Yale Program on Climate Change Communication

Suzie Hicks, also known as “the Climate Chick” is a California based climate educator and media-maker who translates complex climate topics into playful and kid-friendly stories. An award winning filmmaker, author, and television host, they blend comedy, music, and puppetry to help young audiences move from eco-anxiety to action. 

Masooma Rahmaty of YPCCC’s Partnership Program recently interviewed Suzie to dive into their innovative mission of empowering kids to become climate champions. 

 

Masooma: Can you tell me about yourself and the journey that brought you to climate communication and storytelling?

Suzie: My name is Suzie. I’m a climate educator and media-maker based in California and I think the thing that led me to becoming a climate communicator and an educator is acknowledging all of the different parts of me, rather than trying to pick one and stick to it. 

I’ve always been an outside kid. I was raised in the mud, I was raised in the trees, and I spent my whole childhood outside. I also spent my whole childhood watching TV, and that was really meaningful to me. And I also spent my whole childhood doing theater, and that was really, really meaningful to me. 

So I had a really, really hard time when I was starting to go to college, or when I was applying for colleges. I had this crisis of identity. Everywhere I went, it was like, “pick one”. And I was like, “I can’t. All of these things are important to me, and I feel like they are all interconnected and related.” But every place I went said, “pick one. You can’t do all of this.”

I really struggled with that for a long time, because I thought, I guess I’ll just have to be a scientist or a theater person. I ended up choosing theater for college because I thought, this is the thing I am best at. This is the thing that I know. This is the thing that I have professional credits in.

But then, in college, while I was hardcore focusing on one of them, I stumbled upon an internship for the New England Aquarium that was looking for drama students to teach kids about the ocean. And I was like, oh my god, the things I care about. This is crazy. I had no scientific background. I had no business being in that internship, except for the fact that I was so excited about it, and I was filled to the brim with enthusiasm about the idea of being in front of crowds every day talking to kids about fish. Because that’s the skill that I bring. 

Don’t ask me to code, don’t ask me to do any math problems, don’t ask me to do any high level data analysis. But ask me to get in front of a crowd of hundreds of people? No problem. That is the profession I’m in. I know how to do that.  And especially in science, that’s a very valuable skill. 

So that is how I got into it. And ever since I had that internship, I’ve just kind of been like, no, actually, I can hold all these identities. I can make my career interdisciplinary, even though everybody wants you to be in one box, something that makes sense, that’s defined with straight lines.

And I’ve never been that way. I’m nonbinary, I’m queer, I have ADHD. I’ve never been able to fit in well-maintained boundaries of identity. And I think my career reflects that. 

Masooma: You mentioned your background in performance and connecting with children, how did you start bringing climate into that? Was there a moment when you felt you had to learn climate science to better communicate it to children?  

Suzie: That’s a great question. The way I kind of view it is: my skill set is as a communicator, and the great prompt of my life is the climate crisis. This is the topic I will write about, perform, sing, and teach. 

When I was graduating college, I had made a TV show for college students about sustainability, and thought, God, this is so fun. I want to do this forever. But then, when I graduated, I saw the Fred Rogers documentary, right as I was asking myself, what am I going to do with my life? I saw how powerful it was for Fred Rogers to talk to kids about things that were difficult, heartbreak, death,  divorce, and segregation. I just found that so powerful that he could explain these really difficult topics in a way that was caring, loving, and easy to understand. I thought, that is a beautiful calling to have in this world. 

So I cold-applied to the PBS Kids station in Los Angeles, got an entry level job, and I’ve worked there ever since, for seven years now. Working at PBS has made me recognize the deeply powerful nature of children’s media. 

In the beginning, my career was very focused on honing my craft as an entertainment professional. But then, when the pandemic hit, I realized: I need more credibility as a science communicator. I have all this credibility as a performer, and I had even worked at a video game streaming company that gave me a science show. The title of the show was, “I am not a scientist”. My entire background up until 2020 was just entertainment and communication. I think I took two science classes in college. 

Still, I understood the interdisciplinary nature of the climate crisis; I just didn’t know the technical details like parts per million (PPM) and that kind of thing. So I found this graduate program at Columbia called Climate and Society and applied to it. My entire application essay was: I want to make children’s TV about climate change, and I need to know more about the science. Can I come to this graduate program? And they said yes. 

From 2021 to 2022, I got my master’s degree in Climate and Society from Columbia’s Climate School. It was the first year that they had launched the school, so I was part of the inaugural class, which was very exciting. It was amazing. I got firehosed with climate content for a year,  just absolutely doused in climate science, with the understanding that once I graduated, I would go back into my own industry with climate literacy. 

I think more programs should do that. It is so smart that they’re not like, “Okay, now you’re gonna be an academic or a researcher.” Instead, they were like no, we get that you want to make weird little puppet shows. Here is how to effectively communicate these high-level scientific concepts in your own industry. 

My cohort included people that were dancers, artists, businesspeople, and folks who wanted to run for office, it was incredibly diverse in career aspirations, which I loved. 

