Blog

After breakfast with the kid, and before heading off to work today, I visited a middle school class to talk about climate change.

I talked about price elasticity (because what 12 year old doesn’t thrill at microeconomics) and policy solutions that work at a Vermont scale. They asked about public transportation, and I answered with the challenge of how we value (and price) public goods. The conversation was geeky and interesting.

As we closed they asked about tactics. I spoke of the visceral feeling of being part of a protest or rally— how it can bring us together, energized, for common cause. We talked about what it means to talk across difference, to ask questions and listen, and slowly come into relationship with someone. We talked about the strategy of trust and curiosity and doing your homework. We didn’t talk of heroes but I wish we had— because in these times— in this endless cycle of campaigning, we need collective action if we’re going to turn the tide on any of it.