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"This summer’s scorching heat, raging wildfires and deadly floods are a warning of what lies ahead. We must make the overshoot above 1.5 degrees as small and short as possible." - UN Secretary-General Antőnio Guterres, speaking about the current UNEP report on "Limiting Overshoot" now that the world is exceeding the 1.5°C target set at Paris in 2015. In France, television and radio programs have been examining the social and economic impacts of the nation's most extreme summer on record, with discussions like "2026, l'ete qui a tout change" (the summer that changed everything) via France Info. Meanwhile, the guests on this episode of Bridging the Carbon Gap chart the indifference of the US educational system to climate education, even as a climate-transformed world is the future of every student in America. Catherine Du, a student at Hunter College High School in NYC, interviews two of her fellow high school climate activists, who are now entering their first year of college: Helena Rambler, Hunter College High School '26 (UNC Chapel Hill '30) and Ananya Gupta, Geffen Academy at UCLA '26 (Stanford '30). Helena Rambler has been part of the Bridging the Carbon Gap production team for several years, interviewing climate scientists and communicators for the show, including Professor Gail Whiteman, founder of Arctic Basecamp. That experience of being a reporter, of asking the tough questions of experts and then explaining their answers to students, really influences how she thinks about what a climate-literate high school education should actually be. Bringing the University of California’s solutions-focused Bending the Curve climate course to high schools has been Ananya Gupta’s goal. She adapted it into a program for teens, called Intersections, and co-authored a peer-reviewed study on the outcomes with researchers at the University of California, San Diego, which found the course measurably increased students’ belief that climate change will affect them and future generations personally. In this chat Helena and Ananya share what it’s like to have climate change as background noise growing up, why they believe eco-anxiety is more prevalent than tangible plans to act among their peers, how this year’s wildfires shifted conversations at home, and how they both believe any career, whether in architecture, AI or otherwise, can be a green job.  Send us Fan Mail

In this episode, Catherine Du, a rising sophomore at Hunter College High School in NYC, interviews Veerabhadran "Ram" Ramanathan, a pioneer of climate science and Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Climate Sciences and Physical Oceanography, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego. Dr. Ramanathan added crucial understanding to the science of climate change with his discovery, in 1975, of the greenhouse effect of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Continuing his groundbreaking research in aerosol pollution in later decades, he has also advised governments and global leaders, including the Governor of California and two Popes, on the urgent need for effective worldwide climate policies. Dr. Ramanathan's goal now is to create a million climate champions, focusing on young people between the ages of 15 and 35, to help lead solutions throughout the world. With this intention he led the development of the interdisciplinary climate program for the University of California campuses, Bending the Curve. From his profile at UCSD/Scripps Institution of Oceanography: "Ramanathan was honored as the science advisor to Pope Francis’ holy see delegation to the historic 2015 Paris climate summit and advised California Gov. Jerry Brown. He was named the U.N. Climate Champion in 2013; has been elected to the U.S. National Academy and the Royal Swedish Academy which awards the Nobel prizes. Foreign Policy named him a thought leader in 2014; In 2018, he (with James Hansen) was named Tang Laureate for sustainability science." Dr. Ramanathan's profile on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veerabhadran_Ramanathan Dr. Ramanathan is a recipient of the 2026 Crafoord Prize from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences: https://www.crafoordprize.se/news/crafoord-prize-laureate-showed-that-many-factors-affect-the-climate/ Send us Fan Mail

"Individualism is an ideology. It has gone hyper and is causing great personal, social and environmental harm. If you are feeling this and want to fight back, The Miracle Inn is here for you." Dr. Morgan Phillips worked at the NGO Global Action Plan for 6.5 years, developing a climate curriculum for the school system in the UK. He recently launched his own initiative, The Miracle Inn, to apply ideas he's developed over more than a decade of work on the social basis of climate communications and democracy. https://www.themiracleinn.org/ In this episode, produced and edited by Catherine Du, he is interviewed by Catherine, Helena Rambler, and David Case, three students at Hunter College High School in NYC. Send us Fan Mail

