Climate change is a crisis and action needs to be taken now. This is not political. The science has been very clear about it. This is a crisis that even for adults, is hard to grasp. So how do we talk to our children about it without freaking them out even though for a lot of us adults, we ourselves, are ‘freaking out’?
I turned to Harriet Sugarman, Founder and Executive Director of “Climate Mama”. Harriet is the author of How to Talk to Your Kids About Climate Change: Turning Angst into Action. Harriet’s goal over the last many years is apolitical. And her book directly addresses this goal: to help parents have the conversation with their children about climate change and the fact that we are facing a crisis. Our children are facing a very different future than ours. How do we have the conversation and still maintain hope for ourselves and our children?
Founded in 2009, ClimateMama is an on-line community reaching individuals in over 110 countries and 50 states. Harriet is a professor of Global Climate Change Policy and World Sustainability and Chair of the Climate Reality Project, NYC Metro Chapter. She is a climate policy advisor with many years of experience when it comes to activism on the climate crisis. In 2017, Harriet received the Climate Reality Green Ring Award and she is featured in Al Gore’s 2017 book, An Inconvenient Sequel, Truth to Power. Harriet was selected as a 2020 New York City Climate Hero and a 2019 featured speaker at the Global Engagement Summit at United Nations Headquarters. She spent 13 years working with the International Monetary Fund including 10 years as an IMF representative at the United Nations.
A sought after speaker on solutions to the climate crisis, here’s a glimpse into this hopeful and inciteful episode with Harriet.
- Harriet’s beginning and her journey
- It is a crisis
- Maintaining our own hope and that of our children
- Talking to children at various stages of life
- Actions do speak louder than words
- Truth is easier to deal with
- Actions that we can take to tackle the climate crisis together
All profits from the sale of How to Talk to Your Kids About Climate Change will go to support parent, youth and teacher projects on education, advocacy and outreach on the climate crisis. For more information on this program and how to apply you can find the information on ClimateMama.com.