What happens when a Boomer, a Gen Xer, a Millennial, and a Gen Zer sit down to talk about climate change? Welcome to Four Generations Talk Climate, the new podcast designed to bridge gaps between generations and highlight what it will take for real progress to be made.

Host, Boomer, and Ex-White House Director Dan Delurey will lead each discussion – mainly because he has the most time on his hands. Today, he is joined by environmental lawyer and One Green Thing founder Heather White (Gen X), energy economist and Johns Hopkins SAIS educator Anna Broughel (Millennial), and climate activist Hannah Testa (Gen Z).

Together, they debate whether it’s actually time for Boomers to “leave the stage,” and what that would even look like in practice. They also take on generational blame, political power, climate anxiety, protest, jobs, personal responsibility, and the increasingly complicated question of what kind of future each generation expects to inherit, or leave behind.

Beneath all the jokes you’ll find the bigger picture: climate change is an intergenerational problem, and solving it may require less finger-pointing and a lot more listening.

Timestamps:

00:00 Four generations walk into a climate conversation

02:00 Are Boomers to blame for climate change?

04:55 Gen Z wants the microphone, and some actual power

07:20 Millennials, the American dream, and brunch

09:35 Parallels between Gen X nuclear anxiety and Gen Z climate anxiety

11:30 What kind of future are we leaving behind?

15:05 “The young people will figure it out”

17:40 Do we need a bigger climate wake-up call?

21:05 Can everyday choices actually change the system?

22:15 Why talking across generations matters

Quotes:

“When we talk about future generations in the environmental community, we kind of act like they’re strangers. But they’re not. They’re the young people in our lives.” – Heather White

“Gen Z is known for being great in photo ops, ‘thank you, young people, for being here. You're the solution,’ but there's no support behind us to actually [solve anything]. And it feels incredibly unfair.” – Hannah Testa

“I'm thinking about all the places that I might not get to visit myself. And also where my daughter, even if I take her there, she might not find these places. So thinking about my legacy, I would have loved to keep these amazing natural places intact. And I don't know if we have the time.” – Anna Broughel

“Ask your kids at the dinner table. To that person, it's a game changing conversation. And that's the invitation we need. Everyone is welcome. Everyone is needed in this movement. We all show up in different ways, but we have to keep talking and listening.” – Heather White

“I'm a little bit unlike my peers in trying to think about an intergenerational legacy. That it doesn't all end with me. And it didn't end with the people above me in my line.” – Dan Delurey

“We don’t hold the institutional power. We still need you around to help assist us and provide the systematic support that we need.” – Hannah Testa

Links:

• Check out more from Four Generations Talk Climate

• Follow host and Boomer, Dan Delurey on LinkedIn

• Don’t forget the Gen Xer, Heather White

• Millennial Anna Broughel needs her participation trophy

• Is Gen Z even on LinkedIn? Hannah Testa is!