Welcome to the We The Children podcast, the podcast where kids talk climate change! The show is hosted by your resident kid, Zachary James. He may be 11 years old, but he has big concerns for our future - concerns about how decades and even centuries of our forebears have done damage to our planet and profited at the expense of our future. Each week, we will discuss the most pressing climate issues and meet climate warriors who are working to protect our planet. You’ll get wacky weather reports, play fun trivia games, and learn ways that you can make a difference in your community. We may not have all the answers, but we will fight for climate solutions!

On today’s episode, Zach interviews guest Dr. Heïdi Sevestre. She obtained her PHD from the University of Oslo. She is a top science communicator, educator and leads expeditions to cold places every year. Her studies have taken her around the world, but now she dedicates her time to science policy, outreach and research. Dr. Sevestre is French and was born in the French alps. She fell in love with the mountains and knew from the age of 16 that she wanted to be a glaciologist. Dr. Sevestre is currently in Svalbard, which is in the center of climate change and permafrost, which is any ground that stays permanently frozen for two years. This place is covered with snow and ice everywhere year round, but the sea ice covering most of the arctic ocean has retreated. When temperatures increase, the permafrost thaws, which causes buildings to shift and releases greenhouse gasses. Dr. Sevestre says seeing polar bears and other arctic animals is magnificent, but the arctic is rapidly changing and is directly affecting them. Polar bears hunt from the sea ice and if that totally disappears, then these animals will be affected.

Dr. Sevestre explains how glaciers melting directly affects us all in two ways. The first is that glaciers hold 70% of freshwater reservoirs, which is what we use for everyday water usage. Secondly, when glaciers melt, the sea levels around the world rise. If all the glaciers in the world were to disappear, it would increase sea levels globally by 65 meters or 280 feet. This is important because there are 70 million people living between 0 and 30 feet of elevation. When the ice melts, people will have to adapt and move somewhere else. In order to combat this, we need to burn fewer fossil fuels. The more we burn fossil fuels like coal, gas, etc., the more the planet keeps the heat in and prevents it from going back into space. Our planet keeps getting warmer and has increased by 1.1 degrees Celsius since the pre-industrial revolution. This sounds like a tiny temperature increase, but a 1 degree temperature increase will continually get worse. NASA predicts that if we don’t make changes around the world, the global temperature is on track to rise by 4.5 degrees celsius in 2100. The key to tackling the climate crisis is to stop using fossil fuels as much as we are today. She suggests educating people on these issues and to calculate your own carbon footprint and water consumption. If everyone makes these slow solutions and shares these solutions with positivity and excitement, we can keep fighting to reduce the carbon footprint and stabilize our planet’s temperature. Finally, Dr. Sevestre and Zach engage in a round of climate-related trivia and Zach shares the action step of the week: switch to a more plant-based diet to reduce your carbon footprint.

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Learn more about Heïdi Sevestre.

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Thanks for listening! And always remember, if we act together, we the children, can inspire hope and create change for our climate!

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