Olivia Greenspan and Zanagee Artis, co-authors of A Kids Book About Climate Change, talk about why the climate is changing, what we can do to combat it, and how it affects some people more than others.
Olivia Greenspan and Zanagee Artis, co-authors of A Kids Book About Climate Change, talk about why the climate is changing, what we can do to combat it, and how it affects some people more than others.
A Kids Book About Climate Change (view book)
Full Book Description:
Climate change is a topic that can be overwhelming for kids and grownups. So if you’re looking for the best place to better understand the climate crisis, look no further! This book will give kids the facts about climate change, explain what the state of our planet is, how it got there, and give them hope to fight for their future.
About the Authors:
Zanagee Artis is an advocate for environmental justice for communities at the frontlines of the climate crisis. He works to illuminate the intersections between social justice issues and environmental injustice.
Olivia Greenspan is an activist who started organizing for the environment when she was fifteen. She applies her background in psychology and economics to better understand the challenges inherent in communicating about the climate crisis.
A Kids Book About: The Podcast
S3E02, Olivia and Zanagee Talk About Climate Change
[INTRODUCTION]
Matthew: What is climate change?
Kian: To me, climate change is, over a long period of time, either the weather or the temperature will change because, um, because of either natural causes or pollution.
Zayn: To me, climate change is when weather changes for a very long, long time.
Olivia: The way we describe it in the book is climate change is kind of like the earth being sick. And one big part of that is the Earth's average temperature is heating up.
So, you can think of that like the earth getting a fever. And we can talk about why the earth has a fever, but on the very basic level overall, the earth is getting warmer and the earth has warmed about one degree Celsius. So that's about two to three degrees Farenheit if you're in the US.
And a lot of people might think that that's not a very big change. Like if you go outside and it's a 60 degree day, what's the difference between a 60 degree day and a 63 degree day? And the reason that it's helpful to think about it, like the earth being sick and having a fever is because when you've had a fever, if you've ever had one, you know that when your temperature goes up just a little bit, you can get very, very sick. And it's the same way with Earth. Very small changes in the earth's temperature have big impacts on all the people, plants and animals who live here.
Zanagee: Climate change is a really interesting issue because it is global. And so, when we think about how climate change impacts people differently, there is an inherent difference just in the fact that people are in very different places of the world.
Matthew: Welcome to A Kids Book About: The Podcast! I’m Matthew. I’m a teacher, a librarian, and I’m your host.
The voices you heard just a moment ago were from Kian, Zayn, Olivia, and Zanagee.
Each week we talk about the big things going on in your world with different authors from our A Kids Book About series.
Zanagee: Hello. My name is Zanagee Artis. I use he/him pronouns. I am a climate activist, a student lifelong learner, and I am a co-author of A Kids Book About Climate Change.
Olivia: Hi, my name is Olivia Greenspan. I use she/her pronouns and I'm a co-author of A Kids Book About Climate Change. And we are also co-hosts of 1.5: A Kids Podcast About Climate Justice.
[TOPIC FOUNDATION]
Matthew: Listeners, I want to prepare you for our conversation today by first acknowledging that Olivia and Zanagee talk about a problem that affects us all. And if left unchecked, it’s going to have a global and catastrophic impact. It is already having a dangerous and devastating impact today. That very discussion may give you worry or fear or anxiety, and that is all okay. That is a natural response and I want to assure you that you are safe and that you are not alone.
But I also want to let you know that Olivia and Zanagee talk about hope. They talk about what’s being done to address climate change, who is getting involved, and how we can use hope to drive our actions forward.
Stick with us. I won’t let you down and Olivia, Zanagee, and I are committed to leaving you in a place after this podcast where you feel empowered to create meaningful and impactful change in our world.
With that said, let’s unpack why the climate is changing.
Zanagee: So there's definitely a lot of reasons why the climate is changing and it really comes down to what we do to get power.
And so, to think about this, we have to think about what do we use for power? We turn on the lights. We have cars that move around and take us places. And all of that releases carbon dioxide and carbon dioxide, or CO2, is a molecule that is released when we burn gas or gasoline, oil, anything like that. And we call those fossil fuels. And so when we burn those fossil fuels, that releases carbon dioxide. And that goes up into the air and gets trapped in our atmosphere all over the earth. And what that does is it keeps heat from leaving our planet.
And so there's this molecule, CO2, and it's in the air and it traps heat. And so that is what changes our climate cuz as we continue to burn more fossil fuels, uh, more, heat continues to get trapped in the atmosphere. And so then we keep getting warmer, sort of like a blanket all around the planet.
Matthew: This is not the first time that the climate has changed in Earth’s life, but it is the first time that the humans inhabiting the planet have caused the climate to change.
