- Welcome to UW Space Place.
Tonight is our monthly
guest speaker night
and tonight I'm pleased to
introduce Brenna Holzhauer,
who is with the Aldo Leopold
Nature Center here in Madison,
not really too far
away from Space Place,
where she is the director
of exhibits and
digital curricula.
And Brenna is an alum
of UW-Madison
and works, of course,
on educational programs
at the Aldo Leopold
Center, sometimes with us.
We've collaborated with Aldo
Leopold on a few programs.
But her talk tonight
is related to some
of the educational
programs and exhibits
that they have over at
the Aldo Leopold Center.
So, if you haven't been there,
I think she's got a brochure
to hand out or something
and I'm sure you can find
Aldo Leopold Nature Center
on the web.
So, tonight, Brenna
is going to talk
about climate change
from global to local.
So, we should welcome her here.
(applause)
- Thank you.
Can you hear me okay?
I'll talk loudly.
So, thank you very
much for having me.
I'm really excited to be here
and talk to you a little bit
about some of the climate
education programs
that we have at
the Nature Center
and just some things that
I've learned along the way
as I've been
developing curriculum.
So, here's a really
brief overview
of what we'll be
talking about tonight.
First, I'll give a quick
background and bio,
so you know who I
am and why I'm here.
We'll talk very quickly
about climate change basics,
which is a challenge to
cover in just a few minutes,
but I'll do my best.
We'll be talking about
climate change locally,
some of the impacts and what
we're seeing in Wisconsin.
And then I'll talk more about
teaching about climate change
and some things
that I've learned
and tips and tricks
I have for teachers
and educators and
general citizens
who are interested in
teaching about talking,
sorry, teaching
about climate change
and talking about
climate change.
And then we'll just end with
some things that we can all do
and places we can learn more.
So, who am I and
how did I get here?
I was born in Milwaukee.
I also grew up
part-time on a farm
in Gays Mills, Wisconsin, which
is in the rural southwestern
driftless area of the state.
And I also went to grad
school in Washington, DC.
So I've done a little bit of
bopping around and ended up,
I'm very happy to
be back in Madison
where I got my undergrad
degree in anthropology.
I changed majors several times
and covered a whole spectrum
of science and social science.
I ended up with anthropology
and then I worked a
few different museums
and educational
centers in Milwaukee.
I went to grad school
at the George Washington
University in D.C.,
where I got my master's
in museum education,
and then I moved back to,
I worked at the U.S.
Botanic Garden in D.C.
I also was involved
with the D.C. Environmental
Education Consortium,
and I managed the education
department at Earth Day Network.
And then I came back to Madison,
and I've been with the
Aldo Leopold Nature Center
for going on five years
where I've been the director
of exhibits and
digital curriculum.
And I also have been
coordinating Nature Net,
which is a consortium of
different environmental
education sites and centers
in south central Wisconsin.
And then I've, along the
way, I've taken an interest
in environmental issues,
science, and, in particular,
climate change and
climate science.
So I've done a lot of
education along the way
and then professional
development.
I took a graduate course through
the Ohio State University.
I've been very involved
for several years
in the NOAA Climate
Stewards Education Project.
I was a regional leader
for a couple years
in the central region.
And then I was selected
last year to be trained
by the Climate Reality
Project where I learned a lot
about communicating
about climate change,
and I went to South Africa
and did a three-day training,
pretty intensive, which
was a great experience.
I got a lot of
fresh perspectives
and a good global perspective.
I've been involved with WICCI,
the Wisconsin Initiative
on Climate Change Impacts,
and I'm currently on a committee
with the Wisconsin Academy
talking about climate
and energy initiatives
in Wisconsin.
So, I think, I just wanted to
mention all of those things
because I think as climate
change is such a broad topic
and it's constantly evolving
and there's so much science,
and then when you add different
educational approaches
and solutions and all
the different things
that are involved, it's
really helpful for me
to just keep on learning,
making new connections
and partnerships and relying
on a lot of the great experts
and resources that
are out there.
So I work right now at the
Aldo Leopold Nature Center
where we, our mission
is to teach the student
to see the land, to
understand what he sees,
and enjoy what he
understands, which is a quote
from the famed Wisconsin
conservationist Aldo Leopold.
So we infuse his
land ethic into all
of our teachings and programs.
We do a lot of hands-on guided,
high-tech, high-touch
experiences.
Children and adults
come to discover
and explore the wonders
of the natural world.
So, for about 20 years,
we've been doing environmental
education programs,
mostly outdoors and then
in our classroom spaces,
and about three years ago
we did a big renovation
and added a whole new wing
full of indoor exhibits
and technology to teach about
climate and climate change.
