The Science Moms' Guide to Climate Conversations with Kids
Dr. Melissa Burt
Today’s guests are Dr. Melissa Burt and Dr. Emily Fischer, who are part of a group called the Science Moms. The Science Moms are a consortium of climate scientists who are also mothers and who are, in their words, working to give our children the planet they deserve. They aim to demystify climate science and motivate everyday moms to demand climate change plans and solutions.
Dr. Emily Fischer
Dr. Burt is an assistant professor in the Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University with a focus on arctic clouds, radiation and sea ice, and the assistant dean for diversity and inclusion in the school's Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering. Dr. Fischer is an associate professor also in the Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University. She also serves as an affiliate faculty member for the CSU School of Global Environmental Sustainability.
A few months ago, we took to social media to see who could talk more about kids and climate change. The Science Moms were recommended by a huge number of folks that we know and trust. So here we are. Enjoy the show!
*We encourage you to share feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests at info@mcjcollective.com.
Episode recorded on Jan 8, 2024 (Published on Feb 5, 2024)
In this episode, we cover:
[2:36] Background of Dr. Melissa Burt and Dr. Emily Fischer
[7:26] An overview of the Science Moms
[9:01] Concerns parents have when talking to kids about climate change
[10:47] How to engage kids of different ages on climate
[16:39] How to feel confident in discussing climate change without being an expert
[20:09] Political implications of discussing climate change
[27:31] Myth vs. fact about climate change
[29:41] Examples of collective action for parents and kids
[33:41] Resources for learning more about Science Moms
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Cody Simms (00:00):
Today on My Climate Journey, our guests are Dr. Melissa Burt and Dr. Emily Fischer, who are part of a group called the Science Moms. The Science Moms are a consortium of climate scientists who are also mothers and who are, in their words, working to give our children the planet they deserve. Their aim is to demystify climate science and motivate everyday moms to demand climate change plans and solutions.
(00:29):
Dr. Burt is an assistant professor in the Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University with a focus on Arctic clouds, radiation and sea ice, as well as the assistant dean for diversity and inclusion in the school's Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering. Dr. Fischer is an associate professor also in the Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University. She also serves as affiliate faculty member for the CSU School of Global Environmental Sustainability.
(01:02):
A few months ago, I took to social media to see who could talk more with me on the pod about kids and climate change. The Science Moms were recommended by a huge number of folks that I know and trust. So here we are. But before we start, I'm Cody Simms.
Yin Lu (01:19):
I'm Yin Lu.
Jason Jacobs (01:20):
And I'm Jason Jacobs. And welcome to My Climate Journey.
Yin Lu (01:27):
This show is a growing body of knowledge focused on climate change and potential solutions.
Cody Simms (01:32):
In this podcast, we traverse disciplines, industries, and opinions to better understand and make sense of the formidable problem of climate change and all the ways people like you and I can help.
(01:45):
Melissa. Emily, welcome to the show.
Dr Emily Fischer (01:47):
Hi there.
Dr Melissa Burt (01:48):
Thanks for having us.
Cody Simms (01:50):
I love getting to have conversations with multiple people at once. We may talk over each other. We'll do our best to not do it. And I'm really excited to learn from both of you today. A few months ago, I took to social media, I think it was, and basically said, "Hey, what's going on with climate and education? It feels like a topic that isn't getting enough attention. In particular, how in the world should people talk to kids about climate change? How are kids engaging around it? What's going on?" And the universal response was, "You need to talk to the Science Moms." So here we are today. I'm excited to have you both on. Maybe each of you take a minute and just introduce yourselves starting, I don't know, Dr. Burt.
Dr Melissa Burt (02:36):
Thanks so much. So Melissa Burt. I'm a mom of a 7-year-old, almost eight-year-old now. I'm also a climate scientist and I've been working in this area for a decade or so at this point.
(02:53):
Climate change is something that's always been really important to me and all of my research really focused on that, specifically looking at the Arctic and seeing how the Arctic was changing. Arctic was one of the regions that has been experiencing climate change for decades now. But really when it was time when I actually had my daughter, I think that's when my perspective around climate change really changed, where I really started to think about what is the future that she is going to be experiencing? What is that going to be like? What is that going to look like? How will she be able to thrive in an environment like that?
