WEBVTT - Katharine Hayhoe: Climate Scientist 0:00:04.640 --> 0:00:06.640 But if we can talk about climate change, what else 0:00:06.720 --> 0:00:08.879 might we be able to talk about? And here's how 0:00:08.920 --> 0:00:13.120 we do it. Rather than beginning by dumping scary facts 0:00:13.160 --> 0:00:16.640 on people, or by arguing, or by focusing on what 0:00:16.680 --> 0:00:20.040 we disagree on, we need to begin our conversations with 0:00:20.120 --> 0:00:22.960 something that we agree on. And if we don't know 0:00:23.079 --> 0:00:26.239 what we agree with somebody on, then ask the questions 0:00:26.320 --> 0:00:29.240 and learn about what matters to them until we figure 0:00:29.280 --> 0:00:31.800 out where we could possibly find a point of connection. 0:00:32.560 --> 0:00:36.040 Then connect the dots to how climate change affects what 0:00:36.080 --> 0:00:42.239 we both care about. That was Catherine Hayho, a climate 0:00:42.280 --> 0:00:45.320 scientist who was on a mission to save the planet, 0:00:45.800 --> 0:00:48.400 and she says that we can do that by having 0:00:48.560 --> 0:00:53.280 honest conversations with each other. I'm a land Revere. This 0:00:53.440 --> 0:00:57.160 is Seneca's one Women to Hear. We are bringing you 0:00:57.280 --> 0:01:01.280 one hundred of the world's most inspiring and history making 0:01:01.320 --> 0:01:06.920 women you need to hear. Katherine Hahoe refuses to give 0:01:06.959 --> 0:01:12.240 into despair about the climate crisis. She's chief scientist for 0:01:12.280 --> 0:01:18.080 the Natured Conservancy and a professor at Texas Tech. Her 0:01:18.120 --> 0:01:21.720 message about the need for communications seems to be getting across. 0:01:22.640 --> 0:01:26.080 She gave a TED talk about climate change that has 0:01:26.120 --> 0:01:31.720 been viewed more than four million times. In September, she 0:01:31.880 --> 0:01:36.600 published her latest book. It's called Saving Us, a Climate 0:01:36.720 --> 0:01:40.520 Scientist's Case, Her hope and healing in a divided world, 0:01:41.240 --> 0:01:45.640 and it's one praise from everyone from Margaret Atwood to 0:01:45.800 --> 0:01:52.320 Scientific American Listen and learn why Katherine Hahoe is one 0:01:52.360 --> 0:02:00.880 of Seneca's one hundred Women to hear. I've speaking today 0:02:00.920 --> 0:02:04.360 with Katherine hajo and we're so delighted to have this 0:02:04.520 --> 0:02:10.160 climate scientist with us. Catherine, you've done amazing work in 0:02:10.320 --> 0:02:14.280 terms of the climate issue, the existential threat of our time. 0:02:14.880 --> 0:02:18.640 You're the chief scientists for the Nature Conservancy, and you 0:02:18.720 --> 0:02:21.720 teach at Texas Tech, so that's quite a bit. And 0:02:21.760 --> 0:02:25.000 you were recently at the Climate Summit in Glasgow, and 0:02:25.040 --> 0:02:28.760 as someone who knows the subject so well, so deeply, 0:02:29.280 --> 0:02:31.720 I wonder how you would sum up the state of 0:02:31.760 --> 0:02:35.040 the world in terms of the climate threat today. Well, 0:02:35.160 --> 0:02:38.520 from the perspective of the science, it is not too 0:02:38.639 --> 0:02:42.360 cheerful because we know, in fact, we've known since the 0:02:42.480 --> 0:02:46.600 eighteen hundreds that digging up and burning coal and gas 0:02:46.639 --> 0:02:49.600 and oil produces heat trapping gases that are building up 0:02:49.600 --> 0:02:52.200 in the atmosphere, wrapping an extra blanket around the planet. 0:02:53.280 --> 0:02:57.120 We as scientists were so concerned about the potential impacts 0:02:57.160 --> 0:03:01.040 on humans on our society that scientists took the unprecedented 0:03:01.080 --> 0:03:05.000 step of formally warning a US president about the dangers 0:03:05.040 --> 0:03:09.400 of climate change in nineteen sixty five. And we have 0:03:09.560 --> 0:03:13.280 produced more than two thirds of our cumulative carbon emissions 0:03:13.360 --> 0:03:17.040 since that warning occurred. So in terms of the science, 0:03:17.200 --> 0:03:21.239 we truly are in a dire situation where every action matters, 0:03:21.280 --> 0:03:25.680 every year matters, every ton of carbon matters. But what 0:03:25.840 --> 