Olivia: We had a scientist named Dr. Heather Price, who was also on the podcast, review our book. And she made a very important point to us, which is: what we're experiencing right now is human-caused climate change.
The climate on earth has changed over the Earth's very long life. And what's different about right now is humans are causing the climate to change. And this is the first time that's happened, in human human history. And there had been times where the carbon dioxide level, as Zanagee explained, that, overall, the higher carbon dioxide is what's causing earth to have this fever.
The level that we have right now has existed on the planet before, but it was before humans existed and the earth looked very, very different. So the last time there was this much carbon dioxide in our air, the seas were about 50 feet higher than they are right now. And there were actually trees growing at the south pole.
And so you can see how, you know, the earth has gone through many, many climate changes, but, in all of human history, the climate has been very stable and that has allowed humanity to prosper. And so now we're experiencing something that humans haven't experienced in all the years that we've been around.
Matthew: I asked Olivia and Zanagee if it’s possible for us, as a human race, to stop or reverse climate change because, I mean, we’ve all made mistakes, right? And many or maybe even most of us recognize those mistakes and try to make things right. But what about when it comes to the global impact of climate change?
Zanagee: There are things that we can do to limit the impacts of climate change. And so, as we continue to release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, climate change will get more intense. But, if we stop releasing CO2, that could be by using renewable energy, for example, which could be wind turbines or solar panels to power our homes and all the things that we love to use instead of fossil fuels, or we could drive electric cars or take a train instead.
But we know that, actually, CO2 molecules stay in the atmosphere for a very long time, hundreds of years. And so even if we stopped all of our fossil fuels today, those molecules would still be up in the atmosphere, trapping heat for a long time. But if we do stop now, we can stop the worst impacts of climate change for the next generation of people who will live on Earth. And we can protect ecosystems that are being harmed right now by climate change.
So even if we do stop right now using harmful fuel sources, climate change will continue, but we can prevent the worst impacts. And if we can reverse it, that is something that is possible over a longer time period.
So, like Olivia was saying, there have been different climates throughout Earth's history and we can actually return to that over time. And so trees can draw down carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. We can engineer new tools and technologies to take it out of the atmosphere. So it is possible over longer time periods, but in the short term, climate change is here to stay, unfortunately.
Matthew: Let’s take a quick break. And when we return, Zanagee and Olivia help us to focus on actions we all can take right now to impact climate change.
Zanagee: Hope is a really powerful thing. And I think welcoming emotions is really powerful tool.
And there is so much to fear related to climate change. And we hear about climate disasters like wildfires and tornadoes, and those can be really scary things. And you have worry about the future, if that becomes more intense.
But hope is also a really strong emotion and it helps us take action despite our fears. And for me, people give me hope, people who care about climate change, who care about protecting ecosystems and who are willing to take action on it and raising our voices and recognizing that every one of us has the power to decide to make change. We can live more sustainable lives. We can make choices that help our earth instead of hurt it.
And I think that people together, mass movements, when people all come together to take action, they host rallies, walk in the streets, write to their government officials about these issues, that does give me hope because it shows that people are taking action and they're ready to support you. And they are ready to, to ensure that even if climate change doesn't stop for the generation that is on Earth right now, we will protect it for future generations.
Olivia: There have been so many things that have seemed impossible that have gotten done because people have come together in mass movements and made seemingly impossible things happen. For example, like the civil rights movement.
I just think this is another era in human history where there's another huge problem that affects so many people and which seems like shouldn't exist, but does. And we can look to history to see that there are ways to overcome problems like this. And it's many, many, many people coming together, demanding change.
Matthew: We’ll be back in just a moment.
[BREAK]
Matthew: Welcome back to A Kids Book About: The Podcast. On today’s episode we’re talking about climate change with A Kids Book About authors Zanagee Artis and Olivia Greenspan.
We’ve talked about what climate change is and why the climate is changing. We’ve talked about hope and we’ve taken a pause. Now, as we come back together, I want us to take a moment for a self-check.
Listeners, how are you doing? How are you taking in this information? Do you need anything? Do you need to take a break or to step away or to talk to a grownup? Let’s check in. How does thinking about climate change make you feel?
You can turn and share to a sibling or a grownup, a classmate or a teacher. You can think your response to yourself. You can also share it aloud with me. I may not be able to hear you, but I can promise you that I am always listening.
How does thinking about climate change make you feel?
Zayn: Climate change makes me feel sad.
Kian: It makes me sad because of all the polar bears are losing their home because of the heat.
Zanagee: I think, for me, it sort of feels like this overarching challenge and it is just perpetually there. So, sometimes it can feel like there's a lot of pressure to think about sustainability and think about climate change, but it's also okay to take time off and know that the climate will be changing, unfortunately.
But that's good to know because we think about climate change is a very urgent issue, but it's also something that is here and people are working on it. And it's good to know that people are working on it, scientists, activists, government leaders, all these people.