(03:27):
So now I'm a professor here at Colorado State University. I'm doing work in the climate change arena, but I also do a lot of work focused on people from historically underrepresented backgrounds and how climate, climate change, all of those things will disproportionately affect their communities and really wanting to get the message out about how it's important for them.
Cody Simms (03:47):
And it looks like your work, particularly in the Department of Atmospheric Science is around Arctic clouds, radiation, and sea ice. Is that your specialty? I guess those are multiple specialty areas of focus.
Dr Melissa Burt (04:01):
Those are multiple areas, yes. The Arctic has been a rapidly changing place for decades and that was the first view or a [inaudible 00:04:09] vantage point into our earth is really changing and how important it is to really do something about it.
Cody Simms (04:15):
And Dr. Burt, I read that you first became interested in science as a kid by reading the children's page in the Washington Post with your grandfather leaning in particularly to the sections about the weather. I thought that was obviously relevant for today's conversation.
Dr Melissa Burt (04:33):
That was one of the things that I always did with him on Sundays. And I think the other piece about that is I was deeply terrified of tornadoes when I was a young kid. I grew up in Maryland outside of D.C. We didn't really have tornadoes, but for some reason that was something that I really just stuck with. And taking that fear of tornadoes and really turning that into sort of curiosity about science. Why do things happen? How are airplanes in the air? Why does weather happen in the way that it does? And that really, I think fueled me to want to really learn more and move into this arena.
Cody Simms (05:09):
And Dr. Fischer, how about you?
Dr Emily Fischer (05:11):
Hi, I'm an atmospheric scientist. My kids are almost nine and almost 12. We have two birthdays this week. So two daughters. And I have been interested in the weather and the atmosphere as long as I can remember. I work on now air pollution and I work on mainly non-traditional sources of air pollutants and links to climate change. So one big area where I focus is wildfires. And so that is the strongest link that I have between air quality and climate change because fires particularly in North America are getting much worse with time. And about half of that worsening is related to climate change right now. So yeah, and I study the smoke that comes out of those wildfires and help link smoke exposure to health impacts.
Cody Simms (06:05):
And of course in Colorado you all have a lot of wildfires locally, but you also often suffer purely from smoke from wildfires that are happening significantly further west, all the way from California, Oregon, Washington, that blows its way to Colorado. I've experienced that firsthand in the summers there.
Dr Emily Fischer (06:24):
That's right, yeah. And so my research spans that. So I've flown in aircraft very close to wildfires, sampling wildfire smoke, and then I have projects that help us untangle local versus remote wildfire smoke and exposure to populations. And then more recently I've been working with communication scientists to help people understand that when we have that smoke from California, for example, or Idaho, smoke that's more than a day old, their noses aren't the best tools and they need to use other ways of sensing the environment to figure out that they need to protect themselves from that bad air. So that's my main research thread these days.
Cody Simms (07:03):
Interestingly, Melissa, I grew up in Kansas and so have experienced a number of tornadoes, particularly as a kid. And then Emily, I live in California so unfortunately, like many of us, experience lots of wildfires. And so I feel a strong sense of camaraderie to this conversation. All right, so what is or what are, what is, what is the Science Moms?
Dr Melissa Burt (07:26):
Who are?
Cody Simms (07:27):
Who are the Science Moms? There we go.
Dr Melissa Burt (07:30):
So we are a group of climate scientists and mothers. We're non-partisan. We came together really because of our children and wanting to be a trusted messenger for other parents who are really concerned about climate change and wanting to do something for their children and also as a way to inspire them and empower them and educate them in the climate arena.
Cody Simms (07:58):
Emily, anything to add?
Dr Emily Fischer (08:00):
Science Moms started in 2020, so in the darkness of the pandemic, and a group of us got together and decided that there was a need for scientific voices that are also mothers voices. And we all come to this from the perspective of parents and the perspective of a scientist. And they're, parents are concerned and particularly mothers are very concerned about climate change and some of them feel like they don't have quite enough information, they don't feel confident talking about the issue, but they're worried. And so Science Moms aims to fill that need to provide information directly from scientists who are also parents and help people understand the basics of climate change and how the urgency of the issue and what they can do both at an individual and a societal level to move us forward for their kids.