0:03:30.160 gave me hope in Glasgow was seeing all of the 0:03:30.160 --> 0:03:33.160 people who were there. For so long, climate change has 0:03:33.200 --> 0:03:36.080 been perceived as a niche issue, one that matters to 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:40.800 climate scientists and environmentalists but not to everybody else. But 0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:43.760 the reality is climate change is a human issue, and 0:03:43.840 --> 0:03:46.400 no matter what we love, who we love, or where 0:03:46.440 --> 0:03:49.840 we love, all of these are already being affected by 0:03:49.840 --> 0:03:52.480 climate change today. And so what gave me so much 0:03:52.520 --> 0:03:56.200 hope in Glasgow was seeing the tens of thousands of 0:03:56.240 --> 0:04:00.760 people there from every walk of life, from industry, from nonprofit, 0:04:01.040 --> 0:04:07.920 young old from academia, theologians, um, religious leaders, negotiators, policy experts, 0:04:08.200 --> 0:04:12.720 medical professionals, everyone you can imagine was there because they 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:15.560 understood that climate change is in everything issue and in 0:04:15.720 --> 0:04:18.200 everyone issue, and you know, in order to want to 0:04:18.240 --> 0:04:19.839 fix it, we only have to be one thing, and 0:04:19.839 --> 0:04:22.480 that is quite literally just a human being living on 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:26.000 planet Earth. Oh that's so well said. I think one 0:04:26.000 --> 0:04:30.159 of the reasons that climate is an uncomfortable discussion at times, 0:04:30.279 --> 0:04:32.760 or their engagement hasn't been what it needed to have 0:04:32.920 --> 0:04:35.880 been and clearly needs to be ramped up, is that 0:04:36.120 --> 0:04:40.560 when scientists talk, it seems remote from everybody else. And 0:04:40.720 --> 0:04:43.040 you just gave a Ted talk not too long ago 0:04:43.080 --> 0:04:46.599 that's already had four million viewers, and you said in 0:04:46.600 --> 0:04:49.160 the talk that the single best thing we can do 0:04:49.279 --> 0:04:52.360 to fight climate change is to talk about it. So 0:04:52.520 --> 0:04:55.600 explain what you mean by that, particularly since for many 0:04:55.680 --> 0:04:58.640 people it seems like not an accessible topic or a 0:04:58.640 --> 0:05:02.640 controversial topic. So it's very interesting because when we look 0:05:02.720 --> 0:05:05.719 at the data, it turns out that seventy percent of 0:05:05.760 --> 0:05:09.520 people in the United States are already worried about climate change. 0:05:09.880 --> 0:05:12.040 Those numbers are greater in other countries like my home 0:05:12.040 --> 0:05:15.800 country of candidates, about the same in the UK, greater 0:05:15.880 --> 0:05:18.919 in the EU. So most people are already worried, and 0:05:18.920 --> 0:05:20.960 in fact, here in the US, when you ask people 0:05:21.000 --> 0:05:23.960 who are mothers if they're worried, eight three percent of 0:05:24.000 --> 0:05:28.679 moms are worried about climate change. Young people, the biggest 0:05:28.680 --> 0:05:31.520 problem we have. The biggest gap we have is not 0:05:31.640 --> 0:05:33.520 between the people who say it's real and the people 0:05:33.560 --> 0:05:36.000 who say it isn't, even though the people who say 0:05:36.040 --> 0:05:39.320 it isn't are certainly very loud. The biggest gap we 0:05:39.400 --> 0:05:42.359 have is between people who say it's real and people 0:05:42.400 --> 0:05:46.039 who are activated. Because it turns out only a fraction 0:05:46.120 --> 0:05:50.120 of us are actually actively engaged in doing something about this. 0:05:50.480 --> 0:05:53.880 How do we close that gap? The catalyst to action 0:05:54.360 --> 0:05:56.760 is when we use our voice to connect with others, 0:05:56.760 --> 0:05:59.800 to say what could we do as a family, What 0:06:00.000 --> 0:06:02.159 could we do as a school, What could we do 0:06:02.240 --> 0:06:04.360 as a business or a place of work. What can 0:06:04.400 --> 0:06:06.599 we do as a neighborhood or a city or a state. 