Raising Hope: Parenting in a Climate Crisis with Bridget Shirvell

One common trope in the climate change narrative is asking what kind of world we want to leave our children.

It's a universal truth, a biological imperative that parents should wish for their children a better world, at a bare minimum, a livable world.

The rhetorical device imploring the adults in charge to consider future generations is compelling but lacks specificity.

How do parents approach parenting in a climate crisis?

How do parents balance hope with reality, instill in their children an appreciation for nature, combat fear in an uncertain world, build resilience in themselves and their kids, and communicate a down to earth understanding of climate change?

I'll let you in on a little secret.

As someone who has no children, you shouldn't listen to me.

Much better instead to listen to Bridget Schervell, author of Parenting in a Climate Crisis, A handbook for turning fear into Action and my guest on today's episode of Global Warming is real.

Chervelle is not just an observer of the climate crisis.

She is also a parent, a freelance writer, editorial consultant and an award winning journalist.

Her work appears in the New York Times, Civil Eats, Martha Stewart Living, Good Housekeeping, Edible Manhattan, and Edible Long island, among many other major publications.

She also writes the newsletter Raising Climate Resilient Kids after beginning her career covering food systems and the ways climate change shapes what ends up on our plates, Bridget's perspective shifted dramatically when she became a mother in 2018.

Suddenly, the abstract questions about the future became immediate and personal.

How do you raise a child to thrive in a world defined by environmental uncertainty?

What skills, values and emotional tools will the next generation need not just to survive, but to find joy and meaning?

Her search for answers led her to write Parenting in a Climate Crisis.

It's a heartfelt narrative that blends scientific insight with practical advice.

Bridget's approach is refreshingly honest.

She acknowledges the anxiety and grief that come with raising children during a climate emergency.

But she also insists on the power of hope, community, and everyday action.

Her four part framework, Feel Love, Build act, guides parents through the emotional landscape of climate anxiety, the importance of nurturing a love for nature, the value of practical resilience, and the transformative potential of collective action.

She shares stories of her own daughter's questions, the challenges of explaining wildfire, smoke and rising seas, as well as the small moments such as noticing the quiet of their electric car versus grandpa's noisy internal combustion engine or swapping toys with a neighbor that help reinforce the idea of the sharing economy.

Chervell suggests that these are just some of the opportunities for learning and connection.

She stresses that these conversations don't need to be grand or overwhelming.

They can be woven into the fabric of daily life.

Rooted in curiosity and compassion, our conversation explores how parents can balance honesty with reassurance, foster critical thinking in a world of misinformation, and build the kind of community resilience that will help families weather whatever the future holds.

Whether you're a parent, a teacher, or simply someone who cares about the next generation, Bridget's insights offer a roadmap for turning fear into purposeful, hopeful action.

At its core, the real question isn't just what kind of world we'll leave our children, but how we can empower them and ourselves to shape that world together.

And now my conversation with Bridget Schervell, author of Parenting in a Climate A Handbook for Turning Fear into Action.

Thank you for your time today.

I am happy to have you on my podcast and I want to talk about your book Parenting and the Climate Crisis and your work as an environmental consultant and your thoughts on climate change.

So let's get started.

Talk about what motivated writing the book Parenting in a Climate Prices.

Sure.

Well, thanks so much for having me on.

So I spent many years as a food systems reporter.

So what I mean by that is not restaurant reviews, but more talking to chefs about ingredients or farmers about what they were growing.

So I was already enmeshed in this world of how climate change was impacting the food system.

And then after I had my child in 2018, I started to think more about sort of the everyday choices and really how people are going to live and how I as a parent, could raise my child so that she can thrive in whatever climate scenario she's going to encounter in the future.

And so my work, my environmental reporting really shifted to be talking, you know, I still talking to these chefs, but I was asking them more questions about wealth, how what do you do with your own kids?

What do you feed them?

How do you talk to them?

What skills do you think they're going to need?

I started to turn that into an article for a Good Housekeeping magazine that was published in 2019 with the idea of, can I climate proof my child?

Like, what does that mean?

What skills is she going to need?

And at the time, I was very, when I started writing the article, I was very focused on sort of survivalist skills, right?

Do I does she need to learn how to sew?

Is she going to need to know how to grow her own food and can and all of those types of things?