Cody Simms (09:01):
What are things that you have observed moms, parents in particular, I guess most grappling with when they're trying to come in and realize that this is something, an area they want to talk to their kids about? What are they most concerned about when it comes to having these conversations?
Dr Emily Fischer (09:21):
The two things that I see are one, this topic is anxiety-producing. That's one reason I think that parents might shy away from talking about it with their kids. A second one is I think parents feel that they might not have all the education or background information that they need to take that conversation to the depth that could go. Kids ask a lot of questions, they ask hard questions. You quickly see that when you talk about where babies come from. We tend to shy away from all sorts of conversations with our kids when we feel that we're not ready to have it or it could cause stress for them.
Cody Simms (10:03):
And I suppose there's quite a difference on how to engage your kids based on the age. Many teenagers today have talked about climate change in school, they've seen it on social media, they're aware of it. There's all these statistics about the percentage of teenagers that have true climate anxiety, terrible stuff, like live in fear, are angry, feelings of helplessness, etc. Whereas younger kids I presume are picking up on things they hear from adults in the media but don't really know how to process it. I'm curious any work you've done, either of you have done on the differences in kids from an age perspective on this topic?
Dr Melissa Burt (10:47):
Kids at an early age, especially when their toddlers, have no idea what's happening related to climate change. And I think it's really important for them to explore the beauty of the world around us and exposing them through getting outside going for walks, picking up a leaf and seeing how that may change, just for them to have an appreciation of the beauty of the earth.
(11:10):
When we go into sort of the, let's say elementary school, middle school age, they do have a lot of questions like you were saying, and I think what I find to be the easiest is to just explore with them. And this is what I tell a lot of parents and a lot of moms, "You may not know the answer, it may scare you to try to figure out the answer, but if you can kind of go on that journey together with your kids, that's one of the best things that you can do is to learn together."
(11:34):
It's sort of unsettling with the teenagers who have that climate anxiety or that climate angst and really just don't know what to do or where to put that energy. And so getting them to think about how can you work with other kids at your school to think about a problem that really impacts your community is one thing that's fun to do or to get them to put that energy into a good place or to see about things that have a local impact and trying to work through there.
Cody Simms (12:03):
I just recorded an episode with Dr. Britt Way from Stanford who's the author of Generation Dread, all about climate anxiety. I don't know if that will air before our conversation today does, but certainly one for listeners who really want to dig into the anxiety angle in particular to go check out in addition to this episode.
(12:23):
I love the idea for young kids, just the idea to take them outside, make them aware, help them appreciate what's going on around them. And I'm curious at some point too it seems like involving kids in choices that you and your family make would feel like a good angle too. How do you see that playing out and do either of you have any good stories or examples of that?
Dr Emily Fischer (12:55):
So there's a balance there in climate action. This is a society-level issue that requires societal scale changes and that is more than what an individual kid can do. And so at the same time you want to give them agency. It's important I think to balance both perspectives there. And so through Science Moms, we're talking to parents and we're educating parents on how to advocate for, support, and join societal-level changes. And communicate. If a parent is in a position that they're doing those things, communicating that to their kids is probably the best thing that could happen.
(13:42):
For my kids, I have someone who is anxious, my middle schooler for sure. I'm validating those feelings. That's a really important thing when kids are worried about anything. So not to be dismissive in any way, but to validate that feeling, providing that hope, saying, "We can solve this. This is a 10-year problem that the adults need to take on and kids can play a very active role in that. And so I'm so happy that you're interested in joining climate-related efforts." But also saying these are the things that I am doing, and for me that's relatively straightforward, right? Because I'm a Science Mom, they know I have this presence, but I can also say, "Hey, this week I talked to another mom about the buses." "This week I made sure I called the senator."
(14:30):
And so just talking to kids about the things that you are doing as an adult I think is a really important piece of that for the older kids. And then asking them, those high schoolers, what they hope that we could do or where they need help in their efforts.