0:06:07.440 --> 0:06:09.880 The catalyst to every single one of those actions is 0:06:09.880 --> 0:06:12.599 when we talk about why it matters and what we 0:06:12.720 --> 0:06:16.960 might be able to do together to help to fix it. So, 0:06:17.080 --> 0:06:22.159 how do we talk persuasively uh to those even though 0:06:22.200 --> 0:06:25.039 their numbers and it may not be enormous, who still 0:06:25.080 --> 0:06:30.360 are very skeptical, or to those who worry about jobs 0:06:30.920 --> 0:06:35.520 in terms of fossil fuels and the kinds of worrisome 0:06:35.640 --> 0:06:38.640 emissions that are a big part of the problem. How 0:06:38.640 --> 0:06:42.279 do we talk to well those as well as everybody 0:06:42.320 --> 0:06:45.520 else in a way that is very compelling. I think 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:49.960 there's really a simple formula to having positive, constructive conversations, 0:06:50.520 --> 0:06:54.159 even about something as contentious as climate change. You know, 0:06:54.240 --> 0:06:56.760 here in the US over the last decade or more, 0:06:56.839 --> 0:06:58.760 climate change has been at the top of the list 0:06:58.880 --> 0:07:01.719 of the most politically polarized issues in the country. But 0:07:01.760 --> 0:07:03.880 if we can talk about climate change, what else might 0:07:03.920 --> 0:07:06.039 we be able to talk about? And here's how we 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:10.720 do it. Rather than beginning by dumping scary facts on people, 0:07:11.320 --> 0:07:14.720 or by arguing, or by focusing on what we disagree on, 0:07:15.280 --> 0:07:17.720 we need to begin our conversations with something that we 0:07:17.760 --> 0:07:20.720 agree on. And if we don't know what we agree 0:07:20.760 --> 0:07:24.040 with somebody on, then ask them questions and learn about 0:07:24.080 --> 0:07:27.280 what matters to them, who, what, where they love, what 0:07:27.400 --> 0:07:31.400 their concerns are, what concerns inform their positions, Until we 0:07:31.440 --> 0:07:34.240 figure out where we could possibly find a point of connection. 0:07:35.080 --> 0:07:38.520 Then connect the dots to how climate change affects what 0:07:38.560 --> 0:07:42.680 we both care about and how climate solutions are consistent 0:07:42.760 --> 0:07:45.800 with the values that we have. But how we begin 0:07:45.920 --> 0:07:48.640 that conversation is important. And I want to say one 0:07:48.720 --> 0:07:51.680 cautionary thing, which is often people immediately say, oh, well, 0:07:51.720 --> 0:07:53.240 that's great. I'm going to run off and I'm going 0:07:53.280 --> 0:07:56.040 to have a conversation with the most dismissive person I know, 0:07:56.800 --> 0:08:00.440 my relative, my neighbor, my colleague, who's always saying it 0:08:00.520 --> 0:08:02.960 isn't real, it's just a hoax. Finally I have them, 0:08:03.440 --> 0:08:07.320 you know, the solution to show them how they're wrong. Well, 0:08:07.480 --> 0:08:10.440 here's the bad news. The bad news is is that 0:08:10.480 --> 0:08:13.840 for people who are truly dismissive, who have built their 0:08:13.960 --> 0:08:18.280 identity on rejecting the reality of this problem, not because 0:08:18.320 --> 0:08:20.640 they truly have a problem with basic physics. If they did, 0:08:20.640 --> 0:08:23.640 they'd also reject the reality of stoves, bridges, and airplanes. 0:08:24.400 --> 0:08:28.040 But they rejected because they don't think there's any solutions 0:08:28.080 --> 0:08:31.120 that are compatible or consistent with their values. So for 0:08:31.160 --> 0:08:33.720 the seven percent of people in the United States who 0:08:33.720 --> 0:08:36.520 are the very loud dismissives who bring this issue up 0:08:36.559 --> 0:08:39.360 all the time to pooh pooh it, it is not 0:08:39.600 --> 0:08:42.440 possible to have a constructive conversation with them because they 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:47.800 can't listen. But here's the good news of us are 0:08:47.880 --> 0:08:50.959 not dismissive, and in fact, people often say, well, why 0:08:51.040 --> 0:08:53.000 bother talking to the rest of the people If you 0:08:53.000 --> 0:08:55.920 know we already think the same way. You might think 0:08:55.960 --> 