So that's been my main project
is developing the curriculum
and all of the
exhibits over there.
So, just a quick overview
of what we have there
so you know where I'm
(laughs) coming from
with all this information.
We do all of our
programs, no matter what,
even if they use the
indoor technology,
we always have some
connection with the outdoors.
We're always getting
kids involved
in hands-on
environmental learning.
And then now we have
the capacity to do a lot
of interactive investigations
using touchscreens
and lots of hands-on
indoor technology as well.
We have a science on a sphere,
which is an exhibit
put together by NOAA,
the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration,
and it's basically a spherical,
global projection system.
So we have hundreds of data sets
and real time
satellite information
and visualizations we can use
to talk about all different
kinds of Earth science and more.
A new project that
I've been working on,
which will be opening
in a couple weeks,
I'm really excited about,
is our immersion theater
where we'll be able to have
this immersive environment
with a panoramic screen
where we can show
even more Earth science visuals
and then we're going to
have a whole new suite
of astronomy software as well,
so that'll be really exciting.
I hope all of you can
come check it out.
And then we just
have a whole bunch
of different other
hands-on exhibits
kind of infused
throughout this area.
So, now I'm going
to talk a little bit
about climate change basics.
And I sort of use
that term ironically
because (laughs) it's
really hard to talk
about the basics
of climate change.
It's a very complicated topic.
I know you can't
necessarily read this chart,
but I put it up here
just so you can see.
This is the framework
that I developed
when I was starting to put
together a digital curriculum,
and I soon realized
that there are
so many interconnecting topics
and different
things to talk about
and they're all
overlapping with each other
in so many different ways.
So the main themes that
I broke out are climate,
energy, green building,
weather, renewable energy,
phenology, which is the
science of appearance,
so observing and
recording things
that are happening in nature,
humans and society,
and then local stories.
So those were kind
of the main themes
that I wanted our visitors and
our students to understand.
And as you can see,
they all sort of weave
in and out of each other.
So, tonight I'm going
to talk a little bit
about some of the,
I'm pulling some things
out of our curriculum,
namely focused on
what is climate,
how does climate work,
how is it changing?
Then we'll talk a little bit
about some local impacts,
and we'll talk a little bit
about solutions as well.
And if you want to learn about
all the rest of the topics,
you can come visit us
at the nature center.
So, as I'm talking, this is
basically what I've put together
as far as climate change basics.
We mainly teach students.
Our main focus is K-12, but
we also have a lot of adult
and upper level content as well.
So, my apologies if I sound
like I'm talking to kids
because that's who I'm used
to talking to most of the day.
But I do think it's a great way
to kind of tie
everything together
and make sure people have
a basic foundational
understanding, even adults.
So we've broken down a lot
of these really complicated
topics into something hopefully
that's a little more
easy to understand.
So, the way we've
been defining climate
is climate is made up of
the weather of an area
averaged out over months
and seasons to many years.
Many scientists define
climate as the averages
over a period of 30 years.
And climate helps us understand
what to expect in our area.
It's a series of
patterns and averages.
It's large-scale
and really complex.
It has to do with the long-term
condition of all parts
of the Earth's system that
are exchanging energy.
So that includes
land, oceans, air,
even things coming
in from outer space.
Each of Earth's systems affects
and is affected by the others.
They're constantly changing,
but overall they're
largely balanced,
and they make up the conditions
of our planet called Earth.
Another topic that we try to
make sure people understand
right off the bat
is the difference
between climate and weather,
which can be very confusing
because weather is a
huge part of climate,
but they're not
necessarily the same thing.
So, weather is what's
happening in the sky
and the air around us right now,
and it's constantly changing.
And when you add up all the
weather that's happening
for a long time across
Earth, you get climate.
So we say climate
is what you expect,
weather is what you get.
And climate, another way that
I think helps kids understand
is climate helps you
know what kind of clothes
to have in your closet,
and weather helps you
decide what to wear today.
Another good analogy is
climate is like a long book
about the Earth, and weather
is what you read on one page.
So, talking about how
climate works, really,
everything comes
back to the energy
that Earth receives
from the sun.
Earth receives a
large amount of energy
from the sun each day, and
it's not distrusted evenly
across the whole planet.
It hits the equator more
than it hits the poles.
So Earth's climate system
is what distributes
and uses the energy
through a variety
of interacting
cycles and systems.
So these are some of the
many cycles and systems
that are involved in
the climate system.
So we have the atmosphere,
then when you have the
atmosphere plus solar energy,
you get the greenhouse effect.
I'll talk more about all
of these in just a minute.
We talk about the carbon cycle.
We talk about the water cycle.