But really, in the course of my research, what I kept coming back to was more what we kind of think of social skills, flexibility and problem solving and how we build community.

And so that became the basis for the book.

In the book there's a four part framework.

Can you explain that?

Yeah, that's correct.

6.

So the book is broken up into four different parts.

The first part is feel, and it's really about the emotions that both parents and grandparents and kids are feeling around the climate crisis.

So it goes into how we talk about the climate crisis with our own kids, but also with neighbors and parents at school.

And then it also talks a lot about climate grief and how we handle that as parents, but also how to help kids handle that.

So that's the first section of the book.

And then from there it goes into love, which to me was really about, well, how do we instill a love of nature in the environment with our kids, how do we nourish that?

So that talks about nature and about pets and animals, how we can use household pets to think about the environment, and also curiosity.

And from there I went into things that people can do in their everyday lives that will make a difference when it comes to climate change.

So thinking about the food we eat and problem solving and what we're buying right over consumption, and then from that it goes into more systematic change.

So that's the final kind of section of the book, which is act, which is about really community building and activism.

So it sounds like you're addressing first off the emotional aspect, the anxiety.

How do you talk to your child and what are your thoughts for other parents in talking about that?

Yeah, I was always, when I was writing the book, I was worried about starting it with this section because it feels like the dark, intense section.

But I also think it's the part that a lot of parents have questions about.

So my child is still pretty young, she's six.

So our conversations are not on the bigger level, but they're very much around why we take care of the planet, why we don't leave litter outside, why we don't pick random things off trees or bushes, that type of interaction.

And we've started to have conversations a little bit about how like, you know, just like how she gets sick in the wintertime or she has a cold or something.

There are things that we can do that make the earth feel healthier and feel good.

So that's like setting the early, like foundation for her to start thinking about the climate crisis on a bigger scale.

And we've talked a lot about like, she knows why I don't like plastic and why we have an electric car.

So we've kind of like, we're edging into it, I guess you would say, without having the bigger conversation.

And I'm hoping that all of that will set the foundation for more conversations about what exactly the climate crisis is and how it affects all of us.

I think once your kids get to the middle of elementary school, you can almost explain it to them, like with a bunch of blankets.

Right.

Like the earth has a blanket over itself, basically, which keeps it at a good temperature.

But if we do certain things like burn fossil fuels, it's almost like putting a bunch of blankets on the earth and it gets too hot.

But then we can do things like stop burning fossil fuels that will make it cooler.

So I think it's coming at it with them at their level.

As your kids get older, they're hearing things from other kids at school.

And so that is when I think it's very important to start checking in with how they're feeling.

Especially when we have these kind of natural disasters that are occurring more frequently because of climate change.

They're hearing about flooding and North Carolina or the wildfires out in la, and especially if they have friends or family out there, they're concerned and want to know why.

And so that is starting to have those conversations.

I like to keep going back to hope of what people can do, that lots of people are working on this problem, but still being realistic that we are facing these issues.

Right.

At your analogy of the blankets, that actually seems like something that would be a good way to explain it to adults as well.

So, you know.

Yeah, I mean, it's nice because, like, with little kids, you can even.

Right.

You can put a bunch of blankets on top of them and be like, well, how do you feel?

Yeah.

So, yeah.

And it also sounds like with your child you're starting with just appreciation of nature.

Right.

I think that's really the first step when we think about environmental stewardship.

What would you say when hopefully this happened?

If your child is only 7?

6.

Yeah, 6.

6.

She hasn't encountered this yet, but when she comes home and says, people are telling me that climate change is a hoax or it's not real, how would you approach that?

That's not something that she's encountered yet.

I think I would start by asking, oh, well, why do you think they said that?

Or why do you think they feel like that?

Because I think a lot of times when people say things like that or when it's overheard, it's because it's coming from a place of fear or People being scared.

And I think it's important to counter out that and then say, well, you know, there are lots of scientists who have been working on this for decades.

And so we know certain things.

We know how the Earth is.

Earth's temperature is changing over time, and they can track that.

And that's something that honestly, you can even do with your own kids on a smaller scale.

Right.

Especially when they're at an age where they might, like, research.

You can go back and look up, like, historical changes of what the temperature has been in your own area, which is a great way to kind of have them start thinking about it.