0:08:57.520 you think the same way, but how do you know 0:08:57.559 --> 0:08:59.800 if you don't talk about it. And even if you 0:08:59.840 --> 0:09:01.960 do think the same way, the chances are they're not 0:09:02.040 --> 0:09:05.880 activated because most people aren't. The vast majority of people 0:09:06.040 --> 0:09:09.160 who are worried about climate change are doing nothing about 0:09:09.160 --> 0:09:11.800 it because they don't know what to do. And that's 0:09:11.840 --> 0:09:15.640 where our conversations come in. Bond over shared values, connect 0:09:15.679 --> 0:09:18.280 the dots to how climate change affect us here and 0:09:18.400 --> 0:09:21.240 now in ways that are relevant to us, and then 0:09:21.280 --> 0:09:23.679 talk about what we could do together to help make 0:09:23.679 --> 0:09:28.760 a difference. Every action counts. That's certainly very well said. 0:09:29.440 --> 0:09:32.920 You mentioned values, and I know that you have brought 0:09:32.960 --> 0:09:37.480 the dimension of faith into your communications with others on 0:09:37.520 --> 0:09:41.000 this issue. How does religion tie into your message and 0:09:41.080 --> 0:09:44.960 climate change? Well, it ties right into step number one, 0:09:45.320 --> 0:09:49.320 which is beginning a conversation by bonding over shared values. 0:09:49.760 --> 0:09:52.640 So in my book Saving Us, I encourage people to 0:09:53.000 --> 0:09:57.200 do a personal inventory, who are you, who do you love, 0:09:57.240 --> 0:09:59.920 what do you love, where do you love? And think 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:02.200 of those as ways that you can start to connect 0:10:02.200 --> 0:10:05.680 with other people. So my personal inventory is first of all, 0:10:05.760 --> 0:10:09.080 I am a scientist, so I can definitely connect with 0:10:09.120 --> 0:10:11.400 people who really like science, and a lot of people 0:10:11.440 --> 0:10:14.880 are very curious about science. But I am also a mother, 0:10:15.600 --> 0:10:18.559 so I can talk to other parents about our kids 0:10:18.600 --> 0:10:20.640 in their future and the air they're breathing and their 0:10:20.640 --> 0:10:24.320 health and how climate change affects that. I love skiing, 0:10:24.800 --> 0:10:28.960 and you need snow in order to ski, so that 0:10:29.080 --> 0:10:31.560 might sound trivial, but that is important and close to 0:10:31.600 --> 0:10:35.640 my heart. Um. I am Canadian, so I can talk 0:10:35.679 --> 0:10:39.200 to other Canadians about what's happening in our country. I 0:10:39.280 --> 0:10:42.360 live in Texas, which is the most vulnerable state in 0:10:42.400 --> 0:10:46.679 the US too increasingly severe climate and weather disasters as 0:10:46.679 --> 0:10:49.320 climate change loads the weather dice against us, so I 0:10:49.360 --> 0:10:52.200 can definitely talk about that with other people here in Texas. 0:10:52.480 --> 0:10:54.840 And I am a Christian, so I can talk with 0:10:54.880 --> 0:10:57.640 other people who share my faith about how if we 0:10:57.720 --> 0:11:00.160 truly take our faith seriously. And this is true not 0:11:00.200 --> 0:11:03.360 just for Christianity but for every major world religion. That 0:11:03.440 --> 0:11:07.160 has concepts of stewardship or caring for nature or creation 0:11:07.280 --> 0:11:11.760 or other living things, and just as importantly, caring for 0:11:11.800 --> 0:11:14.920 the poorest and most vulnerable and most marginalized among us, 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:17.719 our sisters and our brothers less fortunate than us. If 0:11:17.720 --> 0:11:20.280 we truly take our faith seriously, we would be out 0:11:20.320 --> 0:11:23.199 at the front of the line demanding climate action. So 0:11:23.360 --> 0:11:26.160 that's my inventory, and I would encourage everybody sort of 0:11:26.160 --> 0:11:28.800 do your inventory. Are you a gardener, do you love 0:11:28.840 --> 0:11:32.040 beer or wine? Do you like beaches or traveling? Um? 0:11:32.080 --> 0:11:35.240 Do you enjoy hiking or birding or kayaking? Um? Do 0:11:35.400 --> 0:11:39.199 you you know? Are you concerned about national security or 0:11:39.240 --> 0:11:41.920 about a stable economy? Or are you a farmer or 0:11:41.920 --> 0:11:45.240 a rancher? There's every all that. My goodness, there's a 0:11:45.280 --> 0:11:47.760 million points of connection in our human life to how 0:11:47.800 --> 0:11:51.240 climate change affects us and to how climate solutions can 0:11:51.240 --> 0:11:54.720 truly benefit us. You know, you talked about the fact 0:11:54.760 --> 0:11:57.760 that lots of people are very, very worried in that 0:11:57.920 --> 0:12:02.000 the great majority about climate change. But the gap comes 0:12:02.160 --> 0:12:05.319 with what we're going to do about it as individuals. 