What we do and why are we doing it: a radio interview with Climate Interactive

By Ellie Johnston
January 4, 2012

What is it that keeps an organization like Climate Interactive ticking? Co-directors Drew Jones and Beth Sawin, along with team member and MIT professor, John Sterman, joined Radio Green Talk host Diana Dehm to discuss this and elaborate on why we provide the tools that we do.

During the program John discusses how we use role playing to help people viscerally experience some of the dynamics at the climate change negotiations in the World Climate Exercise. As Drew put it, we want to “bring these insights to leaders in forms that really touch people’s minds as well as their hearts.” John goes into this further by explaining that “our job is to give people analytical tools, so that given their goals, they can create the policy to reach them.” Beth uses our work at the UN climate negotiations, most recently held in Durban, South Africa, to explain how others employ our tools, like the Climate Scoreboard, and our analysis to support their efforts to address climate change.

John, Drew, and Beth then explore some of their motivations behind Climate Interactive’s work and talk about our philosophy of rejecting the gloom and doom in favor of showing people that there is a way forward. John explains that we have found time and again that “it is so empowering, when you understand how we are going to get from where we are today to wherever it is you want to go.”

Download and enjoy the entire radio program here.