We talk about energy and
how plants use energy
and chemistry,
energy from the sun,
to make food for themselves
which then feeds,
through photosynthesis,
feeds into the food chains
and relates to ecosystems.
So there's all of these
different, broad things
that are happening
all over our planet,
but they're all interconnected.
So, when we're talking
about the atmosphere,
we're talking about the air
that surrounds us
and the planet,
and it helps to moderate
solar energy and temperature.
It's where the water cycle
and the energy cycle
interact to make weather.
The greenhouse effect is a
naturally occurring layer
of gases around Earth that
are protective, insulating,
and really help to regulate
the temperature on our planet.
They allow sunlight to enter,
and they trap heat
on the way out,
similar to the walls
of a greenhouse.
The carbon cycle,
every living thing
and many nonliving things on
our planet all contain carbon,
and it's, they all
store energy in carbon
and release as they
decompose, as they breathe,
as they are burned,
or as they're eaten.
One of the basic
physical properties
of carbon dioxide is
that it traps heat,
which will come
up later. (laughs)
Then, when we talk
about the water cycle,
we always tell kids
that Earth has a
limited amount of water,
and it's always moving
around the whole planet
and changing forms.
It's really important
in our weather system,
and it's important in all
of its different states.
So, liquid water obviously is
a huge freshwater resource.
It's also the oceans, which
make up 70% of Earth's surface,
play a very important role
in regulating Earth's
temperature, carbon levels,
energy exchanges,
weather and climate,
ice helps regulate
temperature, and then water
in its gas or vapor form
is a really key component
of the atmosphere and
the greenhouse effect.
And then ecosystems,
Earth is covered
with an infinite number
of overlapping ecosystems
that connect its
plants, animals,
and all the different
specific ranges of habitat,
including the land,
air, and water.
So, when we talk about
climate change basics,
we're pretty much (laughs)
talking about everything.
So, just to take a
closer look at atmosphere
and the greenhouse effect,
because I think this is
a key point to understand
if you're going to
understand what's happening
with climate change and
with global warming.
So, solar radiation in the
form of light waves passes
through the atmosphere,
and light waves are shorter
so they can penetrate
the atmosphere.
And then they enter
Earth's system,
they're absorbed by
Earth's land and oceans,
and then some of it is
radiated back into space
in the form of infrared waves.
Infrared waves are longer
than the light waves,
and so some of them bounce
back out into space,
but some of them get trapped
by the atmosphere
on the way out.
So, some of this
outgoing radiation
then stays around the Earth
and starts to warm
the atmosphere, the
land, and the oceans.
I put this little tip
because in my programs
that I've been teaching,
I started to realize
that some people had no idea
what the greenhouse
effect was at all,
and some people have heard
of the greenhouse effect
but they think that it,
in and of itself, is bad.
And so I think it's
important to point out
that the greenhouse effect,
in and of itself, is not bad.
It's a major reason
we have life on Earth,
but when it's amplified
is when it starts
to have consequences on the
other systems of our planet.
So, without the
greenhouse effect,
Earth would just
be a huge ice ball
the same temperature
as outer space.
And because I'm
speaking on Space Place,
I thought it would be good to
show (laughs) some planets.
But I think this is
an interesting way
to talk about how important
Earth's atmosphere is.
Earth is sometimes called
the Goldilocks planet
because it's just right.
We have just the right
amount of atmosphere
and we're just the right
distance from the sun
that our temperature
allows us to have life,
and it allows us to
have the water cycle
and be home to the three
different states of water
so that we can house water
in solid form, liquid form,
and gas form, which
is really important
for sustaining all of the
other systems on our planet.
So we have, you can
see here that Earth,
on average, is about
15 degrees Celsius.
Then our next
neighbor over, Venus,
is about 457 degrees Celsius.
And you might say that's because
Venus is closer to the sun,
but if we look at Mercury,
you can see that it's
not as hot as Venus,
and that's because
Venus has a really,
really thick atmosphere.
So the greenhouse effect
on Venus is off the charts.
And I think an interesting
fact is that Earth
and Venus have about the same
amount of carbon dioxide,
but on Earth the
carbon is buried
and on Venus it's all
in the atmosphere.
So it's just kind of an
interesting case study we have.
And that image of Venus,
I should point out,
was actually taken by radar.
Because the atmosphere
is so thick,
we can't see the actual planet.
So, just an example of a
run away greenhouse effect.
And then I threw this picture on
because I think it kind
of helps to point out
how fragile and thin
our atmosphere is.
So, I've heard it compared
to like the varnish
on a globe or the
skin on an apple,
if you're comparing the
atmosphere with the Earth.
If you're driving a car at
highway speeds straight up,
you would reach the top of
the sky in about five minutes.
