Media + Speaking
I frequently speak with media, write, and join panels on topics about the intersection of parenting, education, and climate change.
Opinion
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The Rising Threat of Extreme Heat for Young Athletes
TIME
“We can’t shield kids from intense heat. But we can give them language, strategies, and confidence to recognize risks. Climate extremes are increasingly a part of childhood, and right now, we aren’t doing enough to help young people navigate this reality.”
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Floods are becoming more common. Here’s what I tell my daughters
TIME
“Dear Girls,
At your Aunt Cassie’s wedding, the emergency alert blared on my phone: FLASH FLOOD WARNING. I scanned our surroundings. We were half-way up a hill, but in a flimsy tent, with you all scattered, playing with your cousins…” -
How I talk to my kids about climate change
CNN
“End-of-year performances, class parties, teacher gifts, camp schedules, last day of school pictures: for parents across the country, the to-do lists right now are long, and they come with a mixture of emotions…”
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We must help our youngest learners navigate enormous risks from climate change
The Hechinger Report
“The population most vulnerable to climate change is the one with the least ability to stand up for itself: young children…” -
My Climate Moment
ED. Magazine Harvard Graduate School of Education
“Three days have fundamentally altered my identity:February 28, 2013, the day my oldest daughter was born, and I was forever a different person as a mother...”
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Schools can help us build back better and address climate chnage
The Hechinger Report
“America’s public schools have enormous energy, infrastructure and transportation needs, which make them an essential component of any plan to improve the nation’s overall infrastructure. Yet the role schools can play — both in economic recovery and in addressing climate change — is often overlooked…”
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Select Media
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Schools Spend $30 Billion on Tech. How Can They Invest In It More Wisely?
Arianna Prothero, Education Week
“Schools can have a big impact leveraging their purchasing power in order to reduce technology-related carbon pollution,” she said. “If the technology itself is more energy efficient, then they’re reducing their energy use. And if the products themselves last longer, then they are not putting the demand or pressure on the system to create new products quickly.” -
An education expert’s plan for parents navigating climate anxiety in kids (when you’re scared too)
Sara Goldstein, Motherly
I know every instinct tells us to protect our kids from scary things. But Schifter’s advice might surprise you: “To support our kids, we must confront the reality that our children are living in a changing climate today and shift from trying to shield them from that reality to actively helping them navigate it.”
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Nearly half of teens can't identify what causes climate change. Why that matters
Arianna Prothero, Education Week
“People [are thinking about] how to integrate AI into education because they see that as something that will be impacting jobs, the way we interact with each other, and the world in the future. Climate is doing that exact same thing: it’s impacting jobs, and it’s impacting how and where we live.”
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As I begin my 34th year teaching, I'm increasingly asked why I haven't retired
Larry Strauss, USA Today
Schifter “refuses to be discouraged in her mission to push for greener schools and the more comprehensive educating of kids about what they can do to save their future from environmental catastrophe. If we are going to persuade our kids to remain hopeful, we’ve got to hold on to hope ourselves.” -
All Sides with Amy Juravich
WOSU Public Media
Laura Schifter talks with Amy Juravich on Tech Tuesday about how we can talk with our children about climate change and strategies to take action in our homes, communities, and schools.
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Dozens of Charleston County schools are in flood zones. Can they weather a warming world?
Valerie Nava, Jonah Chester and Toby Cox, The Post and Courier
“ It's really problematic for the workforce, because parents need to navigate the disrupted learning,” Schifter said. “Schools are a part of the fabric of our community. When there are disruptions that our schools face, it impacts more than just the students and educators in the building.”
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Record-breaking heat dome disrupts summer school, student activities
Lexi Lonas Cochran, The Hill
“One of the most important things to just acknowledge is that with our changing climate, heat waves like this are going to be more common occurrences, and heat waves in general are going to be more intense than they’ve been in the past.”
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Los Angeles-are schools face trauma and long road back
Lexi Lonas Cochran, The Hill
“When trauma like this occurs, it will take a significant amount of work to put kids and teachers in the best place to support learning again,” said Laura Schifter, head of This is Planet Ed at The Aspen Institute.
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How to teach about climate change? Education in many US schools is lacking, students claim
Alia Wong, USA Today
“Whether it’s decisions about jobs or where they live, their circumstances will be shaped by climate change,” said Laura Schifter…“Right now,” Schifter continued, climate change “is insufficiently taught in American schools.”
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Are heat days the new snow days? Schools are canceling class as temperatures soar
Rachel Ramirez & Gabe Cohen, CNN
“Schools really need to be thinking about how climate change is going to impact them and how they can develop and build plans in place to adequately respond,” Schifter told CNN.
Read here -
How to talk to your kids about climate change
Ruben Brosbe, US News and World Report
“One of the important things to emphasize is that it will take us as individuals and us as systems to make a difference in solving this,” Schifter says. For instance, she says, she might say to her daughter: “It’s great that we have an electric car, but all your school buses are running on diesel. How could we make changes to the broader community to balance this individual and community action that’s necessary?”
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