Daniel Jasper: Climate Action for Parents and Kids

In this conversation with Dan Jasper, Manisha explores concrete, non-time-consuming ways that parents and kids can learn about climate solutions and take strategic action to save the planet. They also explore the pivotal role of expanding educational access to reach sustainability. As a seasoned expert in climate solutions, Jasper gives an overview of both personal and political actions that make a real difference and that any busy parent can fit in, whether they have five minutes a month or want to devote their life to saving the planet. While climate change can feel overwhelming and paralyzing, taking strategic action can help both parents and kids alleviate the anxiety they may feel around this complex problem. This conversation will give you hope and empower you with new tools to make an impact in your local and global community.
Dan Jasper, the policy advisor for Project Drawdown's Drawdown Lift program, specializes in climate change and poverty alleviation solutions, focusing on South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. With over a decade of public policy experience, he advocates for climate financing in low- and middle-income countries. Previously, at the American Friends Service Committee, he emphasized peace and humanitarian cooperation in Asia. Dan, who holds a master's degree in public policy from Duke University, is also the founder of StreetCivics.com​
Time Codes
00:00:00 - Manisha Snoyer introduces her guest Dan Jasper, policy advisor for Project Drawdown's Drawdown Lift program
00:03:00 - Manisha discusses the importance of climate education in homeschooling
00:06:00 - Dan Jasper describes his role at Project Drawdown and the organization's mission
00:12:20 - Discussion on how the education of girls and women ties into sustainability and climate change
00:15:40 - Jasper highlights the challenges of climate resilience in low and middle-income countries
00:21:40 - Dan Jasper highlights that the connection between sustainability and global conflicts is complex, with resource scarcity playing a variable role
00:25:30 - Discussion on the importance of sustainable practices in everyday life
00:31:20 - Jasper shares how both personal actions and policy changes are vital in tackling climate change, emphasizing the power of local engagement.
00:37:57 - Manisha and Dan discuss how to identify effective organizations for climate action
00:43:00 - Exploring the future of climate change advocacy and potential career paths
00:47:42 - Dan Jasper talks about Street Civics, a resource he created for practical civic engagement education
00:49:08 - The episode concludes with Dan sharing his experience learning Aikido, a pacifist martial art, and its influence on his advocacy work and personal philosophy
This podcast is made possible through a generous grant from the Vela Education Fund
VELA Education Fund is catalyzing a vibrant alternative education ecosystem. VELA provides trust-based funding to entrepreneurs, fosters community-building and knowledge-sharing, and increases visibility through storytelling that promotes cultural awareness and acceptance of the out-of-system space. Today, VELA serves the largest community of out-of-system education entrepreneurs in the country, with over 2,000 community members. About half of VELA’s community members operate small learning environments, and the other half are ecosystem and community builders offering direct services and support across the out-of-system space. Learn more at velaedfund.org.

[@LordSantiagor]

The perspective you voice, "I was horrified, the world is coming to an end!" is very sad and incredibly unscientific. As a rough first estimation of HOW wrong this is, let's take the paper "Hsiang et al., 2017" (Published in Science and quoted by the IPCC). It estimates 1.2% GDP loss for every 1ºC increase in global temperature. Even in a pessimistic scenario, this is extremely far away from "the world ending", aka 100% loss in GDP. The apocalyptic postulate is in fact quantitatively further from the truth than the denial of climate change. Perhaps I'm being facetious here, but I hope that's food for thought. Of course GDP is not the only metric. For instance, the same paper points out possible impacts in human mortality and social inequality. These boil down to poverty and access to cheap power. A productive conversation at this point involves estimating the impact of policy, and discarding policies where the cost is higher than the benefit, including cost in dollars, including the dangers of centralizing power or restricting individual initiative. A destructive conversation, on the other hand, involves going straight to activism, claiming that we should do it all and do it fast, because unless we submit to radical collectivism the world is literally ending. A mindset of "saving the world" leads to the willingness to sacrifice literally everything to stop climate change. Honesty, respect, freedom, integrity, love, all go out the window if the objective is to avoid climate catastrophe. This sacred end justifies any means, especially since the adversaries are ruthless and greedy, that's how activists are trained to think. Machiavellian collectivism has been catastrophic time and time again. It is a worse threat than climate change.