That's an important aspect in developing a understanding of climate change is the fundamental science combined with the appreciation of nature.

Talk about resilience.

How do you.

What, what does that mean?

Excuse me, for you.

And in terms of raising a child in a climate crisis, what are the aspects of resilience and how do you instill resilience in children?

So, for me, resilience is really not that my child is never going to face challenges, but that she's going to know that she can handle the challenges and how to ask for help and how to bounce back from them.

And so when I think about the skills that she's going to need for that, I really start to think about, like, flexible thinking and being able to adapt to different scenarios and also just being able to problem solve and being really curious about the world around her.

You know, one of the things that I have struggled with as an environmentalist is that we like to travel.

And so she has been all over the world.

And I know that there is, you know, an environmental cost to that, but there's also.

There's a lot of things that go wrong when you're traveling in that.

And I think that that is a way that you can start to build resilience.

Because you get lost.

Luggage gets lost.

Like, the day doesn't go the way you're thinking it is going to go.

And that can be true in your everyday life as well.

Right?

You know, rain on Halloween or snow on Halloween when it's harder to get outside or on your birthday.

So it's thinking about all those things of like, well, these were our plans.

What can we do instead?

Yeah, and I think travel.

There is an environmental cost to travel, but on the other side, for everyone, especially for children, it is an education.

It helps them see other parts of the world, and it probably would help them to incorporate all these other things around.

Understanding climate change, understanding how other people live, seeing how Other people lived.

I think it's important to see how fortunate most of us here in America are.

So, you know, that's a.

Sometimes I think it's a sticky wicket.

Every time I get on an airplane, I go, ugh.

But, you know, there was a period of time a couple of years ago when my father was.

Who was in Colorado, was failing, and so we all lived out here in California.

When I was 21 or right before my 21st birthday, they moved out back to Colorado, and I said, you want to come with us?

And I go, nah.

So, anyway, long story short, I was flying back and forth a lot and I was thinking about that, but I said, this is my father and he's done.

Yeah, you have to do it.

You have to.

Yeah.

Yes.

And I think also travel for anybody.

But for children, it helps to develop critical thinking skills.

Let's talk about critical thinking.

Curiosity and critical thinking.

I think that's an important aspect, I would imagine, for children.

For everyone as well.

For everyone, yeah, definitely.

Yeah.

And so there's a whole section in my book, in that whole.

In the chapter on how we talk about the climate crisis, where I also talk a little bit about, like, how we evaluate information.

Right.

Because that's such an important skill for anybody to have to be able to say, oh, you know, I'm not really sure about that.

Why do you think that's true?

Like, what are those sources to look into where that information is coming from?

How are you going to approach social media with your child?

That is a huge issue.

I think, especially if you have older kids, it's very important to be able to check in with them on what they're seeing on social media and just how they're feeling about that.

It's interesting now, especially in the past year or so with the publication of Anxious Generation, I think there's a lot more push from a number of parents to try to hold off on social media and cell phones as long as possible.

So that is something that I will probably try to do again.

My child's very young right now, so it's not something that's really come up yet, but it is something that I'm hoping that I can push off through as much of middle school as possible.

I can't imagine what it'd be like growing up with social media.

You're bombarded by all sorts of things, and if you're trying to teach about climate change, it can go both ways.

There can be all the skepticism, the denial, then there can be the we're all gonna die the doomerism.

How do you balance honesty with reassurance with maintaining a sense of hope?

Yeah, I mean, one of the things that was really uplifting about writing this book, and there were some depressing moments of it, but one of the things that was just uplifting was being able to connect with all these different people who were hopeful and who were working on solutions.

And so that is something that I really try to focus on my child, when the fires were happening out in la, she was very concerned about what was happening to the animals.

Right.

Completely like normal for a child that age.

And so I was able to find some news reports of firefighters who had saved some pets.

And so I could show her that.

And of course, she did ask.

She's like, well, were they able to save all of the pets?

And it's like, well, you know, I don't.

I don't know the answer to that.

I think it's probably unlikely, but I think a lot of people tried to save as many as they could.

So it's just balancing being truthful while also focusing on some of the positives.

Even though she's only 6, do you get a sense that she, based on what you just said, she's concerned about the animals, the fires in la?

