美国国家公共电台 NPR--Coping with climate change: Advice for kids — from kids

Coping with climate change: Advice for kids — from kids

Transcript¹

As the climate changes, anxiety among younger people is rising. NPR launches a comic book with advice from and for kids on how to cope. (Story originally aired on Morning Edition on Nov. 27, 2022.)

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Today, we're launching a comic book for kids, and it's all about climate change. It can be a lot to take in, and many kids are feeling the weight of inheriting a hotter planet. So we created a guide to help them. It focuses on a student grappling with that issue - 17-year-old Gabriel Nagel of Denver, Colo. He first remembers learning about climate change in class as a seventh grader.

GABRIEL NAGEL: I don't think it really clicked. Like, I saw the numbers increasing on a graph, but I didn't really see how much of a crisis it really was. It wasn't actually until the Boulder² Sunshine Valley Canyon³ Fire.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The fire continues to burn west of Boulder, the Sunshine Canyon area. It's called the Sunshine Fire.

NAGEL: I went to my dad upstairs and told him that, like, I think something's wrong. Like - and then we looked outside, and it was this giant blaze coming over the ridge⁴, right towards us.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: More than a thousand homes were evacuated⁵ before the sun came up this morning.

NAGEL: I mean, we just ended up evacuating⁶ with everyone else and just getting out of there for the day. Luckily, when we returned, everything was fine. And that was a moment when it kind of clicked for me that climate change isn't something of the future. It's something that we're dealing⁷ with right now. And no matter who you are, you're going to be impacted. After that fire, I kind of had an internal feeling that I needed to do something. So I started taking personal actions, like bike and public transport and eat less meat. But then I started getting involved with our sustainability club at East High School. That's where I met Mariah.

MARIAH ROSENZWEIG: So my name is Mariah Rosenzweig. I am 18 years old. I had grown up just always being outside. I was always one of the few girls that would, like, be dirtier than all the boys. I think climate advocacy is more than just policy. But, for me, it's really getting people to understand how integrated we are with the natural world, and we're not separate from it.

NAGEL: We tend to talk about this climate change stuff a lot, and we'll spend time going to hikes and kind of just enjoying what we have around us while it's there.

ROSENZWEIG: I went to a sustainability club meeting, and one of the presidents was like, hey, we have this other group called DPS Students for Climate Action. And I was immediately like, oh, this is something I want to be a part of.

NAGEL: So we started off - and we realized DPS, which is essentially⁸ the largest school district in Colorado, they lacked any sort of climate action policy. And then we came up with this whole resolution where we outlined goals.

ROSENZWEIG: One of the goals is 90% reduction in greenhouse gases from 2010 levels. You know, we would meet every single week, and a lot of that was presenting at public comments.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: And our first topic this evening is sustainability resolution presented by the...

ROSENZWEIG: So a lot of times, we'd put so much heart and so much passion into it.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

NAGEL: Our first primary goal is for the district to strive to a hundred percent clean energy by...

ROSENZWEIG: And then the board is like, thank you. Next.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Thank you so much. You can...

ROSENZWEIG: And it was like, oh, how much longer are we going to keep doing this?

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Once again, we have with us two special guests, the sustainability student group.

NAGEL: From start to finish, the process took almost two years.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Director Anderson.

AUON'TAI M ANDERSON: Aye.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Director Baldermann.

SCOTT BALDERMANN: Aye.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Director Esserman.

SCOTT ESSERMAN: Aye.

ROSENZWEIG: The policy was passed unanimously, and it was really amazing.

(APPLAUSE)

NAGEL: I know on a personal level, it sometimes feels like what I'm doing will never be enough. And part of that is true. Like, one person isn't going to be able to change the fate of this planet, of climate change.

ROSENZWEIG: I realize that now the conversation isn't, what can we do to prevent climate change? It's, how are we going to live with it? As I'm still so young, to hear that shift is frustrating⁹ because it's like, we've known about this for so long.

NAGEL: Climate change can be incredibly overwhelming at times, and that's totally OK. It's OK to feel anxious about your future because it is a real threat. But also don't let that stop you from trying to make a change and instead kind of use that as motivation to make the change that we need.

FADEL: That was Gabriel Nagel and Mariah Rosenzweig, both students at East High School in Denver, Colo. And joining me now for more on how kids are processing climate change is Lauren Sommer from NPR's Climate Desk.

So we just heard from these two students feeling like not enough is being done. How common are these feelings?