So think about all
the distances on Earth
you could cover in five minutes,
and then driving straight
up helps you realize
how vulnerable and
fragile our atmosphere is.
Okay, so now we're going
to talk a little bit
about how climate is changing.
And it's good to note
that changes are happening
in all of Earth's systems.
I'm gonna start out
by talking about
how kind of our energy
cycle is changing.
And that has to do with,
(clears throat) excuse
me, fossil fuels.
And so fossil fuels, many
of you probably know,
but they're the remains
of plants and animals
that have been trapped
and pressurized
for millions of years.
And so the carbon has
been kind of locked away
from the carbon cycle
for all that time.
But humans have figured out how
to convert this
concentrated stored energy
into heat and electricity,
and now it's starting
to be released
through combustion
into the atmosphere.
So you can see, since 1850
when the Industrial
Revolution really took off,
the global carbon emissions
from fossil fuels
have really increased.
And you can see
I have this graph
which shows carbon dioxide
concentration and temperature
over a couple hundred
thousand years,
and you can see they've ebbed
and flowed over the years.
There are these natural cycles.
You can also see the
red line is temperature,
the blue line is CO2,
and you can see the very close
relationship between the two.
And then, it's a
little hard to see,
but if you look at today way
over in the right-hand corner,
you can see the blue
line is off the chart,
and that's carbon
dioxide concentrations.
This, I know it's tiny, but
I just wanted to mention
that we talk a lot
about carbon dioxide,
but there are other greenhouse
gases that are released
through our industry
and technology as well,
including methane
and nitrous oxide,
and those are all sharply
increasing at the same time.
And so, this figure, again I
know these things are tiny,
but I'm just gonna
kind of move quickly.
We can always go back
if you have questions.
This figure shows the
amount of warming influence,
which is all the red bars,
or the cooling influence,
which is the blue bars.
And then it shows
human influences,
which is the top
part of the chart,
and then there's
that tiny little bar
that shows natural influences,
which is mostly solar,
and then you can see the very
last bar is the total net.
And so you can see
that when you add
all of those things together,
the warming and the cooling
and the human and the natural,
that red bar at the bottom
shows the warming influences
that humans are having.
And this is another way of
looking at the information
that you can read
a little better.
This is change in annual
global temperature
from 1880 to 2010.
So you can see every year
fluctuates a little bit.
And we're talking average
global temperature.
So this is all the
local temperatures
of all the different
regions added together.
And some years are warmer,
some years are colder,
but in general you can
definitely see a trend.
And I think it's important,
this is a good example
of why it's important to
look at long-term averages
in order to paint
a clear picture.
If you just took a small
chunk, like a decade or so,
it would tell a different story
than when you average out
the entire time period.
So, we're gonna talk about how
these changes are affecting
all of the other
systems on Earth.
So I mentioned we
have natural warming
from the greenhouse
effect, and then now,
because of carbon emissions
and other greenhouse gases
that we're adding
to the atmosphere,
we have amplified warming,
which means the
greenhouse effect,
the atmosphere is
doing a better job
at keeping our planet warm.
And so then this
has consequences
for all of Earth's systems.
So we have consequences
for the water cycle.
So, first of all, as
the atmosphere warms,
then the oceans
are also warming.
They're helping
to balance it out.
They're sucking a lot of heat.
As water warms, it expands.
So this is causing
sea level rises
and also causing
glaciers to melt,
which then adds
to sea level rise.
There's also more energy
in the water cycle
because of all this
extra heat and energy,
which is flowing
around and contributing
to more extreme weather.
And with each additional
degree Celsius of temperature,
the atmosphere's capacity
to hold water vapor
increases by 7%,
which is why we're
seeing a lot more
extreme precipitation
events and extreme weather.
The oceans, in addition
to helping to absorb heat,
they're also helping to
absorb all the extra carbon
that's in the
atmosphere right now,
which is having
consequences on marine life,
and all the carbon in
the oceans is starting
to acidify the
oceans and having,
it's starting to eat away
at hard-bodied marine
life such as corals.
So there's having a lot of
impact on marine ecosystems
and then also
ecosystems on land.
You can see these
different colors represent
different forest types,
and you can see how they're
shifting northwards.
So, in the recent past,
from 1960 to 1990,
Wisconsin and some of
the northern states
and the southern states
had very different
forest composition
than they will
by the end of the 21st century.
And so with those
forests changing,
you can imagine all the
other plants and animals
that live in those ecosystems
are going to have to
either migrate or
adapt or die off.
Arctic ecosystems are
especially sensitive
because they rely on the cold,
and all of those
animals have adapted
to their habitats being cold
and they can't go
any further north,
or south of they're
on the South Pole.