Do you think that she has this sense of climate anxiety?

Do you think she's.

That's in there at all yet?

I mean, I think when there are big events like that, and it sounded like they had talked a little bit about it at school and then I'm sure she had heard some things when we listened to the news in the morning.

So I think she was anxious about that.

I don't think she is anxious yet about it on the scale of what it's really gonna mean for her future or the things that we're going to lose.

For instance, she's at an age where she really loves.

She loves her house, she loves her hometown.

Right.

That's great.

We live in a very pretty place.

But the reality is, is that eventually the rising waters will make our downtown area, where all the commercial districts is and where we live, really unlivable because it will be.

It will just flood so often or eventually be underwater.

So that's a conversation that we really haven't had yet.

You know, sometimes she'll ask about, will this house always be here?

Will we always have this house?

And I'm like, well, you know, I. I don't know what's going to happen in the future, but you will always have a house that you can return to, even if it's not this one.

So let's turn this around.

How, as a parent, how do you manage your climate anxiety?

What do you think?

How do you feel about your child's future?

Knowing what we're facing, how do you manage that?

Yeah, I think on days where I get very anxious or very upset, I actually try to spend more time outside.

I think spending more time outside always tends to make me feel better.

I mean it's hard, especially like doing this work.

And I think sometimes seeing how maybe I don't want to say unconcerned other people are, but how they just seem to go about their day to day lives, they're doing the same thing they've always done, especially around like things like single use plastic.

And I'm like, can we just like, like just get rid of it?

Let's just stop.

So I do think it can be hard at times.

But yeah, I try to spend a lot of time outside when I'm feeling like that.

And you know, I'm a writer, so I write lots of times I write my feelings down and sometimes that turns into a story and sometimes it doesn't, but it's an outlet.

Yeah, those are two good aspects.

I totally agree about getting outside.

I also live in a beautiful area.

I'm not in San Francisco, it's, I'm about 120 miles south now in Monterey.

Monterey Bay area.

Yeah, it's beautiful here, you know, so I'm fortunate.

I can walk outside and within like five minutes I'm looking at the ocean.

So yeah, very lucky.

Yeah, I maintain gratitude.

But even when I was in the middle of San Francisco, which is still a beautiful city, but still it was in the middle of the city just getting outside.

I think that's one of the problems that maybe has gotten us into the situation we are, is our disassociation with nature.

We've lost our touch with nature.

So I think reconnecting with nature and instilling that in children, that appreciation of nature is, is fundamental because otherwise it's just all abstract, this acute distraction.

I completely agree.

I think lots of times people think, oh, to be out in nature you have to get in your car, pack everybody up, drive to a park or go camping or take a long hike.

And really it can just be in your backyard.

If you have a backyard just sitting in the grass.

Or it can be all walk around your city block and finding a different tree to pay attention to and seeing how that tree changes over time, it really can be everywhere.

And I think when I was doing research for the book, one of the things that a lot of, because I interviewed, I interviewed mostly all parents, but also parents who most of them work.

They were either climatologists or they worked in the food system, or they worked in the fashion industry industry, but in the sustainability space.

And one of the things that kept coming up was that for a lot of them, they felt like they got to reconnect with nature when their kids were very little and small and kind of discovering it for the first time, that it made them fall back in love with nature.

So that's something that I think a lot about because my kid is still pretty young.

It's still like very easy for us to spend a lot of time outside in nature.

But I know that that relationship will change.

She gets older.

And so that is something that I try to think about how, like, what I will do, that I can keep that, like, love and engagement going for her.

It sounds like as you're guiding your child in this process of understanding climate change, appreciate appreciating nature.

And for all parents, that it's, it's a learning process in both ways.

As you're teaching your children, you're learning a lot too.

Re establishing your love of nature and et cetera.

So can you explain the five climate scenarios?

Oh, yes.

This is something that I included in the introduction of my book.

And it's based on the IPCC, the International Panel on Climate Change, their report from August 2021, in which they kind of laid out five scenarios that we would see in the future world based on how humans respond or how we don't.

And so they go through different temperature scenarios.

Right.

So the best case scenario, we reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

And under that scenario, the planet still warms by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, which is sort of the UN's do not cross line of when we see more of the worst case changes, but that by 2100, the temperature falls back down.

