O TYM ODCINKU
This is one of those conversations I can't stop thinking about since having it, and while I was having it, I felt how impactful it will be for you all. Laura Shifter is a leading voice at the intersection of education and climate change. She has spent her already incredible career teaching at Harvard at the graduate level, working on policy change at the national level, and is leading some of the highest level organizations in our country to work towards sustainable solutions, including the Aspen Institute where she she leads This Is Planet Ed, an initiative that leverages the power of education as a force for climate solutions.
And with all of that high level policy and research level work, as a mother of three, she is devoting her time to talk to parents. She not only describes how a massive emotional wave and a friend's gentle nudge shifted her career direction, but also she walks us through, like the steady parent WE NEED, how to (and why we should) talk to our kids about climate. To not only mitigate the potential mental health impact it could have on them now, but to prepare them for the future they are walking into, so they can live the healthiest lives possible and be part of the effort needed.
The core of this episode and her message? The climate talk is like the sex talk. If we avoid it due to our own discomfort, then we're leaving them to deal with their fears, their feelings, and the whole thing alone. She provides a simple concrete way to explain it (that I definitely needed!), and a very gentle way to ease into the conversation, following their lead.
Of course, this is a tender topic rife with fear and grief. By the end, we become quite philosophical, spiritual, and tender ourselves by how we reckon with and view this reality. Especially as many of you know, my family has experienced a climate-related massively destabilizing event Hurricane Helene in 2024.
I am SO grateful for this conversation, and for other mamas who create a new career for themselves when they've done it the traditional way, and then followed the nudge in them to create something new, and deeply needed.
You can benefit from her work more by accessing her writing on her website, https://www.lauraschifter.com/