And so those ecosystems
are especially vulnerable.
And then, of course, this is
just a few of the changes,
but all of these impacts
are effecting humans
and society as well.
So now we're going to talk a
little bit about climate change
in Wisconsin and how
some of these changes
are happening close to home.
So, this maps shows changes
in average temperature
from 1950 to 2006.
And here's the
temperature scale.
So you can see not
every part of the state
is being affected equally.
The northwestern
parts are warming up,
or have been warming up
a little more quickly.
But you can see that the
Madison area has increased
by about one degree over
the past 50 or so years.
Then this second
map shows how much
the average temperature
is predicted
to increase from 1980 to 2055.
And then, again, talking
about those ecosystem shifts
and the different forest types,
this is a snapshot of kind of
the Midwest and the northeast,
and you can see how those
have been changing already
and are predicted to change.
And so, if you extrapolate
those forest changes
to other types of plants, if
you're a gardener or a farmer,
you know that if the
plant zones are projected
to shift one half to one
full zone every 30 years,
then we're going to have
to change the plants
that we're planting.
It'll change crop yields.
It'll change the hardiness
of different species.
This is another local example.
We're fortunate here at the
University of Wisconsin.
We have one of the
longest running
ice covered data
sets in the world.
And so, scientists at
the university have
been keeping track
of ice-on and ice-off
dates each winter
since the late 1850s.
And so, over the course
of those records,
we now have about a
month fewer days of ice
in the winter on Lake Mendota.
And, actually, I think
Lake Monona is even more.
I think it's about
36 or 38 days.
So that's just a good example
of a very gradual
shift that's happening.
Some of you who are older
might remember the days
when there was more ice or
you could do more ice fishing.
And I always hear of
these things anecdotally,
but it's nice to see some
actual graphical information
that shows this.
And I want to point out,
because this is another
question that I get a lot,
so we're talking about one
degree or six degrees of change,
and that doesn't seem
like a lot to some people.
I bet the temperature changed
six degrees outside today
(laughs) just with our weather,
but it's just good to reiterate
that we're talking
about averages over
long periods of time.
And so those little,
those small increments
can really add up and
make a big difference.
So the length of time that
Lake Mendota is covered
by ice each year has decreased
by six days per
decade since 1956.
The average temperature
during this time
has increased less
than two degrees.
So that two-degree
difference is having
that bigger difference
on the ice cover
and all the other systems.
So, just a couple more changes
I'm going to run through
that are happening
here in Wisconsin.
So we talked a little bit
about temperature changes.
So our hotter summers
that we can expect
will make the Midwest
feel more like the South.
So, averaging 15
different climate models
with a middle of the road carbon
dioxide emission scenario,
WICCI, the Wisconsin Initiative
on Climate Change Impacts,
has predicted that by around
the middle of the century,
Madison's climate
will be similar
to that of present
day central Illinois.
And then because changes
are even more extreme
in the northern
part of the state,
using the same modeling
tool and parameters,
a location near Minocqua,
which is northern Wisconsin,
is predicted to have
a climate similar
to that of
Whitewater, Wisconsin,
which is far southern Wisconsin.
So that will have impacts
on all the ecosystems
we talked about, all
the different species.
It'll also have impacts on
the drought that we're seeing
and all the different
temperature scales.
These are just a quick example
of some of the different species
that are especially
vulnerable to climate changes.
Some species, like the deer
tick, are actually thriving
because of some of
these climate changes.
So they have different
impacts on different species.
And they're leading to an issue
that we are calling
ecosystem mismatch,
where some species are
reacting differently
to the climate changes, some
species are able to migrate
and some aren't, and so
we're starting to find
that some species are
blooming earlier in the spring
but the birds that eat
them haven't migrated yet,
and so there's all these
different mismatches
that are happening that
are having myriad impacts
on different ecosystems.
So, we talked a little
bit about hotter summers,
but winters are
actually going to be,
the changes we're going to
see are even more drastic.
So, you can see the
predicted change
in winter average temperature
from 1980 to 2055 is anywhere
from about six to nine degrees.
One change we've been noticing
is decline in our lake levels.
So this is a graph
from Lake Michigan,
which also feeds
into Lake Huron,
so they average it all together.
And the annual
average lake level,
you can see in recent
decades, is much lower,
and that's because there's
a lot less ice cover
on the lakes, and warmer
water evaporates faster.
And, on average, as
temperatures are increasing,
it has less time
to replenish itself
and spends more
time evaporating.
And so we can think
about how these changes
are going to impact our
culture around Wisconsin,
our lifestyles, our
livelihoods, and our economics.