In this introduction to our upcoming series of interviews on the role of education in a democracy, Catherine Du interviews four of her ninth grade classmates at Hunter College High School in New York City to find out what they think of the education on climate change they've received so far. Send us Fan Mail

Dr. Jyoti Mishra is an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego, and in this episode she describes how we may reshape society to cope with the climate crisis. We learned about Dr. Mishra's work first from an article she co-authored in Nature, "A mental health focus to amplify climate resilience actions" (for which her co-authors are Hahrie Han and Veerabhadran Ramanathan). In our interview, Dr. Mishra describes how society is integral in climate transformations, and is influenced by everyone's individual, unique lived experiences. Climate education and action are deeply intertwined. Collective efficacy in solutions builds as we begin with baby steps and work up through awareness, to learning about solutions, and then to taking action. Dr. Mishra has also focused on transforming the medical system, and has hosted a climate change and mental health seminar for healthcare workers.  This interview is conducted by Helena Rambler, Hunter College High School Class of 2026, and edited by Catherine Du, Hunter College High School Class of 2029.  Send us Fan Mail

Eugene Kirpichov, a former software engineer at Google, describes why he and his colleague Cassandra Xia left their positions at Google to create Work on Climate, a rapidly growing nonprofit aimed at mobilizing the talent that can build a regenerative green economy.  Kirpichov calls for redesigning the economy so that all activities will contribute to the health of the entire system. For those seeking ways to join the effort, Kirpichov explains that opportunities don't only come from companies that are already focused on climate. Since every industry has to change, there are a wide range of jobs where someone may make greater impact through bringing new ideas to roles that once may not have been 'climate-focused.' Kirpichov challenges the notion that the climate crisis is about saving nature, instead describing global destabilization as an existential threat to human civilization. This interview is conducted by Marie Fadeyeva, a recent Columbia graduate in computer science. https://workonclimate.org/ Transcript: https://newyork.thecityatlas.org/cityatlas-guests-interviews/eugene-kirpichov/ Send us Fan Mail

Mark Gongloff is a Bloomberg Opinion editor and columnist covering climate change. He previously worked for Fortune.com, the Huffington Post and the Wall Street Journal. Every week his climate column sends a stark, realistic viewpoint on the urgency of climate change action through the world’s 355,000 Bloomberg Terminals, the principal trading tool for people working in finance. New York City high school seniors Helena Rambler, Pierce Siegel, and Giulia Di Vincenzo interviewed Mark at Hunter College High School, and were joined at the end of the interview by their physics teacher, Ross Pinkerton. This interview took place on October 8, 2025. https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/authors/APR88DH6QO0/mark-gongloff https://newyork.thecityatlas.org/people/mark-gongloff/ Send us Fan Mail

Georgia Silvera Seamans, an urban forester, and Giulia Di Vincenzo, a high school student, explore the treescape of Washington Square Park, a public park in New York City that has been famous as a cultural center and gathering place for over a century. Georgia gives Giulia a tour of the trees, giving insights on ecological and social benefits of nature in cities. For this episode, video clips for the following trees are available at the link below: Ginkgo Osage, Northern Catalpa, Bald Cypress, Willow Oak, American Sweetgum https://newyork.thecityatlas.org/people/georgia-silvera-seamans/ Georgia writes and teaches in New York City, and her work can be seen here: https://www.wspecoprojects.org/ https://www.georgiasilveraseamans.com/ “I write stories about people’s relationships with plants and narratives that connect people to trees.” Send us Fan Mail

