"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.

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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/

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"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.

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