Just some other examples
I don't have up there,
besides recreation, we can
talk about fishing and hunting,
we can talk about maple
syruping, maple sugaring.
Maple trees are
especially susceptible
to changes in weather
and changes in climate.
There's a crucial
period in early spring
where they have
to freeze at night
and thaw during the day
to get the sap running,
and a lot of times
in recent years
it sort of skipped right
from winter into spring.
Spring is coming earlier,
and so that's changing
our maple sugaring season.
Lake levels are impacting
fishing and shipping.
So there's a lot of impacts,
and I'm happy to
talk more about that,
if you have
questions at the end.
So, now I'm just going to talk
a little bit about teaching
about climate change, and some
of the things I've learned
with different ages and
audiences that I've worked with.
So here are just a couple
things I wanted to point out.
And this is a common theme
when you are learning
about climate change.
A lot of times you'll
see really scary graphics
and extreme things
that are happening.
And there are a lot of
really terrifying statistics
when it comes to climate change.
There are a lot of scary
things that are happening.
I think one of my
favorite scary statistics
is from James Hansen,
the former director
of the NASA Goddard
Space Institute,
and he said that
the energy trapped
by manmade global warming
pollution is now equivalent
to exploding 400,000 Hiroshima
atomic bombs per day.
So, there's tons of
statistics like that,
and sometimes they're
really impactful
depending on your audience.
They can give a sense of urgency
and encourage people
to act quickly,
but it also depends
on your audience.
And my audience tends
to be kids a lot,
and so this stuff
doesn't work as well.
It's tempting to lay all the
harsh realities on the table.
Talking about extinction
and extreme weather
and all these ways that people
and animals are
going to be impacted,
but you have to take a
slightly different approach
with younger people.
And I think it's also
important to factor,
this is something I learned
from the Climate
Reality Project,
we talked a lot about factoring
our audiences' various budgets.
And some audiences have
different time budgets.
You might only have
five minutes with them,
so you're going to talk
about different things
than if you have a full hour.
Some audiences have
different complexity budgets
where they understand science
and more complicated issues.
And then some audiences have
a different hope budget,
which I think is something
that's really important.
And kids' hope budget
is completely different
than different
audiences of adults.
So, when I'm teaching about
climate change with young kids,
these are some of the things
I try to keep in mind.
I think it's really important
to cover the basics.
There's so many
technical details
and it's good to remind myself
that I'm not going
to cover everything
in the one-hour program that I
have with some first graders.
So I just pick a
couple basic concepts
that I really want to hit home,
try to keep things
multidisciplinary,
keep them interesting
and fun and engaging.
It's also helpful to keep
things standards based.
So whether you're
a classroom teacher
and you have
curricular standards
to follow in your classroom,
or you can find other
frameworks that exist,
I used the climate
literacy frameworks a lot,
which was put
together by a bunch
of different federal agencies,
and it's the essential
principles of climate science
that they recommend can
be used for individuals
and communities of all
different ages and backgrounds.
So it's just nice to
have kind of a framework
with benchmarks so you know
what your learning
objectives are.
It's great to use visuals,
metaphors, and models.
A lot of this stuff is
either invisible or happening
at such a scale that
it's really hard
to show concrete examples.
And as environmental
educators, we're very used to,
when we're talking
about aquatic insects,
we just go to the
pond and scoop some up
and have concrete
examples right there.
But that doesn't work as well
with a lot of these topics.
So it's important that
we have technology
where we can show a
lot of visuals, models.
This is our ecosphere exhibit
that we have at
the nature center.
And it's completely sealed
off, self-contained ecosystem.
And there are shrimp, and
there's algae in there.
And so everything balances
and there's great examples
of food chains, photosynthesis,
carbon and oxygen balance,
water cycle, and so we can
kind of scale things down.
Kids really get
this when they know
we don't have air holes in it.
They really start thinking
about how life works
and how everything
is working together,
and then we can scale it out
and compare it to
how our planet works.
The only thing coming in
from the outside is
energy from the sun,
much like planet Earth.
So it's a great model.
We also use just
very basic stories.
Sometimes we'll talk about,
especially with really,
really young kids,
we'll talk about
Earth being sick
or Earth having a fever
and the different symptoms
and what we can do to
make Earth feel better.
We use real data.
I just pulled up our
Science on a Sphere
where we can show
real satellite data,
which is really impactful.
We can pull up current
events and things
that are happening with weather.
So if it's something current,
kids are more likely
(laughs) to remember it
and know what we're
talking about,
so we can draw
those connections.
And then, again,
being experiential,
having active learning,
getting kids outside measuring
the weather that's happening,
measuring wind speed,
and then comparing that
to other records over time.
And just keeping
things age appropriate
with content and vocabulary
that we're using.