0:12:05.760 --> 0:12:08.840 And I wonder what are some of those things that 0:12:08.880 --> 0:12:12.959 are listeners? For example, could be doing to address climate change, 0:12:12.960 --> 0:12:16.319 but don't feel they have the competency, or don't feel 0:12:16.360 --> 0:12:19.520 they're part of an organization where that can be easily done. 0:12:19.840 --> 0:12:23.560 Give us some simple ideas about what kinds of things 0:12:23.720 --> 0:12:27.200 individuals can do or families can do. I would love 0:12:27.240 --> 0:12:29.800 to do that. Uh So this is actually what I 0:12:29.840 --> 0:12:32.720 started asking myself because as a climate scientist, I study 0:12:32.800 --> 0:12:35.040 this issue, but I also want to make a difference. 0:12:35.040 --> 0:12:37.240 So I thought, well, what could I do? So the 0:12:37.320 --> 0:12:39.280 first thing I did is probably the most obvious thing 0:12:39.320 --> 0:12:42.400 for many people. I decided, I'm going to use a 0:12:42.440 --> 0:12:45.280 carbon calculator, and there's a really good one called the 0:12:45.280 --> 0:12:48.920 cool Carbon Calculator from Berkeley to figure out what our 0:12:48.960 --> 0:12:52.520 family's personal carbon footprint is, and I'm going to do 0:12:52.640 --> 0:12:55.280 everything I can to reduce it. In fact, every year 0:12:55.440 --> 0:12:59.440 I still take on two new habits that reduce my 0:12:59.600 --> 0:13:02.960 use of energy or fossil fuels or transition to clean energy. 0:13:03.440 --> 0:13:05.640 Habits that make a difference in my personal life and 0:13:05.679 --> 0:13:09.280 my family's life, like reducing food waste, getting rid of 0:13:09.280 --> 0:13:12.160 the extra freezer, changing the type of food we eat 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:15.480 to eat less meat, especially red meat, um, hanging up 0:13:15.480 --> 0:13:17.720 the clothes to dry, getting a plug in car solar 0:13:17.760 --> 0:13:22.280 panels have significantly reducing my travel. But here's the thing. 0:13:23.040 --> 0:13:26.800 As a scientist, I calculated that even if all of 0:13:26.880 --> 0:13:29.440 us who are worried about climate change did everything we 0:13:29.559 --> 0:13:33.400 could in our current economy, which is heavily skewed in 0:13:33.480 --> 0:13:36.560 favor of using fossil fuels, if we did everything we 0:13:36.600 --> 0:13:39.640 could to cut our personal missions, that wouldn't even be 0:13:40.679 --> 0:13:43.640 of the pie. So I figured there's got to be 0:13:43.720 --> 0:13:47.120 something more we can do, and I realized it isn't 0:13:47.200 --> 0:13:52.000 only about our footprint, it's also about our shadow. Our 0:13:52.080 --> 0:13:55.440 shadow is the way we interact with others. And when 0:13:55.480 --> 0:13:57.960 you look at how the world has changed in the past, 0:13:58.960 --> 0:14:02.240 how civil rights were enacted, how women got the vote, 0:14:03.120 --> 0:14:07.040 how did our society change, it wasn't because the president 0:14:07.080 --> 0:14:08.840 woke up one morning and decided, I really need to 0:14:08.840 --> 0:14:12.720 give those women the vote. But rather, it was because many, many, 0:14:12.800 --> 0:14:15.640 many other people, people who originally were you know, of 0:14:15.640 --> 0:14:19.440 no particular fame or renown. They decided, no, the world 0:14:19.520 --> 0:14:22.040 really does need to be different, and they used their 0:14:22.120 --> 0:14:25.720 voice to advocate for change at every level. When we 0:14:25.760 --> 0:14:29.080 look at how change is happening with corporations like Microsoft, 0:14:29.600 --> 0:14:32.400 it's because employees who worked there used their voice to say, 0:14:32.440 --> 0:14:34.560 you know what we could do better. When you look 0:14:34.600 --> 0:14:36.440 at cities like the city of Houston that have a 0:14:36.480 --> 0:14:40.080 climate action plan and they're meeting their Paris targets, they 0:14:40.120 --> 0:14:42.760 decided to change because there's many people in that city 0:14:42.800 --> 0:14:46.680 who were using their voices to say, we need climate action. 