Cody Simms (14:48):
Boy, Emily, it strikes me that is such a different message than saying, "We've screwed up the planet. It's all up to your generation. It's all up to you. It's all in your hands." You just gave people very different advice than to say that, which I think is great because I certainly hear my share of people say that and I have to imagine that makes people feel pretty weird, unempowered, frustrated, angry, et cetera. It feeds those feelings of climate anxiety presumably.
Dr Emily Fischer (15:17):
It also sends a message that I don't think it's important if I am dismissive and not putting it on my own to-do list. And so moving beyond that is important.
Cody Simms (15:29):
I also like how you acknowledge there are things each of us can do in our own lives, in our own household, in our own family that can demonstrate accountability, but it's never enough. It's not enough. No one family's actions are enough. And so it is incumbent on each of us as individuals, but it's maybe even more incumbent on each of us to push for the bigger changes outside of things in our own direct control and to help share that message with kids.
Dr Melissa Burt (16:05):
And I think the important thing about that is that the more and more we continue to talk with people about it, the more that we're working towards that collective goal. I think there is value in each of our families doing something because it feels like you're contributing. In society, we want to contribute. But the more that we can additionally contribute by talking with other people really brings that message forward and leads to greater action, which I think is one of the important pieces with Science Moms is really equipping moms with those tools to be able to use their voice in that way.
Cody Simms (16:39):
I want to definitely spend some time on examples of collective action, which I think is the phrase you all advocate for, that parents can do with their kids or can demonstrate for their kids. Before we do that, Melissa, just to double click on the last remark you made, it feels like, and we hear this at MCJ too, one of the biggest challenges is just how to even feel confident in what you know and what you don't know in order to get started. It's hard to just jump in and take action if you don't feel like you have a grasp on all the facts or have a grasp on what climate change even really is or what the causes are or what the impacts are going to be. You could spend years reading books or listening to podcasts trying to get smart on this stuff. At some point, not everyone is going to be a professor of atmospheric science. How much do you need to know and where should people go to feel like they've at least got enough knowledge to start?
Dr Melissa Burt (17:42):
And I would agree, we don't all have to be climate scientists or atmospheric scientists to be able to work on the problem. What we say to other moms is that the science behind climate change is pretty simple in that we know that as we continue to put fossil fuels into the atmosphere, we're creating this carbon blanket or pollution blanket around the earth and the thicker and thicker that blanket gets the warmer and warmer our planet's going to be. And that's generally all that it is. That's all you need to know. But then the impacts of that are the greatest pieces, the increases in temperatures, the melting of ice, the increase in wildfires, and all of those different components.
(18:23):
I think we really speak to you don't need to know all of the information to be able to work towards the problem. And if you needed to spend decades in school, some of us did that, but we don't have to do that in order to be able to work through this. That's the message that we really try to share. There's lots of books. This is a great podcast where you can learn about it. On our website, we have some great videos or snippets that really teach you about the science of climate change in less than 30 seconds.
Dr Emily Fischer (18:48):
I mean, really all you need to understand is we need to phase out fossil fuels. The use of all fossil fuels needs to be phased out as fast as humanity can do that. And that's that. You don't need a Ph.D. to work on that and push for that solution. And there'll be fantastic air quality benefits in addition to the climate benefits.
Yin Lu (19:07):
Hey, everyone. I'm Yin, a partner at MCJ Collective here to take a quick minute to tell you about our MCJ membership community, which was born out of a collective thirst for peer-to-peer learning and doing that goes beyond just listening to the podcast.
(19:20):
We started in 2019 and have grown to thousands of members globally. Each week we're inspired by people who join with different backgrounds and points of view. What we all share is a deep curiosity to learn and a bias to action around ways to accelerate solutions to climate change. Some awesome initiatives have come out of the community. A number of founding teams have met, several nonprofits have been established, and a bunch of hiring has been done. Many early-stage investments have been made as well as ongoing events and programming like monthly women in climate meetups, idea jam sessions for early-stage founders, climate book club, art workshops, and more.