Dr. Sam Stephenson has just completed his PhD in Energy, Climate, and Net Zero Policy in the Department of Engineering, Cambridge University. In this episode, Sam describes a benchmark report from the UK government-funded research group he worked with at Cambridge, known as UK FIRES. The report, Absolute Zero, and others from UK FIRES can be downloaded here: https://ukfires.org/impact/publications/reports/ Absolute Zero has been downloaded 178,000 times since it was published in 2019, and was written by more than a dozen researchers drawn from five universities: Cambridge, Oxford, Imperial, Bath, and Strathclyde.  The top line finding in the report is that the UK should begin to reduce energy demand to 60% of the current usage in order to match the predicted available supply from zero carbon sources. This transition can be completed by 2050 in compliance with the net zero goal that is part of UK law without depending on carbon capture technologies that don’t yet exist (and may not yet exist at scale by 2050), but requires an immediate public discussion about a reduction in energy use. Reducing demand makes the zero carbon target more achievable. Missing the target impairs global cooperation that makes reducing emissions possible, and thus causes an increase in climate impacts. In brief: continuing to miss emission reduction targets will cause an increase in preventable climate impacts. Sam also describes his current research and how he initially chose climate change as his focus, which first led to a masters in environmental economics and now to his PhD. We’re at an inflection point in history; at the time we post in August, 2025, a heat wave hovers over Europe, where southern France is expected to reach 109°f/43°C, and the northeast United States remains under a summer-long plume of smoke from wildfires in Canada. IPCC co-chair Robert Vautard reports that extreme heat waves are doubling in frequency on a ten-year basis, meaning 2035 will experience double the number of this year. Pierce Siegel, a rising high school senior in New York City, Cindy Ye, about to begin her first year of college, and Ahana Pairee, moving from India to begin graduate school in the UK, each draw Sam out with questions about what the future is likely to hold and how to make it work best for everyone: with collective understanding, realism, optimism and determination. Additional references for this interview are included at the foot of the transcript at this URL: https://newyork.thecityatlas.org/people/sam-stephenson/ Pratibha Priya, David Case, and Helena Rambler also contributed to the questions for Dr. Stephenson; moderation and post production by Cindy Ye. Send us your thoughts about Bridging the Carbon Gap at [email protected]. Send us Fan Mail

Pete Sikora is the Climate & Inequality Campaigns Director at New York Communities for Change (NYCC). Before a big mayoral election in New York City, Pete sat down to talk with high school students Helena Rambler, David Case, and Pierce Siegel in Cobble Hill Park on a sunny Saturday afternoon.  Pete explains NYCC's endorsement of mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, based on Mamdani's platform for working class New Yorkers and his help in a successful campaign to stop a fracked gas power plant in Astoria, which means less air pollution and fewer cases of asthma for Mamdani's Astoria constituents. Sikora also describes his own career as an organizer and criticizes the influence of money in politics. He explains how sustained activism is the best cure for climate anxiety, and gives examples of real world results won with relatively small numbers of committed members. Additional interview production: Cindy Ye. The interview took place on May 24, 2025. https://www.nycommunities.org https://www.nycommunities.org/climate Send us your thoughts about Bridging the Carbon Gap at [email protected] or via the text button: Send us Fan Mail

Ellie Johnston is the Director of Programs at Climate Interactive, an organization that builds online simulators to let anyone test out the most effective strategies to limit climate change. Johnston also happens to live in Asheville, North Carolina, a city that bore the full brunt of flooding from Hurricane Helene in late September, 2024. In our interview, which took place two months after the storm, she describes her first hand experience with the most destructive hurricane to strike the US since Katrina in 2005. Many people lost their lives, many homes were washed away, and there was no functioning water system during October and into November, shutting down much of the city. A sense of the disruption from the storm can be seen in the Wikipedia entry on Hurricane Helene in North Carolina: "Mayor of Canton Zeb Smathers referred to recovery efforts as being for a '21st century storm with 20th century technology' due to telecommunication and power outages forcing first responders to use pack mules and handwritten notes for communication and delivery.[37] Black Mountain residents resorted to using makeshift message boards to list missing residents and humanitarian aid details.[80]" In her interview, Johnston emphasizes the community's resilience and the role of local organizations in disaster response. She also noted the ongoing challenges, such as water shortages and economic impacts, and the importance of personal and community preparedness for future disasters. Cindy Ye, from Stuyvesant High School, and Helena Rambler, David Case, and Pierce Siegel, from Hunter College High School, spoke to Ellie Johnston on December 1, 2024. Send us your thoughts about Bridging the Carbon Gap at [email protected] or via the text button: Send us Fan Mail