0:14:47.160 --> 0:14:49.600 When we look anywhere around the world wherever we see 0:14:49.640 --> 0:14:52.280 amazing things happening, and we start to look around the world, 0:14:52.320 --> 0:14:55.480 there are amazing things happening everywhere, even right here in 0:14:55.520 --> 0:15:00.040 Texas where I live, the common denominator the catalyst to 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:03.720 that action is when people use their voice to say, 0:15:03.960 --> 0:15:07.320 here's why it matters to us here and now. Not 0:15:07.320 --> 0:15:10.320 not tons of science about antarctic or polar bears, but 0:15:10.360 --> 0:15:13.280 look look at Texas. We just had three five year 0:15:13.280 --> 0:15:15.840 flood events in three years. We need to do something 0:15:15.840 --> 0:15:18.880 about that. And then talked about what we can do, like, 0:15:18.920 --> 0:15:22.400 for example, we already get almost a quarter of our 0:15:22.440 --> 0:15:25.800 electricity and Texas from clean energy. How could we make 0:15:25.840 --> 0:15:27.640 sure that we're getting some of that for our school 0:15:27.760 --> 0:15:30.480 or a place of work or our city. So there's 0:15:30.520 --> 0:15:32.320 so many things we can do, but it all begins 0:15:32.360 --> 0:15:35.160 with having that conversation. So again, that's why I did 0:15:35.160 --> 0:15:36.760 my TED talk and that's why I wrote my book 0:15:36.800 --> 0:15:40.080 Saving Us, because the number one question I get from 0:15:40.120 --> 0:15:43.440 people these days almost every day is what gives you hope? 0:15:44.160 --> 0:15:46.600 And the answer to that is when we act, hope 0:15:46.640 --> 0:15:49.080 is all around us. And the second question I get 0:15:49.120 --> 0:15:52.000 is how do you have a conversation like this with somebody? 0:15:52.040 --> 0:15:53.960 And that's what I wrote the book about. And my 0:15:54.040 --> 0:15:56.200 favorite thing is to hear from people who said, Okay, 0:15:56.240 --> 0:15:59.520 I gave it a try, and it actually surprised me. 0:15:59.560 --> 0:16:01.320 It went a better than I thought. I've talked to 0:16:01.360 --> 0:16:04.280 my mom about this already ten times and it went awfully. 0:16:04.320 --> 0:16:06.960 But we finally had a breakthrough. I'm not going to 0:16:07.080 --> 0:16:09.400 say that, you know, we're getting solar panels tomorrow, but 0:16:09.480 --> 0:16:11.280 we were able to find the connect and I was 0:16:11.320 --> 0:16:13.080 able to listen to her concerns and she was a 0:16:13.120 --> 0:16:14.760 little bit more open to what I had to say. 0:16:15.240 --> 0:16:17.400 So it truly does make a difference when we have 0:16:17.480 --> 0:16:21.280 these conversations, again, not dumping the science on people, but 0:16:21.360 --> 0:16:25.440 really focusing on having that conversation as a catalyst to 0:16:25.560 --> 0:16:31.760 talking about what we can do together. Senecas one hundred 0:16:31.760 --> 0:16:34.280 women to hear we'll be back after the short break. 0:16:44.600 --> 0:16:48.880 You're providing a sense of movement, bringing lots of people 0:16:48.920 --> 0:16:52.760 together to demand this kind of attention to the problem, 0:16:52.800 --> 0:16:57.200 I think is something that is growing but has been 0:16:57.280 --> 0:17:00.800 lacking on this issue, unlike some other issue, as you mentioned. 0:17:01.480 --> 0:17:05.640 And I think to that end, people think and there 0:17:05.680 --> 0:17:08.919 has to be big systemic changes in many ways, but 0:17:09.080 --> 0:17:13.640 they can affect bringing those changes. Is that not right? Oh? 0:17:13.680 --> 0:17:18.640 I completely agree. So people often argue do we need 0:17:18.720 --> 0:17:22.080 individual action or do we need system wide change? And 0:17:22.119 --> 0:17:26.040 my answer to that is yes, because what is the 0:17:26.119 --> 0:17:29.480 system made up of other than people? And how do 0:17:29.600 --> 0:17:32.920 systems change other than when people engage in those systems? 