(19:54):
Whether you've been in the climate space for a while or just embarking on your journey, having a community to support you is important. If you want to learn more, head over to mcjcollective.com and click on the members tab at the top. Thanks and enjoy the rest of the show.
Cody Simms (20:09):
How do you handle the political implications of saying that where you may have parents whose kids are legitimately concerned about climate change but have grown up in a political environment that doesn't think phasing out fossil fuels is the right path?
Dr Emily Fischer (20:30):
What's nice about Science Moms is that we are motivated by the love for our kids, and every parent loves their children. And a stable climate is the best gift that you could give your children. And so that is not a political thing. That is sort of a universal love thing.
(20:57):
And so in many ways that takes some of the politics out of this because we are not politicians. I'm not concerned so much with how this transition occurs. It needs to occur in a just, equitable way, but I'm not attached to one technology over another one. I'm attached to the idea that parents love their children like I love my children and parents want to work toward a more stable future for their kids. So we haven't had political problems on the Science Moms front because we're coming at it from this shared parenthood space.
Dr Melissa Burt (21:48):
We come together as nonpartisan. We don't talk about it from a political standpoint at all. But that shared value of being mothers and parents is where we enter into it. And as we have conversations with the community is really getting people to think about what is that value? What is something that you care about? And really speaking about it from the lens of it potentially looking different in the future. And so that's sort of the angle and the spin that I've chosen to talk about it with because if you can connect with people specifically at the heart of what is meaningful to them, then they oftentimes will come around and see it even if you don't use the words climate change or fossil fuel or anything like that. So really connecting with them as individuals related to what they care about.
Cody Simms (22:34):
I'm curious Emily, since you spent a lot of time working on wildfires in particular, to what extent do people's concerns level up to broad climate change relative to more specific individual things they may be facing like wildfires or floods?
Dr Emily Fischer (22:55):
I think in the West now, people are realizing that wildfires are increasing and there is an understanding that there's a climate component to that. And so that jump is being made. We get that question all the time. And so on the wildfire issue, I think there is good public connection between fires are getting worse and some of this is due to climate change. And there is also this connection that fires are getting worse, climate change is causing some of this, this is an air quality issue. And I've never met a parent who wants their children breathing dirty air. There's something just visceral about that. You want your kids to breathe clean air.
(23:41):
And so on that I feel like there's good connection. I don't work on floods as much, but locally here there are watershed implications associated with some of the recent megafires that occurred particularly in Colorado in 2020, and I think that connection is being made to, "Wow, gosh, even after the fire is over, the land is different, the access to the outdoors is different, and wow, that river is dirty with ash." And so I think those connections are being made in the West now.
Cody Simms (24:15):
I have one more political question to ask, which is in addition to people whose orientation may not be one where they're fully believing about climate change. I run into parents who have a different issue, which is they know there's a problem. Their kids know there's a problem. They want to engage their community, whether it's their parents or their brother or sister as adults, or they're good friends and those people don't want to engage with them. And so yes, there's an aspect of I want to talk to my kids about this, I want to engage my kids, I want to engage my family, and I have this uncle who, "Oh man, I know Thanksgiving is going to be terrible," or whatever it may be. What advice do you have for concerned parents who can't figure out how to engage the other people in their lives that they care about around this topic to support their work as they work with their kids?
Dr Emily Fischer (25:18):
One thing I would think about there is there's no reason why working on climate-related issues has to be confrontational, dismal, or unfun. I think one of the ways in my community that I show joy and also work on this issue is zooming around on my E-bike, which is so fun. And I think there's other examples there of working on things in a way that is not necessarily preachy, but is like, "Look at this. This is so much better and so much fun. Don't you want to do this?" And I think there's no better advertisement, for example, for me, for an E-bike than I'm rolling into school. My kid is on the back and she's like, "Wow, that's so fun." We're not late and we're not stuck in the pickup line or the drop-off line. I don't tell anybody you should get an E-bike. I'm just like, "Oh, I'm in. I'm out. Kids dropped off, helmets go, and see you." There's ways to do things by just doing them without the preachiness. That works really well, I think.