That’s really where I cut my teeth on climate science. At Columbia, I learned how to code. I learned R. I learned atmospheric physics from Kate Marvel, which was a dream come true. And now I’m able to read IPCC reports and actually understand them. I can hear high-level scientific concepts about climate and I’m able to take that and break it down accurately in a way that a five-year-old could understand.

Masooma: Can you describe what role you see yourself playing in engaging kids on climate change?

Suzie: I’d say that I act as a welcoming committee to the climate movement for kids. I introduce them to scientific topics around climate change, give them the emotional tools to process that information, and introduce them to climate role models so that they can have someone to look up to as they grow.

Masooma: You mentioned that kids and children are your main audience, but is there a specific age group you focus on? Who are you trying to reach, and how do you meet them where they are?

Suzie: Yeah, that’s a great question. Well, the first thing is, all children’s media is intergenerational, because usually kids are co-viewing, they’re watching with their parents, with a babysitter, or with their teacher. So when we’re communicating to kids, we’re also communicating to adults. 

Adults are busy. There’s a lot going on right now, and it’s kind of insane to think someone is going to have the time to do all of this independent research into climate change, reading IPCC reports and diving into the science, when the only things that really shows up in the media are climate disasters, and scary events. 

So what is really important to me is to zoom out a little and say: okay, horrible, scary things are happening, everyone else has that covered. My job is to explain why this is happening, what the causes are, who’s doing something about it, and how you can get involved. Depending on the piece of media I’m making, the audience shifts. I also teach K-8, so  

five-year-olds to fourteen-year-olds. That’s what I do when I’m not making media: I teach at a school in Santa Monica. I teach climate science and theater, the two things I’ve always been passionate about. Everyone told me I had to pick one, but now I don’t have to, because my job literally involves teaching both.

When I’m teaching, depending on the class, I scale up or down the content for whatever age range I’m working with. The kids show that I have, Suzie Hicks, the Climate Chick, is for ages four to seven. That is prime PBS Kids territory. PBS Kids works with kids ages two to eight, so we’re right in the middle with that four-to-seven range. You have to be pretty consistent with your understanding of child development milestones, knowing where a kid is at, and what kind of information they can process. 

So we might say: okay, kids understand the feeling of anger. They understand the concept of unfairness. Great. The second episode that we’re working on is about fossil fuels, and it’s about anger. The puppet (Sprout) finds out that fossil fuels are making climate change worse. That is the scientific concept that we’re trying to communicate. Then she’s like, “Oh my god, we need to tell the people who are making fossil fuels so they can stop!”. And I say, “They already know.” And she’s like, “What?!” And that opens up a conversation about: “how could you do this if you know it’s bad?” Because kids in that age understand: if you behave negatively, there’s going to be a negative consequence. But then there’s this cognitive dissonance, “Wait, these people are doing something bad and there’s no negative consequence? What is going on?”

So yeah, I think it’s just pairing the content that you’re trying to communicate with the development milestones that kids are going through and also just seeing them as human beings. Because adults need that too. 

What I hear from parents and other adults who watch the show is: “Wow, I actually really needed that too.” And it’s like, yeah, duh. We all need that. We all need to be comforted, loved, and taught how to emotionally process this. It’s not just like you turn 18 and suddenly you are not scared anymore. Everybody needs to hear these messages. 

Masooma: How are kids responding to “Suzie Hicks The Climate Chick and Sprout” show? Do you have any tools or ways of tracking how they engage with it or talk about it afterward?

Suzie: The feedback from the kids is kind of what you’d expect, I made the show really fun, so the kids have fun watching it. We have little dances they do during the songs, and the kids are always like, “oh my god, can we do the dance?” And I’m like, “Yeah, we can do the dance.” The dance is actually about listing different types of renewable energy. So I’m like, great, you remember the dance, now you can list different types of renewable energy. So it goes: “Hydro, geo, wind and sun, energy is all around for everyone!” So now, simply because they’re doing silly little dance moves, they know different types of renewable energy. 

They’re also able to connect concepts in really cool ways. It is not just the scientific concepts I’m trying to communicate, it is the emotional strategies too. One story that absolutely warmed my heart: my friend is a kindergarten teacher, and watched the show with her class, and then a couple of weeks later she texted me. She said: “The character in our story (the story they were reading) was having big feelings. One of the kids in the class said they need to be like Sprout and stop. So we had to go watch your song again.” So not only are they learning climate topics, but they’re also learning how to emotionally regulate when big feelings arise, and that’s really important to me. People will text me things like,”My nephew can’t stop saying atmosphere,” or “Anytime we think about carbon, we go ‘CO2’!” which is something we do in the show. 

Masooma: Thinking about parents, especially those who are closely monitoring developmental milestones and screen time, have you ever received feedback or concerns from them? For example, parents who are cautious about how much their kids watch or what content they’re exposed to?

