Communicating Climate Urgency Through Solutions
The climate crisis is upon us. And yet, it’s also too easy to shift this slow-moving disaster to the background. To turn climate calamities into white noise, or a lurking shadow that we resist engaging with until it affects us directly. Of course, by then it will be too late. So how do we communicate the urgency of climate change? According to Kendra Pierre-Louis: by stressing climate action. In this talk, she will explain perspectives and practices the podcast “How to Save a Planet” uses to communicate the urgency of climate change. The climate news podcast stresses systems-based solutions. And in doing so, it gives people permission to engage with the issue in beneficial ways. After all, if you find yourself in a hole and you stop digging, you’re still in a hole. You still have to find a way back to the surface.
Kendra Pierre-Louis is a climate reporter, most recently with the Gimlet/Spotify climate solutions podcast “How to Save a Planet.” She is also the author of the book Green Washed: Why We Can’t Buy Our Way to a Green Planet. Kendra has Master’s degrees in Science Writing from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and in Sustainable Development with a focus on Policy Analysis and Advocacy from the SIT Graduate Institute. Kendra occasionally hangs out with astronauts, and seriously loves the arctic. When she’s not achieving dramatic feats like living in France without eating butter, Kendra can often be found on Twitter railing against mayo.
