Original announcement from the UW’s Program on Climate Change.
How do scientists develop confidence and experience having conversations with the general public around climate science, global and local impact, and solutions when their areas of expertise are in a disciplinary science such as oceanography or urban planning? In Fall 2024, the Program on Climate Change (PCC), and the Washington State Climate Office (WASCO), set out to create a training program that would help develop the capacity for graduate students to do just that, and to serve as a community resource on climate science and solutions.
A traditional strength of the PCC is that it is focused on interdisciplinary education and training in a way that brings together students and faculty from across campus. No other unit plays or intends to play this role, making the PCC a unique asset to climate education and research at the University of Washington. This pilot of the Pacific Northwest Climate Ambassadors program is a collaboration between the Program on Climate Change(PCC), the Washington State Climate Office (WASCO), and the College of the Environment Communications Team.
In spring 2025 the PNW Climate Ambassadors program at the University of Washington trained a cohort of graduate students to develop presentations on climate and its impacts on the Pacific Northwest; these students are now ready to respond to requests from public organizations, including schools, rotary clubs, non-profits, and more, on topics related to the students’ own area of expertise.
The training program included communication and science resource sharing, development of a climate slide bank, and two workshops on communications and messaging. After these two workshops, students developed a 20-minute presentation on a specific climate change topic area and gathered feedback from a subset of their PNW Climate Ambassadors cohort and a representative from the PCC and/or WASCO.
Each 20 minute presentation focused on either Coasts and Oceans, Forests and Wildfire, Water / Drought / Flooding and People or Infrastructure (Human Habitat). Students also chose to include one or more of Past trends, Future projections, Impacts, Adaptation, Mitigation/GHG’s, and Misinformation in their initial practice talks.
These students are now ready to develop new presentations in response to public requests.
Students may choose to remain PNW Climate Ambassadors for the duration of their degree. For UW graduate students interested in joining a future cohort, be sure to join the pccgrads listserve to be notified of a 2025-2026 offering. If you or your organization is interested in requesting a presentation, you can find a link to a presentation request form on the PNW Climate Ambassador webpage. Requests are vetted by the PCC and WASCO.