0:17:33.160 --> 0:17:36.240 And how do we engage again by using our voice 0:17:36.280 --> 0:17:39.080 and of course sometimes using our voices literally talking, but 0:17:39.160 --> 0:17:43.040 sometimes it's writing, Sometimes it's posting on social media. Sometimes 0:17:43.040 --> 0:17:45.439 it's just doing something where someone else can see us 0:17:45.480 --> 0:17:48.000 doing it. There is a myriad of ways to use 0:17:48.040 --> 0:17:52.560 our voice to engage in the system to catalyze change. 0:17:53.080 --> 0:17:57.000 Let's talk about women in particular. You know so many 0:17:57.040 --> 0:18:02.080 times women seem sidelined or originalized in the climate change 0:18:02.359 --> 0:18:06.919 solutions camp. Uh, and yet they are so important to 0:18:06.960 --> 0:18:11.760 the solution UM, and I know, particularly in places that 0:18:11.840 --> 0:18:15.200 are the hardest hit in the developing world, UH, that 0:18:15.280 --> 0:18:18.359 women need to be engaged in the green economy. They 0:18:18.359 --> 0:18:22.560 can even be empowered economically with access to the green economy, 0:18:22.720 --> 0:18:26.119 so clean cook stones for example, or as you mentioned, 0:18:26.160 --> 0:18:31.960 the installation of solar panels or conservation programs electrical mini 0:18:32.000 --> 0:18:36.040 grids that they can manage. Why has it been so 0:18:36.440 --> 0:18:39.840 elusive to recognize the role that women have to play 0:18:39.840 --> 0:18:44.520 in in in climate change solutions. Well, you're completely right, 0:18:44.560 --> 0:18:46.280 and I'm so glad you brought this up because this 0:18:46.359 --> 0:18:48.600 is something that is obviously very near and dear to 0:18:48.640 --> 0:18:52.000 my own heart as a woman as well. Women are 0:18:52.040 --> 0:18:56.320 disproportionately affected by climate impacts, especially in low income countries. 0:18:56.359 --> 0:19:00.400 As disaster strikes, as droughts get longer and strong longer, 0:19:00.840 --> 0:19:05.840 UM risk of child marriage increases, UM women are are 0:19:05.920 --> 0:19:07.840 left picking up the pieces as they can no longer 0:19:07.880 --> 0:19:12.080 feed their family. When UM climate change tips the balance 0:19:12.160 --> 0:19:16.560 in an already failing state over into refugee crises or 0:19:16.600 --> 0:19:20.520 exacerbates pre existing crises that are already there, the first 0:19:20.560 --> 0:19:23.080 things to go are the public education system, in the 0:19:23.080 --> 0:19:25.960 public health system, and all of a sudden something is 0:19:26.440 --> 0:19:29.000 as natural as having a baby, can become a life 0:19:29.040 --> 0:19:31.919 threatening event if you lack just basic health services that 0:19:31.960 --> 0:19:35.600 we take for granted every day. So just as woman 0:19:35.640 --> 0:19:39.600 are disproportionately affected, though so too there are all kinds 0:19:39.640 --> 0:19:44.960 of amazing solutions that empower women, lift up woman, benefit women, 0:19:45.119 --> 0:19:49.000 and oh they help with climate change too. So education 0:19:49.119 --> 0:19:52.680 of women and girls, especially in low income countries, empowering 0:19:52.720 --> 0:19:56.520 women to make their own decisions as shareholder farmers um. 0:19:56.560 --> 0:19:58.560 In my book, I tell the story of Solar Sister, 0:19:58.640 --> 0:20:01.960 which works with women in help Saharan Africa, helping them 0:20:01.960 --> 0:20:04.600 to sell solar technology that can be used in places 0:20:04.600 --> 0:20:07.080 where they don't have access to a power grid, which 0:20:07.200 --> 0:20:10.399 enables children to do their lessons at night. UH. It 0:20:10.440 --> 0:20:13.480 allows women to uh, to feed their families and to 0:20:13.520 --> 0:20:17.080 gain an income. There's so many solutions that address gender 0:20:17.119 --> 0:20:20.679 equity and address climate change. To really with climate