So under that best case scenario, our children are still seeing the effects of the climate crisis, including more heat waves, more storms, other extreme weather.

And really we've already seen we reached 1.5 degrees last year.

So we're like there now.

And the next scenario is like, we're a little slower to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but we still reach net zero emissions after 2050.

And so under that scenario, the planet warms by 1.8 degrees.

And that is when we start to really see significant sea level rise.

That would force a lot of people to either be at risk for coastal flooding or need to migrate, we'd see more people exposed to extreme heat, more extreme weather events, and they go up from there.

Scenario five, which is the worst case one, is what happens if we do nothing and we make climate change worse.

And so under that scenario, the Earth would warm by 4.4 degrees.

Parts of the planet would be completely unlivable.

Yeah.

And I think those are sort of those scenarios where I struggled with whether or not I should include them, especially in the introduction, because it felt a little depressing, especially because scenario three was the scenario under which we would.

Every country would fulfill its existing climate obligations.

So we already weren't getting to the best of the best there.

But I think it is important for people to understand what's at stake.

It's difficult to communicate climate change to adults, let alone children, that it could get really bad and to face that.

Right.

What would you say to your child?

You know, why did you do this to me, Mom?

Yeah.

I mean, that's something that I think really struggle with.

And I think a lot of people who are even considering whether or not to have kids struggle with.

Right.

What do you eventually say if your kid is like, well, you knew that all of this was a possibility.

Why did you still have me?

And I think for me, I guess I keep coming back to this idea that to decide not to have a child because of the climate crisis would also feel like you're just admitting that we were doomed, that kids are about hope.

And I feel like it would almost be a little arrogant of myself to think that I could predict the future one way or another.

And so instead, my focus is very much on how do I create joy, how do I live as sustainably as possible, how do I help my child live that way and consider others and make sure there's lots of joy in her life while still considering the impacts of what we do on the planet and other people.

So what's important is to, like you said, engender hope, joy, and appreciation for nature.

Let's talk about the importance of community.

What does that mean for you?

Yeah, so I think a lot about, you know, here, especially in the US we tend to be so individually minded.

And I think that has happened even more since the COVID 19 pandemic.

And even just like the rise of technology, you can push a button on your phone and get anything delivered to you instead of asking your neighbor, hey, do you have some extra flour when you need it?

But I think that community is going to be such an important aspect of facing whatever climate challenges that we've seen, but also as a way to reduce the risk.

And I think that we see, you know, you see the best of people after disasters like what happened out in LA or the flooding in North Carolina.

But it shouldn't take a disaster to do that.

And so I think it's really important to try to build more bridges with your neighbors, get to know them if you can and just it also means rethinking how you go about your day to day life.

It's taken me probably about four years of being very intentional about it.

But if we need something instead of just going out to buy it now, I will often ask a couple of people in my community like, hey, do you have this microphone for a podcast I can borrow?

Or do you have an extra sled that your kid's not using anymore?

Or an extra like whatever.

And that one people like the health, it's building that relationship and they'll also ask you for things in return.

But it's also just cutting down on how much we consume, which is also a climate solution.

Yeah.

But it does take a bit of rethinking what you do and sometimes it's just takes different people in your neighborhood.

I had new neighbors who moved in this year up the street and they are the type of people who will show up at your door with flowers just because they got more at from a like market than they needed.

But it really does make such a difference in how you think about your overall community.

The sharing economy and the circular economy.

These are aspects that if you can first off, adults can learn that to share more.

But that's also a great example for children too, right?

Yeah.

And that's something that like my kid's sick, she's in school, like other kids have toys or whatever that she wants.

And so I think, okay, like before we're not just gonna go out and buy something new.

And she knows that like we think about, oh, like is it something that you can borrow from somebody else for a little bit and can we give them something else that you, you can borrow?

And I will say the kids in our community are very good about that.

They're always swapping toys, which sometimes as a parent is a little annoying because you're like, oh my goodness, now I have somebody else's toy that I have to keep track of and eventually return.

But it is like really nice to just see them doing.

Is there anything, any like personal anecdotes or any interesting thing your daughter's said to you?

That's.

Yeah, I think that, you know, sometimes I think as parents, we think that these climate change conversations have to be like a big, like, intense discussion.