So yeah, it's good to think about sustainability and I feel really good about that.
Actually. I think it, it's, it's fun to think about how we can help our earth and, and live more in harmony with it.
Olivia: How does climate change make me feel, uh, I feel like I'm all over the place, like every day's new emotion. But I did have a revelation recently, which is: if you're somebody who has become concerned about climate change, there's that first feeling, which is like fear or anxiety or anger. These negative emotions and those don't go away. But I think the more you get involved with working on the problem, you just add more emotions into that mix and that helps even things out.
And so I feel like I do know people who aren't, who are just very concerned, but aren't necessarily involved in any, like, community organizations or anything. And I feel like I've noticed that those are the people who feel more anxious, as compared to people who are working on a day in and day out, which I don't include myself in that people, maybe like Zanagee, who have more like hope and action and feelings of agency crowding out those other emotions.
And so I think that's it just, you bring more positivity into the mix of feeling those bad feelings, negative feelings, don't go away, but there's also ways to bring positive feelings of community and, and, and hope into the mix.
[LISTENER QUESTION]
Matthew: Climate changes affect the entire globe, the entire planet, and we do not all experience climate change the same way. I love that Zayn was thinking about that when they asked this question:
Zayn: Is there any other unnatural things that are happening because of climate change?
Zanagee: Climate change is, is a really interesting issue because it is global. And so when we think about how climate change impacts people differently, there is inherent difference just in the fact that people are in very different places of the world.
So, if you're from the US, you know, that California and a lot of places in the west often have wildfires and, um, that is something that doesn't happen on the east coast. But we also experience hurricanes here. We experience flooding and things like that. So those are climate disasters that might impact people differently.
There's also differences in the intensity of warming. So depending on where you are on the planet, um, if you're close to the equator, where it's already very warm, the impacts of warming will be harder for those people because it's already naturally hot there.
And then in the places that are more extreme to the north, so places in the Arctic like Alaska or Greenland, places in Russia, and also further south, so at the bottom of Argentina, um, and, and Antarctica, um, those places are warming at a faster rate than other places on the planet.
And so that's just one example of how geography impacts how people are impacted differently, but it's also an issue of identity. And so, people of different races, people with different ability statuses, so that could be if you have a wheelchair or if you have to use crutches for a few weeks, anything at all could impact you differently. So if you have a wheelchair and there's flooding happening where you are, it'll be more difficult for you to evacuate. And that's one example of how climate change impacts a person with a disability differently.
We also know that pollution happens a lot more for communities of color. Black and Indigenous communities in the US have disproportionately, uh, worse air quality because of burning fossil fuels. And that's just a few examples of how climate change impacts all of us differently, depending on where we live, what we look like, what our identities are.
Matthew: Kian asks the question on all of our minds.
Kian: A question I have is what can we do to help?
Zanagee: There's a lot of things that people can do. And, um, like we have been saying climate change is a really big issue and it affects people all over the world. So there's different levels of things that people can do.
So, people can do actions at the individual level. So that could be driving a car less, maybe deciding to bike more or,, taking public transportation that uses less fossil fuels. We can change our diets to eat less meat, which also releases greenhouse gasses, which is what the carbon dioxide is, is a greenhouse gas. And, yeah, just deciding to use less energy wherever possible at an individual level.
At a level higher than that, you could also get involved with your government and let your government officials know that you want your energy system to be more renewable, more sustainable. And so individual people can of course decide to get solar panels and things like that for their homes, but we can also tell our elected officials that we want the entire grid to be more sustainable. And that means that all of the homes will have renewable energy instead of just one. And we can also talk about fossil fuels and how we need to decrease our reliance on them as an energy source in general.
So all of these things are really about finding out who has power to make decisions, which is often people in government and just letting them hear you and voicing your opinion and letting them know that you care about these things because your voice matters and it is so important that they hear from you. And so you can call them, you can write them a letter, you can go visit them in person, uh, and use all of these different tools available to you, to make your voice heard.
[CLOSING]
Matthew: Thank you to Zanagee Artis and Olivia Greenspan, co-authors of A Kids Book About Climate Change, for joining us today. And special thanks to Kian and Zayn for lending their voices to this episode.
Kian: Hi. My name is Kian and I’m 9 years old.
Zayn: Hi. My name is Zayn. And I’m 7 years old.
Kian: And we live in California.
Zayn: Our favorite thing to do is code.
Matthew: A Kids Book About: The Podcast is written, edited, and produced by me, Matthew Winner. Our executive producer is Jelani Memory.
And this show was brought to you by A Kids Co.
Follow the show wherever podcasts are found and check out other podcasts made for kids just like you by visiting akidsco.com.
Join us next time for a conversation about incarceration with A Kids Book About author Ethan Thrower.