Dr Melissa Burt (26:26):
And I think that sparks a conversation. Even though you're not saying it, Emily, they're like, "What is that?" That sort of thing. Or even, I don't have an E-bike, but I do have an electric vehicle. And even a conversation in the drop-off line with the lady helping my kid out of the car, she's like, "I can't open your door handles." And so we talk a little bit about, "Okay, what's this car? Do you like it? How is it like this?" I'm not preaching, although it is shiny and nice and new and fun, but really just sparking conversations with people in a maybe unpretentious manner.
Cody Simms (27:03):
Yeah, it's a good reminder. Your job isn't necessarily to sway the entire world to your worldview in any way, and you shouldn't put pressure on yourself to do it probably. But to the extent you're modeling behaviors that are positive and they come across as being more convenient, lower cost, better performance, whatever the thing may be, other people are going to be interested.
(27:31):
You have on your website a list of myths and facts about climate change. A number of them are what I would expect. Myths is climate change a natural phenomenon or human caused? Is climate change settled science? I think many of us listening to this podcast probably feel okay being able to talk about those things. One that I thought was really interesting was a myth that it might get bad, but America can handle it. It's almost like this, "I feel bad for climate change. It's going to impact a bunch of people over there, but we're probably going to be fine." And that you have labeled as a myth.
Dr Melissa Burt (28:05):
I think the point is that we can't do this alone. Many different countries are impacted by climate change, many of which didn't even have a stake in the game. And so how do we bring everyone in together to be able to work towards that effort? And we shouldn't be a savior as America or the United States. We should really think about how can we get all of the places here together, a part of this together to work on the issue.
Dr Emily Fischer (28:31):
So I would say America has major coastal cities that we love. If sea level rises to the height that it could, if we don't act on climate change, America cannot handle that in a way that we want to live. Yes, I guess we can handle anything, but how do you want to live? Do you want to live in a world where New York is underwater? No. Do you want to be chronically living with megafires in the West at a five-year return cycle? No. I think there's this good part about Americans that we feel resilient and feel big and important and capable and that's awesome, but the scale of which we're talking about here is large, and so we need to invest in climate change.
Cody Simms (29:23):
I want to turn my attention to the thing you both talked about earlier, which is this idea of collective action, this idea of doing something that's bigger than you or your family and modeling that for your kids or involving them in it. What are some great examples of this?
Dr Melissa Burt (29:41):
We talk a lot about swapping things out, swapping out dirty fossil-fueled cars for electric vehicles if you can do that, understanding that everybody can't do that, or thinking about getting rid of your gas stoves and switching those to electric stoves, so swapping out things like that. I think we talk a lot about getting people to share the message, share your concerns, to share what you've learned and advocate for others to be a part of that space and really to use your voice to speak up and to speak up loudly. For everyone listening today, you're here listening, but then how can you share what you learned here and talk to others within your community so collectively we can work towards that larger goal?
Dr Emily Fischer (30:24):
I often really encourage people to speak up, which I know is hard. That's a scary thing sometimes.
Cody Simms (30:32):
People don't want to feel preachy for sure, right?
Dr Emily Fischer (30:34):
You don't. But you can speak up by asking questions. You don't have to have every answer to ask good questions. And you can also practice speaking up in whatever feels like the lower stakes way for you socially. So if you think about all the people that represent your interests, it comes from maybe all the way from your, if you have an HOA or a renters association or your school board or your county commissioner, you can go all the way up to your senator, your state senator, all the way up at the national level just simply asking, "What are you doing given your responsibilities? What's your climate plan?" And you can ask that in a way that's genuine, and if they don't have one, just you asking will push them to start thinking about it. "What's your climate plan?" Ask everybody who you could ask that question of and see what the responses are. "Hey, do you need any help on that?" That kind of thing. That sort of speak up toward collective action does not have to be confrontational in any way. It can be curious,
Dr Melissa Burt (31:51):
Especially our elected leaders, they want to be responsive for the most part to their constituencies. If you ask the question, they need to respond to you because they really want to stay in the positions in which they have or be responsive to the people that are within their community. So everyone doesn't like to call, but you can write or we have letters on our website that will directly be sent to your local senators.
