Nature Quest: The Climate-Kid Question

Short Wave

NPR

Daily News, Nature, Life Sciences, Astronomy, Science, News

4.7 • 6K Ratings

🗓️ 27 May 2025

⏱️ 17 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Gen Z and younger millennials are the most climate literate generations the world has ever seen. They learned about climate change in school; now, it's part of how they plan for the future, including for jobs, housing ... and kids.

So, what do experts say about how to navigate the kid question? In this installment of Nature Quest, Short Wave speaks to climate journalist Alessandra Ram about the future she sees for her newborn daughter. Plus, how do we raise the next generation in a way that's good for the planet?

Resources discussed in this episode include:
Jade Sasser's book, Climate Anxiety and the Kid Question
Kimberly Nicholas's High Impact Climate Action Guide
Elizabeth Bechard's book, Parenting in a Changing Climate
The Climate Mental Health Network's Climate Emotions Wheel

Got a question about changes in your local environment? Send a voice memo to [email protected] with your name, where you live and your question. You might make it into our next Nature Quest episode!

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This message comes from Nature on PBS, producers of Going Wild with Dr. Ray Wyn Grant.
0:06.4	Back for a brand new season, Going Wild highlights champions of nature and what led them to create change within themselves and the natural world.
0:15.8	Follow Going Wild wherever you get your podcasts.
0:19.6	You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.
0:27.4	Hey everyone, Emily Kwong here, and welcome back to Nature Quest.
0:35.1	Our monthly segment that brings you a question from a fellow short waver is paying attention
0:39.6	to the environment and how our choices shape the world.
0:43.3	I was used to travel around the world with Al Jazeera as a documentary producer.
0:48.6	Alessandro Rahm is a journalist.
0:50.3	And a lot of those stories, even if they didn't start out focusing on climate, there were
0:56.2	climate narratives there because so many stories are climate stories.
1:00.9	The stories Alessandra covered at the time were unfolding in other countries, in Thailand and
1:06.6	in Canada. But over time, she watched these climate narratives get closer to where she's from,
1:11.7	Puerto Rico, Flint, Michigan, and eventually to her home state of California.
1:17.0	A house I was living in, we had to evacuate because of a wildfire threat. But now that's
1:22.8	kind of a threat that everyone around here lives with. And more recently, Alessandra has had other reasons to be thinking about the future.
1:32.6	Because a couple weeks ago, she and her partner had a kid.
1:37.2	It's 8 a.m.
1:39.7	We woke up how many times last night?
1:44.1	Three. Three. You know, everything has changed. We woke up. How many times last night?
1:44.6	Three.
1:45.5	Three.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.