‘Future Chicken’ Is Here to Teach Kids About Climate Change - Heatmap

‘Future Chicken’ Is Here to Teach Kids About Climate Change - Heatmap News

Mike is the VP of Sales at Heatmap. He previously was the founding director of growth at Canary Media, where he authored a column on the intersection of climate and culture. Read More

Read More

To continue reading

Create a free account or sign in to unlock more free articles.

By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy

Welcome to Heatmap

Thank you for registering with Heatmap. Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our lives, a force reshaping our economy, our politics, and our culture. We hope to be your trusted, friendly, and insightful guide to that transformation. Please enjoy your free articles. You can check your profile here.

subscribe to get Unlimited access

Offer for a Heatmap News Unlimited Access subscription; please note that your subscription will renew automatically unless you cancel prior to renewal. Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current billing period. We will let you know in advance of any price changes. Taxes may apply. Offer terms are subject to change.

Subscribe to get unlimited Access

Hey, you are out of free articles but you are only a few clicks away from full access. Subscribe below and take advantage of our introductory offer.

subscribe to get Unlimited access

Offer for a Heatmap News Unlimited Access subscription; please note that your subscription will renew automatically unless you cancel prior to renewal. Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current billing period. We will let you know in advance of any price changes. Taxes may apply. Offer terms are subject to change.

Create a Free Account

Unlock your free articles

Welcome to Heatmap

Thank you for registering with Heatmap. Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our lives, a force reshaping our economy, our politics, and our culture. We hope to be your trusted, friendly, and insightful guide to that transformation. Please enjoy your free articles. You can check your profile here.

Subscribe to get unlimited Access

Hey , you are out of free articles but you are only a few clicks away from full access. Subscribe below and take advantage of our introductory offer.

Login

To continue reading login to your account.

Forgot your password?

Please enter the email address you use for your account so we can send you a link to reset your password:

A chicken from the future, to be clear.

If I told you there was a chicken named Potato who was going to teach our kids about climate change, would you think I was kidding? Either way, I’m here to inform you that Future Chicken, an “ECOtainment platform” co-created by Catherine Winder and Annabel Slaight, launched last year, including original content like a TV show that airs on CBC and YouTube, games, and a podcast, all aimed at warding off climate doom and instead highlighting climate solutions.

Winder and Slaight have, to put it mildly, impressive resumes, with Slaight having been an executive producer of The Big Comfy Couch and Winder a force behind multiple Angry Birds movies. The show’s premise is fun, and was actually thought up by kids. The main character is a chicken (named Potato) from the year 2050, a time when climate change has seemingly been solved. She travels back and forth between the future and the present, sometimes talking about the solutions of her time.

As one of Heatmap’s resident Climate Dads, the question of how and when I should talk to my kids about climate change actually vexes me a lot, so I’m always open to new media on the subject. A couple years ago, being a millennial parent, I reached out to one of my own childhood bards (and longtime climate advocate) Raffi, of “Baby Beluga” fame, for his advice.

Here’s what he told me:
Wait. Wait until the child asks you about climate change. And then, depending on the child’s age, your response can be brief and not alarming. You don’t want to get into a long climate-data talk. Keep it brief, don’t say too much. If and when the child returns for more, then say more. We want to comfort, not add to the child’s anxiety. Comfort comes in knowing that many are engaged in climate action, and we’re in this together.

Future Chicken, from what I’ve seen, follows similar guidance. In one episode, Future Chicken introduces us to climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe (for a quick second her on-screen name reads Katharine Play-Dough), a “planet protector who helped us build a better future.” She talks about how individual actions like reducing food waste or walking or biking to school affect others. “When we talk about them with other people,” she says, “that’s how we catalyze change.”

When I showed Future Chicken to my kids, my seven year old son was most drawn to an episode featuring a video game influencer named Mackenzie Turner, who emphasized trying to get outside and away from screen time. (The show playfully called it getting more “green time.”) As an avid videogamer, my son didn’t quite see eye to eye with her on this one, but it led to a good conversation about the importance of nature.