Cody Simms (32:18):
I love the notion... And obviously look, in addition to the work I do with MCJ, I co-founded Climate Changemakers, which is a political action nonprofit that does both 50(c)(3) and 50(c)(4) work, so directly leaning into political issues around climate. But getting political for some people can feel really scary, even though I would advocate that you can do it in community and it's not scary. You just have to start. But I like Emily in particular that you led with, "Sure, you can write your elected officials or your senators or whatever, but you could also just start with your school board or your HOA." Who are the people in your world that have some decision-making influence on things that are maybe one step larger than your family and how do you ask them what their plans are, feels like a really good way to just start getting started.
Dr Emily Fischer (33:10):
We have to make these changes at every level here, and so it's a good idea to not lose focus that local collective matters as much as larger-scale collective actions.
Cody Simms (33:26):
Team sports leagues. Maybe that's another one. Just thinking about the ways that you are involved in your community and even the ways your kids are involved in the community too.
Dr Emily Fischer (33:34):
I'm also a soccer coach, so yes, that speaks to me.
Cody Simms (33:41):
We're starting to run up on time. You all both are doing busy, important work in this field broadly, not just showing up on my podcast, so thank you. What are resources related to Science Moms for folks who want to dive in and learn more?
Dr Melissa Burt (33:57):
From those who really enjoy reading, we have a number of books that are on our website for you to have conversations with your kids, to have conversations within your book clubs. That's always a great way to start. We have also some YouTube videos or just videos in general that really speak about the science of climate change and to learn a little bit more about what we do and why we do what we do is also a fun place to start.
Dr Emily Fischer (34:25):
We have a pretty good set there of things on how to strike this combination of educate yourself and there's outside resources for talking with kids of various ages. The Science Moms website is a really good place to start. Just as a side note too, I helped with an article for Outside Magazine where we went through all the different ways to talk to kids about climate change. Those resources are linked there and they're also linked at the Science Moms website.
Cody Simms (34:58):
Sciencemoms.com. And then lastly, any social media channels, resources, people you recommend folks follow for anyone who's spending their day looking at Instagram or wherever?
Dr Emily Fischer (35:11):
You can follow Science Moms. They should probably also follow you.
Cody Simms (35:14):
We'll take that. Sure. MCJ Collective. Look us up on Instagram for sure.
(35:19):
Lastly, just a note that I am in awe of both of you in that you are leading academic experts in your field and clearly also in addition to that are experts at communication, and that is not easy.
Dr Emily Fischer (35:37):
Thank you for that.
Dr Melissa Burt (35:38):
Thank you. Despite my wifi.
Cody Simms (35:43):
For listeners, hopefully it's seamless for you, but we've had all sorts of wifi challenges, and I'm sitting here in Southern California in an atmospheric river of rain. I'm sure there's all sorts of external factors there. But really grateful for the work that you all are doing. I hope a number of our listeners go check out Science Moms and also refer it to their friends. Have your friends check out Science Moms. Any one of us has to find our path for getting started to lean in to understanding climate change, and no matter where you are on that journey, there are resources for you out there. And I think the work you all are doing is just phenomenal in helping people find their voice and find how to get involved and find how to engage their families and their kids in that work.
Dr Melissa Burt (36:28):
Thank you for having us.
Dr Emily Fischer (36:29):
Thanks so much for having us and for pushing the conversation forward.
Cody Simms (36:34):
Thank you.
Jason Jacobs (36:35):
Thanks again for joining us on the My Climate Journey podcast.
Cody Simms (36:39):
At MCJ Collective, we're all about powering collective innovation for climate solutions by breaking down silos and unleashing problem-solving capacity.
Jason Jacobs (36:48):
If you'd like to learn more about MCJ Collective, visit us at mcjcollective.com, and if you have a guest suggestion, let us know that via Twitter @mcjpod.
Yin Lu (37:01):
For weekly climate op-eds, jobs, community events, and investment announcements from our MCJ venture funds, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter on our website.
Cody Simms (37:11):
Thanks and see you next episode.
