How can children learn the truth about climate change when many of them arrive in classrooms already carrying misinformation, anxiety, and a mental image of a polar bear stranded on an iceberg?

On this episode of Four Generations Talk Climate, host Dan Delurey (Boomer) is joined by Jono Anzalone (Gen X), Managing Director at Yale Program on Climate Change Communication; Suzie Hicks (Millennial), climate educator and media producer AKA “Suzie Hicks the Climate Chick”; and Hannah Testa (Gen Z), longtime climate advocate and Yale graduate student.

Together, they explore what climate education actually looks like for kids today, and why the classroom is only one part of the equation.

The conversation ranges from kindergarten climate lessons and misinformation on social media to the challenges teachers face when they don’t feel prepared to cover the subject. It also explores climate narratives in children’s media, AI, industry-funded messaging and the surprisingly powerful influence kids can have on their parents.

Ultimately, the group asks how climate can become less of a political or cultural flashpoint and more of an ordinary part of how we understand the world around us.

Timestamps

00:00 Meet this episode’s four generations

05:50 What are kids actually learning about climate change?

07:40 Teaching climate without telling kids the world is ending

10:25 Why climate education needs to be everywhere

13:50 Can kids change how their parents think?

17:00 Climate communication meets the AI dilemma

23:55 Misinformation has been in classrooms for generations

25:10 What climate education mandates need to get right

28:20 Climate, culture wars and finding common ground

31:55 How do we make climate part of everyday life?

Quotes

“A lot of the stuff that I do with kids is I have to be like, ‘No, the world isn’t ending. No, we’re not all going to die.’ First of all, where did you hear that?” – Suzie Hicks

“I think one of the most hopeful signs is there’s great empirically backed evidence that when kids talk to a parent, an elder, fill in the blank about something, it changes the adults’ attitudes, beliefs and behaviors.” – Jono Anzalone

“We’ve been trying to unravel that narrative since then, that it’s not something happening super far away, but it is part of our day-to-day lives.” – Hannah Testa

“I’m having trouble breaking through to other boomers, even boomers with kids.” – Dan Delurey

“My whole goal as a teacher is to also become a character that they relate to when they think of climate.” – Suzie Hicks

“I’ve had so many teachers that have truly built me up as a person and believed in me. And they are a huge support system.” – Hannah Testa

“I want to believe that we are all imperfect and don’t all have the solutions and just feel rest assured that we can point all of our energy towards the root cause of the issue and not tear ourselves apart.” – Jono Anzalone

“I just think we need to find a way to get the kids talking to their parents. And I think we need to exploit every way we can do that.” – Dan Delurey

Links

• Check out more from Four Generations Talk Climate

• Follow host and Boomer, Dan Delurey on LinkedIn

• Don’t forget the Gen Xer, Jono Anzalone

• Millennial Suzie Hicks needs her participation trophy

• Is Gen Z even on LinkedIn? Hannah Testa is!