Katharine Hayhoe discusses that talking about climate change is the most powerful thing any individual can do to address climate change.
She discusses how leading with the heart ("What do you love most on Earth?") is far more powerful than leading with science or statistics.
Teaching Tips
Positives
This gives students of all ages a concrete plan of action: talk about the climate crisis.
Additional Prerequisites
Katharine Hayhoe's references to data from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication are now obsolete. (She delivered this talk in November 2018.) For the most up to date information on public opinion of climate change in the United States, check out our resources from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.
Katharine Hayhoe is the most followed climate scientist on Twitter. Check her out here.
Differentiation
This video might work best at the end of a unit on climate change. Students may feel scared, worried, sad, or angry after learning about the catastrophic and irreversible effects of climate change. Empowering them to talk about the climate crisis with their friends and family is a great way to help them channel these feelings into action.
You can have English students study Katharine Hayhoe's delivery. Then, as an assignment, students could be tasked with talking about the climate crisis with one person. Students could pair up with other students to practice these climate chats. A really easy way to start these conversations is "I'm really worried about climate change, and I want to talk about it."
The video provides evidence about the changing climate and the need to engage and raise voices for climate actions. This is recommended for teaching.
Standards
College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Standards
Dimension 4: Taking Informed Action
D4.7.6-8 Assess their individual and collective capacities to take action to address local, regional, and global problems, taking into account a range of possible levers of power, strategies, and potential outcomes.
D4.7.9-12 Assess options for individual and collective action to address local, regional, and global problems by engaging in self-reflection, strategy identification, and complex causal reasoning.
Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CCSS.ELA)
Speaking & Listening (K-12)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.8.2 Analyze the purpose of information presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) and evaluate the motives (e.g., social, commercial, political) behind its presentation.
