Climate Break Podcast: Educating the Public About Climate Solutions
Chandra Middleton, Staff Researcher
Center for Law, Energy and the Environment
Applications for Fall 2024 are closed for this project.
The Center for Law, Energy, & the Environment’s (CLEE) Climate Break podcast brings listeners stories of climate progress and interviews with climate innovators from California and around the world, in under 2 minutes. Our episodes are solution-oriented and almost entirely produced by Berkeley students—including undergraduates, law students, and journalism students—working closely with climate law and policy experts at the University of California, Berkeley. Students do everything from identifying and developing episode ideas to scriptwriting and audio editing, all of which develops their public interest storytelling and journalism skills.
Climate Break has recently partnered with NPR-affiliate KALW (91.7 FM San Francisco Bay Area) to broadcast our podcast three times a week. For this, we produce a new episode each week.
Climate Break brings together team members who have diverse expertise and interests; some are interested in science communication, others climate journalism, and still others podcasting. This highly collaborative team mostly works together remotely, but in-person “study jams” are possible. Team members also work closely with directors at CLEE and climate specialists across campus, thus offering the opportunity for the student to build their network of peers and mentors. Chandra, in particular, is happy to remain in touch even after the student’s time with Climate Break has concluded.
Role: ROLE: Join the Climate Break team of (mostly) Berkeley students to produce an episode each week for the Climate Break podcast! Students should be prepared to commit at least 6 hours per week, which includes time attending a required weekly team meeting. While it is not necessary to commit to more than 6 hours per week, more hours can easily be arranged.
TASKS: The student’s role will be to publish at least one episode throughout the semester. The semester will begin with the selection of an episode topic (a climate solution appropriate for Climate Break) and researching that topic. Research includes not only the nuances of the topic, but also potential guests to have on the show. Students will also draft interview questions and schedule an interview that they will conduct with the guest. After the interview, the student will draft a script that introduces our audience to the climate solution in an easy-to-understand narrative. They will then edit the audio to produce an episode that will be published alongside a blog post. The blog post requires more research, including on critiques of proposed episode topics/climate solutions and to identify further reading for our audience—including resources for learning the basics of the underlying science. Toward the end of the semester, students will create WordPress and Simplecast posts in anticipation of the publication of their episode. Throughout the process, they will interact with our team and our guests.
LEARNING OUTCOMES: Chandra Middleton, the Senior Research Fellow running the project, will provide instruction—aided by experienced team members—and mentorship.
The student will gain critical analytical skills in the process of researching climate solutions. The nature of our podcast requires team members to think broadly about the climate solution to bring multiple societal dimensions to light for our audience. For example, what knowledge underlies the solution presented and what resources might the general public use to dive deeper into why the presented solution is a solution? What are the benefits, drawbacks, and critiques of an episode’s solution? How can the general public be involved with or support seemingly out-of-reach solutions, such as coastal flooding for one who lives in Iowa?
Identifying potential solutions also stretches the student’s understanding of what a solution to climate change is, deepening their understanding of the dimensions of “climate change” as an issue. Because climate change is already upon us, Climate Break begins with the assumption that human adaptation to a changing environment is also a solution to climate change. What do solutions start to look like when technology and human society are understood as equally essential to combating climate change?
The student will also develop highly transferrable skills like the ability to convey complex technical topics in ways that are accessible by the general public; working with narrative to create a compelling story; and editing audio.
Qualifications: REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS: Ability to conduct independent, online research and to meet production deadlines. Attention to detail. Curiosity about climate solutions. Interest in producing a podcast.
DESIRABLE BUT NOT ESSENTIAL QUALIFICATIONS: Experience writing scripts, editing audio, or with journalism. Experience with science communication. Familiarity with climate change solutions is most welcome.
Day-to-day supervisor for this project: Chandra Middleton, Staff Researcher
Hours: 6-8 hrs
Off-Campus Research Site: The research and publication of Climate Break are conducted completely online.
Related website: https://climatebreak.org/
Related website: https://www.law.berkeley.edu/research/clee/