(Professor, Earth System Science, Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability) 05/09, 3pm

Transcription: https://otter.ai/u/XnTfqC1lOfTnEQjQpsGy1KSPjU8?utm_source=copy_url

Some key insights:

• Understanding the scale of carbon removal and system changes required to address climate change is challenging but important.
• Students often overlook larger systemic changes, focusing instead on smaller actions. The concept of understanding the massive scale, such as what 10 gigatons of carbon per year represents, is challenging for many students.
• Using animation and building concepts up step-by-step can help explain complex climate science concepts.
• Communicating both challenges and solutions, as well as highlighting positive progress, can make climate change feel more tangible and less polarizing.
• Design education that allows students to explore their own ideas and take ownership can spark passion and motivate students to carry projects forward in meaningful ways.
• Emerging technologies like VR/AR show potential for visualizing climate impacts and solutions, though more exploration is needed.
• Leaving students with a better understanding of climate issues and their own agency, rather than directives, allows them to apply their learning in their own contexts and careers.

Exploratory Interview Questions

Introduction/general background

1. Areas of expertise/what do you teach?
   1. Biochemist, Professor of Earth System Science,
   2. Carbon cycle in soil and how it has effect on the atmosphere
   3. classes: reactive transport: how to use computer model to answer some of these questions. Research preparation: students that are doing summer research project with the faculty, teach them what is research and what it meant to do research. Design of data: human are developing collective awareness of climate change. Used to teach design for habitat planet

Understanding and perception

1. What are key environment/climate issues that you think students need to understand better? (/common misconceptions)
   1. understanding the scale of change that we have to implement and the funding required
   2. A lot of student think that it is a small thing that we can do, but they miss the bigger picture of how we can intervene in the system
   3. scale: gegatons of carbon a year is hard for people to grasp
   4. how to consider a policy framework
   5. also require a lot of domain expertise
2. How do you approach explaining complex climate concepts to students who may not have a scientific background?
   1. carbon cycle: start from the very beginning with only volcano and river and then get to human (can sent us the slides)
   2. for scale, draw analogy like a pen to an elephant
   3. mostly slideshow, use some animation/animated slides

Behavior change

1. What strategies do you think are the most effective in changing people’s attitudes toward environmental topics/climate change?
   1. a very fascinating podcast called illuminate Alaska that bring people aware of climate change
   2. another book that went viral
   3. Redesign things, such as the electric vehicle was a redesign of traditional vehicle
2. What are some actionable steps that people can take to help with environmental/climate change?
   1. Lead students to have a better understanding of the problem, instead of imposing
   2. hope that they will take that learning forward
   3. It was fun to see the student projects. Some people move forward with the project. Student here want to do things

Current education tools/methods