Katharine Hayhoe, a climate scientist and well-known climate change communicator, insists that adults need to be upfront with children about our warming planet.

Kids deserve the truth about the earth they will inherit, she says. And the grown-ups need to hear what children have to say about climate change. Their voices, often heartfelt and hopeful, are critical in the search for climate solutions.

“Children look at something and they don’t see impossible, they see possible,” says Hayhoe, director of the Climate Science Centre at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. “They say: ‘What can we do to fix it?’ We need their perspectives more than ever. Children are what give us hope.”

Hayhoe, a Canadian and University of Toronto grad, has repeatedly seen the positive impacts of talking about climate change — both at home with her family and in her role as a climate change communicator.

Related Story Expert panel prioritizes Canada’s climate risks for federal government

In addition to her busy public speaking schedule, Hayhoe uses social media, books and online videos to talk about how climate change is impacting all of us in the communities we call home.

“The biggest myth we still face is people think that climate change doesn’t matter to them. We need to show them that it does. It’s the same for kids, too.”

Here, Hayhoe offers some tips on how to speak with kids about our warming climate. As with any complex subject, she suggests making the conversations age-appropriate and to let children lead the discussion.

Like adults, kids need concrete examples of how climate change impacts their communities. This is one example of how Hayhoe would explain climate change to a young child.

“By digging up and burning coal and gas and oil we are wrapping an extra blanket around the planet. And just like we overheat when someone puts an extra blanket on top of us, one that we didn’t need, the planet is overheating and it’s running a fever. Because of that, we see that ice is melting and sea levels are rising. But the most important way that climate change is affecting us is by exacerbating — or supersizing — extremes, including our heat waves, heavy rains and flood events, wildfires and more. We’ve always had these events, naturally, but they are getting bigger and stronger as a result of a changing climate.”

When you talk about climate change, do it in a way that empowers children to feel as though they can be part of the solution.

“If we talk about a terrible problem without talking about the possible ways to fix it, our defense mechanism as humans is to pull the blanket up over our heads and hide. We are doing our children a disservice if we just talk about a huge problem, but then say there is nothing you can do about it. You wouldn’t talk about the monster under the bed without talking about how to make it go away.”

The best way to empower kids is to provide specific examples of how children are finding solutions.

“Kids are doing such amazing things. They are creating simple machines that use wind or solar energy to power their cell phones. Or they are going around and collecting used cooking oil and turning it into biofuel to sell as a fundraiser for their school. Or they are figuring out how to reduce food waste in their community. Or pushing to have their school’s roof painted white to cut down on air conditioning. And the children’s school strikes for climate are making headlines around the world. Kids can truly make a difference. We see concrete examples of it every day. The best thing we can do for our children is to support them in their efforts.”

Bring climate change into everyday conversation as the issues arise. Adults can also model how to reduce their own — and their family’s — carbon footprint.

“The most recent conversation I had with my son — he is in grade 6 — about climate change happened at a Starbucks. He wanted a bottle of Fiji Water and I explained why that wasn’t a good choice for the planet and why we always ask for a glass of tap water. In this Starbucks, we had a talk about the carbon footprint of our food. And now it’s something we bring up every time we pass a Starbucks. The conversation (around climate change) never ends; naturally integrate it with what you do. The possibilities are endless in how to talk about it with kids.”