solutions, 0:20:21.080 --> 0:20:22.679 we need to be doing all those ones that have 0:20:22.720 --> 0:20:25.399 win win wins. Oh, and they also help with climate 0:20:25.480 --> 0:20:28.719 change as well. With with these solutions, it's like, well, 0:20:28.760 --> 0:20:31.240 why aren't we doing them? There's so many good reasons 0:20:31.280 --> 0:20:35.080 today to invest in low income communities right here in 0:20:35.119 --> 0:20:38.280 the us to invest in low income countries, to invest 0:20:38.320 --> 0:20:41.320 in people who work hard and who feed their family 0:20:41.440 --> 0:20:44.600 and who want to go to school. And by investing 0:20:44.600 --> 0:20:47.520 in their lives today, we can invest in climate change 0:20:47.560 --> 0:20:50.879 tomorrow by helping them become more resilient and by helping 0:20:50.920 --> 0:20:54.679 them grow towards a clean energy future. Well said, you know, 0:20:54.800 --> 0:20:59.080 you're so enthusiastic when you speak about this, so energized. 0:20:59.400 --> 0:21:03.000 So come to selling and I wonder, what is your 0:21:03.080 --> 0:21:05.560 personal story? How did you get into this? What was 0:21:05.600 --> 0:21:10.440 your child like childhood like? Uh, did you think about 0:21:10.480 --> 0:21:14.760 becoming a climate scientist when you were young? No? I didn't, 0:21:14.920 --> 0:21:18.280 but I definitely thought about science. Um, and my child 0:21:18.320 --> 0:21:22.600 had absolutely influenced why and where I am today. So 0:21:22.960 --> 0:21:27.360 my dad was a science teacher and my grandmother, his mother, 0:21:27.440 --> 0:21:30.879 had a degree in science education. And she in fact 0:21:31.040 --> 0:21:34.959 named my father after the first female astrophysicist in Canada, 0:21:35.080 --> 0:21:38.600 Dr Vibert Douglas. So the apple did not fall far 0:21:38.680 --> 0:21:42.919 from the tree on that one. And in fact, growing 0:21:43.040 --> 0:21:45.800 up I I just grew up thinking that science was 0:21:45.800 --> 0:21:48.720 the coolest thing anybody could possibly study. Who doesn't want 0:21:48.760 --> 0:21:51.560 to know why the grass is green or why the 0:21:51.600 --> 0:21:54.280 sky is blue? Or why polar bears have black skin. 0:21:55.600 --> 0:21:59.840 So I was almost finished my undergraduate degree in a 0:22:00.000 --> 0:22:04.439 stronomy and physics yet again when I needed an extra 0:22:04.520 --> 0:22:08.120 class to complete my breath requirements, and I looked around 0:22:08.200 --> 0:22:10.480 and there was a new class on climate change over 0:22:10.560 --> 0:22:12.840 the geography department. I thought, well, that looks interesting. Why 0:22:12.840 --> 0:22:16.440 not take it. So up until then, I had always 0:22:16.520 --> 0:22:19.639 thought of climate change as one of a group of 0:22:19.760 --> 0:22:25.920 environmental issues deforestation, bio diversity, loss, air pollution, climate change 0:22:26.160 --> 0:22:31.200 that we're real and we're concerning, but that environmentalists cared about, 0:22:31.240 --> 0:22:33.680 and environmentalists worked on, and the rest of us wished 0:22:33.680 --> 0:22:36.240 them well, sort of the way I thought about it. 0:22:37.080 --> 0:22:40.080 But when I took that class, I was completely shocked, 0:22:40.240 --> 0:22:42.359 first of all to find out that climate change was 0:22:42.440 --> 0:22:45.560 much more urgent than I had imagined. Second of all, 0:22:45.600 --> 0:22:48.080 to find out that climate science was the exact same 0:22:48.119 --> 0:22:51.520 physics that I've been learning in my physics and astronomy classes. 0:22:51.960 --> 0:22:53.359 I don't know what I thought it was, but I 0:22:53.400 --> 0:22:56.639 didn't think it was that. But then what really changed 0:22:56.680 --> 0:22:58.960 my life was when I found out that climate change 0:22:59.280 --> 0:23:04.840 is profoundly unfair. It disproportionately affects the poorest and the 0:23:04.880 --> 0:23:08.560 most marginalized people, whether they are living in a low 0:23:08.560 --> 0:23:12.879 income neighborhood rate here in Chicago or Houston, or whether 0:23:12.880 --> 0:23:15.040 they're living in sub Saharan Africa and some of the 0:23:15.040 --> 0:23:17.840