LAUREN SOMMER, BYLINE¹⁰: Yeah, in general, you know, if you look at young adults, they're more likely to care about climate change. And that's true no matter what political party they belong to. And when it comes to younger school-age kids, you know, some are experiencing this climate anxiety that we heard. It's something that Dr. Kelsey Hudson, who is a clinical psychologist who specializes in climate change, she's seeing that in her patients.

KELSEY HUDSON: Many young people are experiencing grief and frustration¹¹ and anxiety and elements of kind of betrayal by adults and other generations.

SOMMER: And for some kids, this is kind of layering on top of the isolation¹² and stress they may have experienced during the pandemic.

FADEL: Wow. I think it is kind of hard to hear that they feel betrayed by us, by our generation and other generations. So if you're a parent or a caregiver or even a kid feeling these emotions, what's a good way to address it?

SOMMER: Yeah, so Hudson says the first thing is to make some space to talk about it. If you're a caregiver, ask what a kid knows about climate change and how it makes them feel. Listen. You know, acknowledge their feelings and validate¹³ that it's a big, difficult thing to think about. And avoid the urge to say that everything is going to be OK.

FADEL: Yeah, but I can see how a caregiver might want to just tell their kid, don't worry. Everything is going to be OK. What's wrong with that?

SOMMER: It's kind of a Band-Aid. It's not a solution. And it's a global change that will affect billions of people, and young people know that.

FADEL: Yeah.

SOMMER: So the next step after kind of just talking about it and validating¹⁴ feelings is to find something meaningful, Hudson says.

HUDSON: We can think about, what does it look like for young people or one young person to find a sense of meaning and purpose in this crisis, to maybe connect with like-minded others and build some agency through connecting with climate engagement or action?

SOMMER: So engagement can happen on very different levels, she says. You know, it can be just, you know, planting a pollinator-friendly flower in your backyard with a kid or maybe volunteering at a local park. What's important here is finding community, finding those social connections so that young people don't feel so isolated¹⁵ with these feelings.

FADEL: Lauren Sommer of NPR's Climate Desk. Thanks so much, Lauren.

SOMMER: Thanks.

(SOUNDBITE OF DARDUST'S "PRISMA (ACOUSTIC)")

FADEL: And you can head to NPR's website to download a comic book of Gabe's story just for kids. It explains what climate change is and how kids can process their feelings. That's at npr.org.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 boulder   

n.巨砾；卵石，圆石

参考例句：

• We all heaved together and removed the boulder.大家一齐用劲，把大石头搬开了。
• He stepped clear of the boulder.他从大石头后面走了出来。

3 canyon   

n.峡谷，溪谷

参考例句：

• The Grand Canyon in the USA is 1900 metres deep.美国的大峡谷1900米深。
• The canyon is famous for producing echoes.这个峡谷以回声而闻名。

4 ridge   

n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭

参考例句：

• We clambered up the hillside to the ridge above.我们沿着山坡费力地爬上了山脊。
• The infantry were advancing to attack the ridge.步兵部队正在向前挺进攻打山脊。

5 evacuated   

撤退者的

参考例句：

• Police evacuated nearby buildings. 警方已将附近大楼的居民疏散。
• The fireman evacuated the guests from the burning hotel. 消防队员把客人们从燃烧着的旅馆中撤出来。

6 evacuating   

撤离，疏散( evacuate的现在分词 )； 排空（胃肠），排泄（粪便）； （从危险的地方）撤出，搬出，撤空

参考例句：

• The solution is degassed by alternately freezing, evacuating and thawing. 通过交替的冻结、抽空和溶化来使溶液除气。
• Are we evacuating these potential targets? 能够在这些目标地域内进行疏散吗？

7 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

8 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

9 frustrating   

adj.产生挫折的，使人沮丧的，令人泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的现在分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's frustrating to have to wait so long. 要等这么长时间，真令人懊恼。
• It was a demeaning and ultimately frustrating experience. 那是一次有失颜面并且令人沮丧至极的经历。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

11 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

12 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。

13 validate   

vt.（法律）使有效，使生效

参考例句：

• You need an official signature to validate the order.你要有正式的签字，这张汇票才能生效。
• In order to validate the agreement,both parties sign it.为使协议有效，双方在上面签了字。

14 validating   

v.证实( validate的现在分词 )；确证；使生效；使有法律效力

参考例句：

• His politics at home were validating his efforts in the hemisphere. 他的国内政策也有效地支持了他对本半球所做的努力。 来自辞典例句
• A number of different experimental approaches have aided in validating the concept. 许多不同的实验方法，有助于确证这种概念。 来自辞典例句

15 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。