Climate Communication

Guest Speaker: Frank Sesno

Frank's visit to Middlebury includes several events:

Monday, April 29 12:30pm, Axinn 229 "Communicating in a Fragmented Public Media Environment"
Monday, April 29 Career Chats through Handshake (timing TBD)
Tuesday, April 30 4:30pm, Dana Auditorium "Storytelling for Change, Storytelling for Climate Change"
- likely a small dinner to follow with cosponsors and key community members
Wednesday, May 1 4:30pm, Hillcrest 103 "Workshop: Pitching and Crafting Great Stories"

Frank will also visit our seminar on May 1 at 1:30 pm, BiHall 148, May 1.

In preparation, please listen to this podcast: Fostering Environmental Awareness Through Storytelling, Education, And Experiential Learning With Frank Sesno
Each student give a 1-2 minute lightning/elevator talk about what they’ve been working on as a way for Frank to get to know the room (about 15 mins total)
Frank introduce himself, 5 mins or less, no formal presentation required
20-30 mins Q&A discussion about communicating climate change, career pathways, etc.
Total time: 40 – 50 mins unless everyone’s really interested to continue the conversation

Frank (George Washington University page, Personal website) has been a journalist, academic administrator, and creator of Planet Forward

research_lightning_2024

We've studied how difficult it will be to progressively manage transformational change. How can we communicate to policymakers and the public in a way that may encourage support for such fundamental, risk-taking change?
We're (mostly) all geographers here-- in your experience as a journalist and environmental/sustainability storyteller, have you encountered geographers? What role have they played? Are we different or better at asking questions?
Frank's questions: What big problems are you going to solve? How are we equipping you to solve problems? What tools are we giving you to have context, empathy, and understanding in an increasingly complex and diverse world? How are we imbuing you with the risk-taking that you are going to need to have if you are going to address the challenges that you’re going to face, stand out amongst your peers, and be a leader if that’s what you choose to do, to create?
Let's talk about uncertainty, scientific communication, and open science. How do we balance assertively communicating science for decision-making and behavioral change with scientific uncertainty? I appreciate the emphasis on uncertainty and discovery and inquiry in an educational context, but what about for the general public? Does this fit in the news cycle? Also, may sense is that students are less and less comfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity.

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