For the adults, I come from a background in public media, PBS, which is the gold standard for high-quality children’s content. In a world of Cocomelon and Blippy, which are all just “watch the content, watch the content”, we’re trying to disrupt that. We’re trying to be more aligned with Common Sense Media. Yes, we are making content on the internet, but it is content that is safe, educational, and productive for a child’s development. 

Our episodes are also pretty short. The full episode is about 22 minutes total, but we broke it into seven chapters, each under five minutes. So, in terms of screen time, kids aren’t spending hours watching my content. I think we currently have about an hour of total content on our YouTube channel. 

We also have meditations for kids who are feeling overwhelmed. Those aren’t really “watch” content, just nature videos on screen with my voice saying things like, “Let’s take a second and take a deep breath.”

So yes, we’re part of digital and YouTube culture, but we’re trying to disrupt it in a way that’s healthy for kids and families.

Masooma: How have you used YPCCC resources or insights in strategic communication in your advocacy work?

Suzie: Yes, oh my god, I have been a huge fan of YPCCC since I started my career. Their work has been on my radar for the entirety of my professional life. And the Six Americas has been really helpful. I first learned about that in grad school in my climate communications class. We spent a lot of time thinking about the Six Americas and that’s actually where I stopped trying to argue with people and started focusing on educating them. 

The audience for my show is people who know climate change is happening, who understand and agree that it is a threat, but don’t really know what to do about it. My job isn’t to dissuade climate deniers. It’s to empower and engage people who feel disempowered or disconnected, those who think, “Okay, this is bad, but I don’t really understand why it’s bad, what is happening, or what I can do about it.” 

I subscribe to everything YPCCC puts out because I love reading the new research. It helps me  translate that knowledge into my work. Again, I’m not the person collecting the data, that is not my role in the revolution. My role in the revolution is to take that hard data and translate it in a way that’s accessible to the public. 

So yes, YPCCC has been a really important resource for me throughout my work, since, like, 2017. 

Masooma: What’s something that surprised you in your work, especially when it comes to communicating and storytelling on climate change? 

Suzie: I think the most foundational thing I’ve realized, the thing that now underpins all of my work, is the importance of community.

I was raised in the era of individual action. The era of the carbon footprint. The era of “just turn off the lights”, “just recycle,” and then everything will be fine. And I did that. I did all of those things as a kid. I even made a PSA when I was 15 about climate change – it was just videos of me unplugging things in my house and turning off lights.

But when I graduated college and moved to LA, I felt desperately lonely. I was really stressed about climate change and thought, “Oh my god, what is happening? No one is doing anything. I have to carry all of this on my shoulders.” That completely tanked my mental health and burned me out.

What changed everything was joining groups like the Sunrise Movement, getting trained as a Climate Reality Leader, going to grad school, and meeting other people doing the work. I realized: “We’re going to figure this out together.” It’s not going to be one person who saves us, it’s going to be all of us.

That realization completely shifted my communication style. I don’t tell kids, “Turn off your lights,” or “Take shorter showers.” You’ll never hear me say that. What I do instead is encourage kids to go outside, meet their neighbors, visit their local nature preserve, and see what people are doing to protect their communities.Because when climate disasters strike, our neighbors are the ones we have. I always tell my students: “Think globally, act locally.” When higher-level government action isn’t happening, it’s our mayors, city councils, and neighborhood groups who step in to keep us safe.That’s the main thesis of what I’m trying to communicate: we have to do this together.

We even have a song from the proof of concept called “Lift Together.” Anytime I’m freaking out, I sing it to myself. The lyrics are:

When I feel all alone, like I’m spiraling down,
Lost in the mess of debris on the ground,
I just take a deep breath. I know good can be found.
Open my eyes and say all around
I see people helping people put back the broken pieces.
All around us are hands helping hands,
It’s so amazing how far love reaches.
Nothing’s too heavy if we lift together.
When I look around, I feel so much better.

That is the thesis of what I do. I started this work thinking, “If I just fix myself, it’ll be fine.” But now I know: you have to organize your community.

Masooma: Thank you for sharing! With everything going on in the world and the news often feeling so overwhelming, what helps you stay hopeful? 

Suzie: The short answer is: my friends. It’s my friends who are doing this work. Even though it’s gotten a lot harder, they are still showing up, still organizing, still fundraising, and if anything, they’ve doubled down. 

In moments when I feel burnt out, like right now, it’s summer break and I am trying to rest, I am doing Shakespeare in the woods for the summer. And sometimes I feel guilty. Sometimes I think, “oh my god, what am I doing?” But then I remind myself of this saying: social movements are like a choir. When one person is singing and they have to stop, there’s silence. When you’re in a choir and one person has to stop and take a breath, the music continues. 

I’m not going anywhere. I’m not going to stop what I’m doing, because neither are my friends. That’s my community. And you know, nothing’s too heavy if we lift together.

We thank Suzie Hicks for sharing their time, insight, and perspective with us, and for their commitment to helping children build emotional resilience, climate literacy, and a sense of joyful agency. Their work reimagines what climate communication can look like: playful, rooted in community, and impactful.