
Suzie Hicks (they/them), filmmaker, author, and environmental educator, is working to ensure that climate science and action are accessible to all children. Based in Los Angeles, they watched their elementary-age students deal firsthand with the real-life impacts of the climate-driven wildfires that spread across the city in January. They know kids need access to coping skills for eco-anxiety, engaging science curricula, and comprehensive climate education now more than ever.
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“The reason that I talk to young kids is, what a glorious opportunity to build a better future,” Suzie told NPR this spring. “I oscillate between ‘Oh my God, we’re doomed’ and ‘A better world is possible’—and I want more people to oscillate toward ‘a better world is possible.'”
Suzie has built a dream climate career by recognizing the necessity of kid-specific climate communications. We recently spoke with them about what inspires them to help build the next generation of climate leaders.
Tell me about your background and how you ended up here.
I studied film, radio, and theater as an undergraduate at Emerson College, an arts school outside Boston. Throughout college, I was really stressed out about climate change and trying to figure out what I could do about it. I took a class on cinema for social change and another on how drama can be used to educate. I started seeing film as a way to change hearts and minds.
I also began thinking about how the narrative around global warming being about polar bears has failed. One summer, I worked at the New England Aquarium, which is one of the leading scientific institutions on climate communications. They focused on informal education, and my role in their programming became “being the fun aunt” who taught kids about scientific topics and what they could do about them. This is really where I first learned climate communications for kids.
Ultimately, my senior thesis focused on how we should communicate about ecological crises, especially to young people. Then, just a week after graduation, I saw the Mr. Rogers documentary, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, and thought, “That’s what I want to do, I’m going to make kids TV.” Soon after, I started the show Suzie Hicks the Climate Chick through Emerson Independent Video. It was a silly show full of college humor and things like ways to throw a plastic-free party. I loved it.
What does your day-to-day look like now?
On Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, I work at Realm Creative Academy, teaching several classes of 6- to 10-year-olds about climate science, activism, and justice. Right now, my class is conducting a lot of citizen science, like taking field trips into nature to monitor air and water quality. We’re also learning a lot from John Green’s book, The Anthropocene Reviewed. We always start and end class with a song.
On Mondays and Fridays, I work on my dream: several freelance projects, including my show, Suzie & Sprout, which launched on YouTube in March. Sprout, the beloved PBS puppet, and I have created a revolutionary kids’ series about climate solutions taught through science inquiry, social-emotional learning, and music. I’m also working on a script for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) about coral restoration in Mexico and teaching at an outdoor elementary school.
What are some challenges you’ve faced throughout your career?
I’m grateful I’ve been able to make ends meet while carving my own path, but I often joke that I work in three fields that each make no money—climate, education, and media. The reality is that freelancing is like rain and drought, so there’s a lot of dealing with financial uncertainty. The Trump administration’s proposed cuts to NOAA and PBS will certainly make it more challenging to secure funding for some of my work.
What is the most common advice you give to your students for fighting eco-anxiety?
Mr. Rogers said that whenever he saw something scary as a child, his mom would always tell him to “look for the helpers.” So whenever I’m sharing the scary realities of the climate crisis with kids, I show them the helpers, the problem solvers, the people working together. I remind them that there are helpers everywhere and that they can be one too. Then I help them start taking action!
Right now, my class is writing cards to climate leaders across the country to thank them and encourage them to keep fighting. I’m also hoping to chaperone them at a local climate strike. When things feel especially broken, I use the metaphor of mosaics. Mosaics show us that when things fall apart, they can actually get put back together in even more beautiful ways. I’m always just trying to make sure none of them feel the weight of the world alone and are instead inspired by how many people are working together to fight for a better future.
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