And then, I mentioned before,
avoiding kind of the
doom and gloom scenario
and being too overwhelming
because I think kids
just get really depressed
and shut down. (laughs)
And so some more types.
Just lay good foundation
and get kids familiar
with concepts and
with vocabulary
that you can build on later.
Connecting with kids and things
that they're interested in
and that are affecting them.
Kids, especially like
upper elementary,
really start to understand
fairness and empathy.
So you can talk about kind
of environmental justice
and working together,
integrating across
subject areas.
It doesn't always have
to be a science lesson.
You can bring up all
these different topics
in other curricular areas.
If you're not sure
about something,
if you're a teacher and
you don't feel qualified
to talk about climate science,
there are tons of outside
resources and experts,
or you can go on field trips,
like to the Aldo
Leopold Nature Center
where we're happy to talk
about it for you. (laughs)
You can also use controversy
and questions as
teachable moments.
Build open communication,
encourage inquiry.
These are just some other tips
that I've kind of come across.
It's important to explain how
averages and probability work.
That's a concept that's
sometimes difficult
for young kids.
So, flipping coins and
talking about things like,
one metaphor that I came
across that I liked is
if a baseball player is on
steroids, we can't be sure
that every single home run
he hits is due to this,
but we can say that the steroids
definitely increase the
likelihood of big hits.
The same can be said for extreme
weather events and climate.
Climate science is
very non-intuitive.
We're talking about large
scales and complex interactions.
Lots of cycles and
nonlinear processes,
which is difficult
to grasp for kids.
It's abstract and it also
extends beyond their lifespan.
So if we're talking about things
that happened a
couple decades ago,
they can't really comprehend
what that even means.
So, spend extra time discussing
this and making comparisons.
And then, again, hands-on
learning really sticks.
So get them outside
collecting data
or talking with older folks
and hearing anecdotes
and stories.
I also think it's important
to listen to your audience
and learn what they already know
or what they think they know
so you have a good starting
point of what you need to teach
and any misconceptions
that need to clear
up right off the bat.
And always allow for open
discussion and communication,
get various perspectives,
appreciate people's different
values and assumptions,
don't get bogged down
presenting both sides.
I have that little
graphic showing
that 97 out of 100
climate experts think
that humans are
causing global warming,
so I think it's safe
for us to consider that
when we're (laughs)
talking about the science.
Use reputable sources and sound
science, stick with facts,
and let students draw
their own conclusions.
It's also important
to acknowledge all
the natural cycles.
There are tons of
things going on
that are outside
of human control,
but there are some
human factors,
and those are the ones
that we need to focus on
because that's what we
do have control over.
And then focusing
on the big picture.
So, these are just a couple
quick examples I threw in
that we use in our
digital curriculum.
So, we talk a lot
with younger kids
about systems and cycles.
Again, clearing up
that basic foundation
of the difference between
weather and climate.
We talk a lot about
the nature of science
and how scientists use
tools and technology
and models and observing
and recording what they see.
We talk about the relationship
between Earth and humans,
which goes both ways.
We talk a lot about
what we can do.
We're very solutions
and choices focused.
We talk about adaptation
versus mitigation,
and also just innovation
and technology.
And then we integrate
games and quizzes
to kind of reinforce
a lot of the content.
So when we're talking
about climate change,
so I've mostly been
talking right now
about talking to
kids and students,
but I think it's really
important just for adults
and general population
to be talking
about climate change too.
Oh, it looks like this
graphic didn't show up.
I had a graphic that shows
that there was a
recent study done
by the Yale Project on
Climate Change Communication,
and they showed that 67%
of Americans strongly or
somewhat trust their family
and friends when it
comes to climate change
and global warming,
and that was second
under climate scientists.
There was a whole list of
other weather reporters,
the president, like all
different celebrities
and media personalities
and other kinds of
scientists, family doctors.
But, basically,
family and friends
was their second most trusted
source above all those people.
So, more Americans trust you
than nearly any other source
for information
about global warming.
But the other graphic
that didn't show up
showed that 61% hear
people they know talking
about global warming one
time per year or less.
So even though it's a very
trusted source of information,
they're just not
really hearing it.
So, hopefully these
(laughs) show up now.
But the point of all
that was to just show
that I think this should just
be an ongoing conversation
that is really prevalent
in our daily lives,
and you can bring it
up anytime, anywhere.
And specifically
when we're talking
about our families and friends,
I think it's important
to just get kids outside
and connected with the
environment using anecdotes
and personal stories,
things that might just come up
organically in conversation,
and using that as a starting
point for your discussion,
asking questions and
learning together.
If there's something
you don't know,
you can look it up together.