Helena Rambler, a high school junior, and Adam Aron, a professor of psychology at the University of California San Diego, discuss the emotional challenges of addressing climate change. Adam shares his journey from his rise in the field of cognitive neuroscience, to his growing concern about climate change, and then to his surprising career switch to learn, and teach, what makes movements effective.  He emphasizes the importance of collective action, social obligation, and the need for high school curricula to address climate change as a political and social issue. Aron's class at UCSD incorporates collective action projects, aiming to foster a sense of mutual care and responsibility among students. He advises high school students to join groups and engage in strategic actions to effect change. Transcript: https://newyork.thecityatlas.org/people/adam-aron/ https://aronlab.org/ At UCSD, Aron teaches PSYC185: The Psychology of Climate Crisis and PSYC193L: Social Movements and Organizing. https://psychology.ucsd.edu/people/profiles/aaron.html Send us Fan Mail

Gail Whiteman is a Professor of Sustainability at the University of Exeter Business School, and a social science expert on how decision-makers make sense of systemic global risks from climate change and other environmental threats. Since 2012, Whiteman is the Professor-in-Residence at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and is actively involved in building science-based targets for collective business action.  She is a past member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Frontier Risk, keynote speaker at Davos in 2023, “Unlocking the Polar Crisis” with HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco, and in 2020, “What’s at Stake: The Arctic,” alongside Sanna Marin (Prime Minister, Finland) and Al Gore. In 2021, she organized and participated in a High Level Panel – “A Plan for the Planet – the Arctic and Beyond” -- with TIME Magazine as part of WEF's media program for the online Davos Agenda, together with HRH Crown Prince Haakon of Norway, Robert Downey Jr., Baroness Bryony Worthington, Rainn Wilson, and Eric Rondolat. Professor Whiteman is the Founder of Arctic Basecamp and the co-founder, with Rainn Wilson, of Climate Basecamp, two nonprofit climate communications organizations. Pierce Siegel and Helena Rambler, juniors at Hunter College High School in Manhattan, spoke to Professor Whiteman on November 11, 2024. Video: Helena Rambler's exploration of the Arctic Basecamp climate science website (four minutes). Send us your thoughts about Bridging the Carbon Gap at [email protected] or via the text button: Send us Fan Mail

Mariana is an organizer with Climáximo, a climate justice direct action group in Portugal.  Cindy Ye and Adeline Sauberli, seniors at Stuyvesant High School, and Helena Rambler, a junior at Hunter College High School, spoke to Mariana on November 17, 2024: after the US election which brought Trump back into the White House, and before the fires in Los Angeles. Mariana describes the anxiety about climate change among young people in Portugal, the short window of time for phasing out fossil fuels, and the need for alternative paths to prevent climate collapse. She highlights the importance of emotions in climate activism and criticizes the disconnect between environmental education and real action, advocating for a curriculum that addresses current climate crises and solutions. Climáximo's approach includes a disarmament plan to stop harmful infrastructures and a peace plan for a future society.  https://www.climaximo.pt/the-missing-agreement-among-organizers/ Mariana is also co-author of a new book: https://all-in.now/ "All In is an easy-read, a tough-read, a deep-dive, and an honest conversation, engaging with strategy and organization using theory, analysis and emotions simultaneously." Please send us your thoughts at [email protected] or via the text button: Send us Fan Mail

Carolyn McGrath and Kate Schapira co-authored An Educator's Guide to Climate Emotions, a project from the Climate Psychology Alliance of North America. "The human-driven processes and impacts of climate change are disrupting young people’s lives and are putting their homes, institutions, and physical and mental health at risk. While young people may not always talk about these experiences in school or act outwardly distressed, their feelings about climate change are still making their way into the classroom. What can educators do to help young people navigate these difficult emotions?" David Case, a senior at Hunter College High School in New York City, spoke to Kate and Carolyn to hear about what they think is missing in education now, and what could be done to help schools catch up to the rapid change facing students as climate impacts escalate. Transcript: https://newyork.thecityatlas.org/people/carolyn-mcgrath-and-kate-schapira/ Educator's Guide: https://www.climatepsychology.us/educators-guide-climate-emotions Send us Fan Mail