Right.

We're sitting down, we're talking about it, and then we're moving on.

And I've really found that they can just be part of your everyday actions.

We have always had an electric car since as long as my child can remember.

Right.

So she once asked, she's like, well, why is our car so.

So much quieter than grandpa's car?

We live a mile from my parents.

She's with them all the time.

She's in their car.

And it had never really, like, it wasn't something that I ever would have thought of.

Oh, our car is quieter because it runs on a different type of energy than Grandpa's car.

And this is why.

And this is why we made this choice, because the electricity is better for the planet at the moment, but even better than that is being able to walk and do all these things.

And so that was a way to start talking about climate change without really talking about it.

And just as part of a regular, everyday conversation.

I think that's an important point.

Just generally, people ask me often, how do you approach talking to people about climate change?

And I've gotten to the point where, well, first off, if you can don't even mention climate change, you know, go about it some other way or talking about nature or something like that so it doesn't become controversial.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, controversial.

I guess as children get older, they are going to encounter the misinformation and.

Yeah.

And they're going to have to talk about just kind of maybe instilling it in, in such a way that it's just part of it.

Like you just were saying, it's just part of life.

It's just the part of the how we approach.

Right, yeah.

And I think you can try to do that with your own neighbors or whoever you run into sometimes.

I've found that everybody I know often struggles with the question of, well, what's for dinner?

What am I making for dinner tonight?

What am I feeding my kids?

And you can approach it of like, oh, like I found this great recipe and it happens to be plant based.

Like, whatever.

Like, you can figure it out.

You can talk about climate without talking about it, or, you know, electricity here is really expensive.

So you talk about other options.

I have friends who are using geothermal energy and other people who are using solar energy, but that's another way to talk about it without talking about it.

Yeah, yeah.

So is there anything else that you'd like to share with my listeners.

Being a parent in the climate crisis.

I think that one thing that is important for people to remember is that nobody's done this before when it comes to parenting in the climate crisis.

So nobody has all of the answers, but I think.

And that nobody's going to get it right all the time.

And I like to think about it of, you know, there's different places you are at different points in your life and you do the best you can in those situations and it's not necessarily always going to be the best and that for the planet.

And that's okay.

Like you said, sometimes you get on the plane because you have to see a family member and that's okay.

That's where you are in your point, that point of your life.

So I think that's really important to give yourself grace as well.

Right, right.

It just, it's a matter of balance.

We live in a society where it's pretty difficult to move around and function without having some sort of impact.

Right.

And just understanding what that impact is and going about it in the most amenable way you can and giving yourself grace, giving other people grace, finding joy in nature and building community.

So your book, Parenting in a Climate Crisis, where would people find that?

You can go to my website, briseherval.com, that has links to major retailers like Barnes and Noble, Amazon, but also it's in a lot of independent bookstores.

You'll find it on bookshop.org so there's all the information there on my website.

Okay, great.

And I, I endorse bookshop.org Jeff Bezos doesn't need our support.

Yes, I always.

I am so lucky to have a two great independent bookstores within 15 minutes of myself.

And they both have the book in stock, which is really nice to see.

My daughter, like, runs in and checks on it every time we're there.

She's like, oh, there's a book.

That's great.

Well, thanks for the work you're doing.

I think this is an important aspect of the climate change narrative, is how we talk to the generations coming up.

It's very important.

They're the ones that are going to have to deal with it and they're the ones that probably have a large part of the solution for it as well as they grow into adulthood.

So best of luck with everything.

I appreciate the conversation.

Thank you for having me.

Bridget Schevelle's insights, while written for parents, offer valuable guidance for anyone helping younger generations navigate a changing and challenging world.

Her lessons on resilience, sharing community action, and cherishing nature are beneficial for us all.

Each of us has a role to play in working toward that better future.

Check the show notes for more information on bridges, work and links to Parenting a Climate Crisis.

Thank you for listening.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe wherever you get your podcast and see you next time.

There's always more we can do to to stop climate change.

No amount of engagement is too little, and now more than ever, your involvement matters.

To learn more and do more, visit globalwarmingisreal.com thanks for listening.

I'm your host, Tom Schuenemann.

We'll see you next time on Global Warming Is Real.

Sam.