You can do research, you
can explore the topic.
I don't think many people know
every single thing
there is to know
about climate or climate change.
So, it's okay to learn together.
So, moving on to what we can do.
I threw this graphic in here.
This is the Blue Marble,
which is the most recent
human-taken space photo.
It was from December 7, 1972,
by the crew of Apollo 17,
and it's called the Blue
Marble photo by NASA.
And this photo was
really important
for kind of showing
all of us Earthlings
how our planet looked
from outer space
just floating in
the big black void,
and kind of showing how precious
and fragile our planet is
and how important it is
that we take care of it.
So, when we're talking
about solutions
and things we can do,
it's really important,
especially for kids,
that they take action
so they can feel in control.
And so these are just some
examples we use with the kids.
And it's really important
to focus on things
that families can do together,
like changing light bulbs,
turning off lights
when you leave a room,
planting a garden, composting.
Maybe you could do research
into installing solar
panels on your house.
You can get kids
involved in school.
They could join or start
environmental clubs
or make small changes
in their cafeteria.
So, getting kids very
active in the solutions
helps them feel like they have
some input in what's happening.
And the most important
thing is to talk about
why you're doing
all these things.
You can show by example and
you can instill good habits
in your kids, but it's
important to explain to them
why they're doing
what they're doing.
So, thinking about
all of our actions
is part of a bigger picture.
Where do things come from?
Where do they go?
What is the life
cycle of a product
that you're using
from cradle to grave?
And talking about
the pros and cons
of upfront costs versus
long-term tradeoffs.
It's also helpful to involve
technology in the process, and,
in addition to getting kids
outside in the natural world,
you can also use a lot
of tools and resources,
citizen science
projects, and mobile apps
and iPads and cell phones.
You can look up species.
You can record and analyze
data really easily.
So it's a great way to
have conversations together
and just have an
ongoing conversation
where your actions
and behavior changes
and conversations
are always evolving.
Talk about what you know
and learn more about
what you don't know.
And then I'm going to,
I think there's just
another minute or two left,
so I'll go through
these really quickly.
But there are so many
great resources out there,
if you want to learn more.
I know I covered
things really quickly,
and I'm happy to keep in touch.
My information's in the back,
if you'd like more
information on any of this.
But there's also tons of
other resources you can find.
This is a booklet
by the Wisconsin DNR
that has great lesson plans
and hands-on activities
for teaching a lot of the
concepts I talked about today.
Paradise Lost is a
program that infuses art
in teaching about climate change
in the Great Lakes region.
There's the Wisconsin Initiative
on Climate Change Impacts,
which I've mentioned
a couple times,
they put together a huge report
on how climate
change is impacting
all these different
sectors of Wisconsin,
different lifestyle categories
and all the different
environmental sectors
and municipal sectors,
and suggestions for
adaptations to those changes.
So they have really
great resources online.
Of course, Aldo
Leopold Nature Center,
we have our exhibit
area and we have tons
of great family programs and
information on climate change
and also just kind of
environmental and nature issues.
The Will Steger Foundation,
they're based in Minnesota
but a lot of the
information is the same,
and they talk a lot
about the same habitats
and species that we have,
and they have really
great curriculum.
There's the Wisconsin K-12
Energy Education Program.
The US Energy Information
Administration
has a great kids page on energy.
The NASA Global Climate
Change Climate Kids web page,
the Northern Great
Lakes Visitor Center
in northern Wisconsin
put together
a really great curriculum
called G-WOW, which stands for,
I'm going to botch this,
but it's an Ojibwe phrase
"Gikinoo'wizhiwe Onji Waaban"
which means guiding
for tomorrow,
and they talk about
climate change is impacting
all these different
native lifeways
and different species
and cultural traditions.
Then there's the US Global
Change Research Program,
which has really great global
and regional information.
The EPA has a student's guide
to global climate change,
which is good for all
different ages of students.
ClimateWisconsin.org
is a great website.
They worked with WICCI,
the Wisconsin Initiative
on Climate Change Impacts,
and the ECB, the Educational
Communications Board,
and they put together this
really great online resource
where they kind of pulled
out different stories
that were in the WICCI report,
and they interviewed
different people
from all walks of
life around Wisconsin,
and it talked about
some of these impacts
that are happening.
And then CLEAN and
the NOAA education.
CLEAN stands for
the Climate Literacy and Energy
Awareness Network,
and that has a whole
plethora of information
all divided by age level
and curriculum and topic.
So those are some great
resources that I recommend,
and I'm happy to share more
information on any of those.
And, at this point, I'd like
to say thank you very much
for having me.
It's been great talking to you,
and I look forward to
answering your questions.
(applause)