Education can be a powerful force for climate action, and few people know this as well as Laura Schifter. Laura is a senior fellow at the Aspen Institute, where she founded and directs This Is Planet Ed, an initiative focused on equipping young people with the knowledge and skills they’ll need to advance “a more sustainable, resilient, and equitable future.” I met Laura a couple of years ago and was delighted to sit down with her recently to talk about her new book: Students, Schools, and Our Climate Moment: Acting Now to Secure Our Future. Coauthored with Jonathan Klein of UndauntedK12, the book is a comprehensive guide to the many ways K-12 schools can engage in advancing climate solutions, from helping students learn about local climate impacts and adaptation strategies to supporting schools in mitigating climate pollution.
Tell Administrator Zeldin: Cutting Climate Pollution Is One of EPA’s Most Important Jobs
I asked Laura what she hoped people will take away from her book: “I hope that readers will take away the notion that people working with others in their communities can make a difference,” she told me. “Especially right now, where it can feel like we’re doing a retreat at the national level, it’s critically important to remember that that doesn’t make us powerless. We have power within our communities, and we can work with others to make things happen.”
Which climate book changed your life?
Can I say the 1.5 degrees IPCC report in 2018? That absolutely changed my life. It was the first time I realized that climate change was impacting people now and that it would impact and shape the future for my children. That opened my eyes to the misconceptions that I held about climate change and made me realize that I had to do whatever I could to work on this issue.
Who are your climate heroes in real life?
Katharine Hayhoe is one of my top climate heroes. She has taken an issue that can be perceived as very complicated and worked to make it accessible and easy to understand. I also appreciate the power she emphasizes on getting more people to talk about climate change and working to amplify the message that one of the biggest ways that we can make a difference is getting more people to care about this issue.
What does hope for the future mean to you?
Hope for the future means a future where my children and all children can feel safe, healthy, and happy. I don’t think the future will be one of Mad Max; I also don’t think the future will be our current reality. We know our future will be shaped by climate instability. My hope is that we humans learn to reduce our impact on the environment to prevent the worst impacts of climate change, and that we also learn to live in and adapt to climate instability in such a way that we can live fulfilling lives and that children can feel healthy, happy, safe, and secure.
Which talent would you most like to have that could help the climate movement?
I’d like to be able to communicate about this issue in a way that can reach parents, to have them understand that this is an issue that matters to all of us, but especially us parents. And have them feel OK about the future, empowered by what they can do, not see this as an issue that is so big and overwhelming that they feel helpless or ashamed for the way they live their lives. I want to communicate on climate in a way that can bring people together and unify them on building a hopeful future for children, and have people work within community to come together to shape that future.
What is your climate motto?
People got us into this; people have to be the ones to get us out. Often when we talk about climate solutions, we talk about renewable energy or technology or sustainable agriculture or manufacturing. Ultimately, the one thing connecting all those solutions is people as the driving force behind them.
What inspired you to focus professionally on climate change and education?
My background has been in education for a long time. I’m dyslexic myself, and I realized at a young age the powerful impacts that educators can have on shaping people’s lives and enabling them to succeed. I had always worked in education, and then I had my own climate moment in 2018, when the IPCC report came out. In that moment, everything I’d been doing on education felt meaningless. We could have the best education system in the world, and it wouldn’t matter if the full impacts of climate change took hold. I spent time looking at environmental jobs, and nothing felt right. Then Jay Inslee began running for president and announced that he would ask every department to submit their plan on climate change. It was in that moment I realized I didn’t have to go to an entirely new field. I could bring my expertise from education to work on climate.
What’s one thing you think everyone should know about climate change and our schools?
Education is essential to advancing climate solutions. We have a responsibility to help prepare young people for success in the world, and right now, their world is being shaped by our changing climate. We need to leverage education to allow them to succeed. We know a lot of solutions, but we don’t know all the solutions we’re going to need on climate change right now. Helping to empower people on this issue is going to be what unlocks our potential to address it, not just in the immediate future, but for the decades to come.
Tell Administrator Zeldin: Cutting Climate Pollution Is One of EPA’s Most Important Jobs