Host Michelle Lewis interviews Lis Cohen of the Talking Climate Collaborative, a new effort led by Dr. Katharine Hayhoe and Bernadette Woods Placky to amplify climate communicators and connect people across disciplines—faith, health, nonprofits, and business—with practical communication support and accessible scientific information. Cohen describes early growth including a website, community-building, and a survey with American University suggesting climate communicators often work in isolation. They discuss tailoring climate messages to audience reading levels and linking climate impacts to local concerns like health and extreme heat, including examples of cooling spaces. Cohen shares her path from loving clouds and studying atmospheric science to becoming an interpretive park ranger at Yellowstone, where climate talk was limited. She finds hope in dedicated volunteers, cheaper renewables, local leadership, and more sophisticated climate communication, and says polluters should pay for the harm they cause.
00:00 Meet Lis Cohen
00:20 What Talking Climate Does
01:52 Building the Collaborative
03:49 Communicating for Real People
06:36 Extreme Heat on the Ground
09:08 Lis’s Climate Origin Story
12:55 Yellowstone Ranger Lessons
17:37 Finding Hope in the Work
21:34 The Climate Stick Question
23:27 Where to Find Talking Climate
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