. Although my students are unable to voice their dissatisfaction with urban development projects—which serve the interests of the urban elite at the expense of lower-class people—they take these environmental injustices more personally and find a safe space in class to express their voice, where they can expect empathy and understanding from their teacher and peers.  Conversely, instruction in the USA classroom appears to cultivate a heightened comfort with critical debates and discourses, despite numerous students lacking direct experience with environmental injustice. For example, I observed that many of my students in my environmental justice class addressed environmental injustices experienced by communities they may not have been a part of when they submitted their final assignments. One of my students talked about environmental racism in Cancer Alley, where she mentioned “the pollution and Cancer Alley is overwhelmingly concentrated in one area, which happens to be predominantly black. The health problems caused by the chemical plants and refineries like cancer. Respiratory illness and birth defects are largely born by these communities. This creates an unfair situation where the people who are most vulnerable to environmental harm are also the ones least able to protect themselves”. Another one wrote on Great Salt Lake dust injustice and mentioned that “the toxic dust from the Great Salt Lake is sadly affecting some people more than others. The citizens who live closest to the major dried-up areas of the lakebeds seem to take the brunt of the issue. Another concerning aspect of this is the minorities who are highly targeted most likely cannot afford the medical bill associated with diagnosing, preventing, or taking care of disease. This is a common cycle among cities and it pushed the derogative of “the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer”.

These class experiences in Bangladesh and the USA contexts make me realize that I need to adopt a culturally responsive teaching strategy. While in Bangladesh, I learned the importance of creating a safe space in the classroom where my students can open up, tell their stories, and feel heard and understood. What I learned from my time teaching in the United States is the importance of bridging the gap between theory and real-life examples, often encouraging students to see the world outside their positionality. Teaching in these two different cultural contexts makes me realize that teaching is an iterative practice that must change to meet the needs of the students. 

I believe that these cross-contextual insights will continue to shape my pedagogical approach, motivating me to adopt a teaching stance that fosters critical thinking skills, empowers students to become socially responsible and actively engaged citizens, and inspires them to contribute meaningfully to society in pursuit of social justice. Furthermore, I hope that future educators can utilize this insight from two diverse cultural contexts to develop their own pedagogical strategies that prioritize creating a safe learning environment where students feel valued, respected, and able to grow intellectually.

Mufti Nadimul Quamar Ahmed is a Ph.D. candidate in Environmental Sociology at Utah State University. His academic and community engagements are rooted in sustainability, environmental justice, and the lived experiences of marginalized populations, including immigrant communities in the United States and environmentally vulnerable populations in Bangladesh. Mufti’s PhD research examines how climate change and environmental issues shape Utahns’ migration decisions and fertility planning, and whether migration serves as a climate adaptation strategy for Utah immigrants. He has numerous research publications that have appeared in prestigious journals (Google Scholar) and has presented research at Harvard, Columbia, Johns Hopkins University, and multiple local and national conferences.