A Warm Planet in a Cold Universe: Making Climate Change Concepts Accessible (and Acceptable) to a Wide Audience*

Demonstrating the physical principles behind weather and climate is an excellent way to engage young people in science; once they’ve seen the details, they see physics at work in the world around them and are constantly reminded of the lessons they’ve learned. And once they understand a bit about climate, they can understand the reality of and the threat of climate change, and can consider the nature of possible solutions. For over 10 years, the Little Shop of Physics has presented workshops with interactive exercises that lets people discover how the earth stays warm, and helps them understand and accept that the fact that the earth is getting warmer is a matter of basic scientific principles. In this presentation, I’ll share some of the lessons we’ve shared, and the lessons we’ve learned in doing so.