My almost-five year old daughter really liked the episode with Robin Greenfield, a climate activist famous for trying to reduce waste in every way possible, which has resulted in stunts like wearing all the trash he produced in a month.

I asked my daughter what she learned from the episode.

“I learned that there are leaves that grow out of your butt.”

“That doesn’t happen,” I gently explained. “The guy talked about wiping his butt with leaves.”

“That’s what I meant,” she said.

Future Chicken is no Bluey, a.k.a. the “ best kids show of our time.” But it did keep my kids’ attention for the three 11-minute episodes we watched.

The real test will be if they ask to watch it tomorrow – or if my daughter asks me to fetch her some fresh leaves.

Mike is the VP of Sales at Heatmap. He previously was the founding director of growth at Canary Media, where he authored a column on the intersection of climate and culture. Read More

To continue reading

Create a free account or sign in to unlock more free articles.

By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy

Welcome to Heatmap

Thank you for registering with Heatmap. Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our lives, a force reshaping our economy, our politics, and our culture. We hope to be your trusted, friendly, and insightful guide to that transformation. Please enjoy your free articles. You can check your profile here.

subscribe to get Unlimited access

Offer for a Heatmap News Unlimited Access subscription; please note that your subscription will renew automatically unless you cancel prior to renewal. Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current billing period. We will let you know in advance of any price changes. Taxes may apply. Offer terms are subject to change.

Subscribe to get unlimited Access

Hey, you are out of free articles but you are only a few clicks away from full access. Subscribe below and take advantage of our introductory offer.

subscribe to get Unlimited access

Offer for a Heatmap News Unlimited Access subscription; please note that your subscription will renew automatically unless you cancel prior to renewal. Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current billing period. We will let you know in advance of any price changes. Taxes may apply. Offer terms are subject to change.

Create a Free Account

Unlock your free articles

Welcome to Heatmap

Thank you for registering with Heatmap. Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our lives, a force reshaping our economy, our politics, and our culture. We hope to be your trusted, friendly, and insightful guide to that transformation. Please enjoy your free articles. You can check your profile here.

Subscribe to get unlimited Access

Hey , you are out of free articles but you are only a few clicks away from full access. Subscribe below and take advantage of our introductory offer.

Login

To continue reading login to your account.

Forgot your password?

Please enter the email address you use for your account so we can send you a link to reset your password:

New Treasury data just dropped.

Earlier this week, I was thinking to myself, how are we going to know how many people are actually taking advantage of the tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act?

When I put the question out on Twitter — I mean, X — I heard from Sam Hughes, a researcher inside the Treasury who pointed me to a section of the department’s website that contains data on tax credits by year. The problem is, it hasn’t been updated since 2020. But then today, as if to answer my prayers, I received a taste of the data I was looking for in my inbox.

We have forgotten how to winter.

It is a time-honored tradition for Americans who live north of the 39th parallel to mock cities like Washington, D.C., and Atlanta when they shut down over a little bit of snow. It is with great regret, then, that I write now to tell you that New York City has fallen. No longer will it be acceptable for us to roll our eyes at Southerners who abandon their cars over a mere inch of snow; no, we in fact deserve to be razzed by New Englanders and Minnesotans, our former partners in razzing. New Yorkers have become, in effect, weak. We’ve forgotten how to winter.

Maybe it’s because it has been 745 days since our last significant snowfall, or maybe it’s because, at some point, we started to lean into our designation as a “subtropical” climate. But no — I won’t make excuses, either. Outside my window in western Queens, the sidewalks are slushy but navigable, the flakes are light, and the city has lost its mind.

And more funding is on the way.

It’s official: In 2023, for the second year in a row, heat pumps — highly efficient, electric space heaters — were more popular than natural gas furnaces.

That’s according to the most recent data from the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute, a trade association for appliance manufacturers that publishes shipment data for heating and cooling equipment every month.