Lucy Thomas: Welcome to the trending podcast; as politics and policies experience major changes within the shifting presidency, I will be discussing the temperatures here in St. Paul as they trend up and how students feel about rising temperatures within these policy changes. To preface our conversation, currently, Trump has actively worked to dismantle Biden’s climate policies—pulling out of the Paris Agreement, declaring a “national energy emergency,” doubling down on oil and gas production, weakening the Endangered Species Act as an energy barrier, opening areas of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling, revoking Biden’s electric vehicle targets, and sidelining environmental justice in his administration. Meanwhile, Minnesota recently experienced record-high winter temperatures, with 52°F recorded on January 28th, breaking the previous records of 48°F set in 1989 and 1879. I’ll be speaking with freshman Archer Dougherty and sophomore Josepha Mody about their experiences with these unseasonably warm temperatures and their thoughts on the impact of Trump’s environmental policies. Firstly, I will talk with Archer:

Hi Archer Dougherty, welcome to the trending Podcast. Today we’re going to be talking about climate and how temperatures are trending up. I was wondering how you’ve experienced this in your everyday life here in Minnesota.

Dougherty:
Well, in the morning, it’s like, you know, very cold in the winter and stuff. But I’ve like noticed as the years have gone by, as I got older, it’s definitely gotten a lot warmer. And while I like that because I’m more of a summer person and I hate the cold, it’s kind of unfortunate to see, like, how climate change is, like, really growing exponentially. And while it may not affect, like, our generation super duper, like, you know, greatly right now, it could definitely affect our future generations, or our kids or our grandkids a lot, which is unfortunate.

Thomas: And you said that in the mornings you sort of noticed this, but like, what’s like a specific time when you’ve seen, like, wow, this is a lot warmer than it’s been previously,

Dougherty: definitely during this fall. This past fall, it was like 70 degrees in like September, and like, a few days in October, and it was, it was kind of crazy, because, like, the leaves were still, were still green in October, which is kind of rare here. And for a lot of December, we had absolutely no snow, which is just crazy, since we’re kind of, like supposed to be like the coldest, like one of the coldest states, but it’s like we had basically no snow for most of the start of winter. So that was pretty, pretty crazy.

Thomas: And then sort of transitioning to politics, how are the current climate policies, as you know them, sort of supporting this climate change and, like, the changing temperatures or trying to act against it?

Dougherty: Well, President Trump is withdrawing from all these agreements or associations that many countries have, like, agreed to, which is really unfortunate since they have pretty much been moving to work. And also it’s unfortunate that we have somebody who’s like, really old making decisions for the total like all these, like young people or middle-aged people, when a lot of these decisions won’t affect him and they’re gonna affect us much more greatly in like, you know, a few decades. So which is sad,

Thomas: And is there any specific climate policy that you’ve noticed will, or what you think will, have the greatest impact?

Dougherty: I think probably withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement is probably the biggest one because I remember President Obama originally, I think, you know, joined that, or, like, helped create that, which was, like, revolutionary. And like, really, it was really good to see somebody in such a high position, you know, acknowledging that this is a big issue, and it’s kind of, you know, terrible that we’re going back many years on our policies and, you know, yeah,

Thomas: And how do you interact with the climate trying to like it better? Do you? Are you part of any clubs like

Dougherty: Over the summer, I joined this organization that basically we meet every like month or so when we basically, like, go pick up trash and like parks and stuff. And I think littering and your consumption of, like, plastic and stuff like, really helps, because, sure, maybe you can’t, you don’t have as much power as, like a president, but like as a citizen, you can definitely do things to better our climate, just like individually and when, like, a lot of citizens do it, I think it could definitely add up and try to reverse what our people in the higher places are doing.

Thomas: How would you recommend, like, you sort of got at this a little bit, but how would you recommend, like, the average SPA student or teacher get involved in the environment and work against these policies?

Dougherty: Definitely don’t litter ever at all, even if you think like it’s just like really small like a can or like lollipop wrapper or something don’t, don’t do it even, even if it’s like this, like one instance in time, or if you see somebody else littering, remind them not to do it. Try to bring a reusable water bottle to school if you can. Just like small things like that.

Thomas: Okay, well thank you so much for your time, Archie. and I hope you have a great rest of your day. If you are interested in getting involved with the litter clean-up program, check out the link to the transcript here. Now, I will transition to talking with Josepha. Hi, Josepha. This is up to the trending podcast. Thanks for meeting with me. And I was wondering, how do you experience climate change in your everyday life?

Mody: Well, one of the ways I experience climate change is I go to Widji. So during the summer, when we’re on trails, sometimes there’s like, these big storms that come through. And normally, like, I think before they weren’t, weren’t as bad. Like one time, we were, like, on trail, and, like, it literally thunderstorm for, like, 24 hours straight, and it was like two inches of water, so our tent got so flooded and stuff. So just kind of things like that. And also, like, snow-wise, like my family, we do a lot of Nordic skiing. So with the lack of snow, like, the past two winters, it’s been, like, really hard to do that. And when I first moved to Minnesota, and, like, I don’t know, I was in, like, second grade or whatever, but like, every winter, we would get, like, a ton of snow. So that’s kind of like changed since I’ve lived here, yeah,

Thomas: and recently, I mean, a week ago we had 50 degree days, yeah, how did that feel to, like, see it so drastic? Like,

Mody: well, it’s just, it’s kind of like, it will, like we had at no school, it was like, so cold, and then, like, in two days, it’s like, so hot. So that’s just kind of crazy. And it’s it, like, really brings your attention to the issues around climate change,

Thomas: and how do you feel like you make a change in your personal life? Or how, like, what do you want to make change?

Mody: I’m definitely, like, aware of, like, driving. I have to drive a lot for swimming because I live in St Paul, but I have to go to United, like, twice every day, so that’s a lot of driving, but sometimes I like, try to carpool with some of my friends, and also just being aware of like, even like weaving lights on at home, like electricity wise, that stuff.

Thomas: And how do you feel that the government should respond to climate change and rising temperatures?

Mody: I definitely think there should be like, rules in place. Like, I know, like, California has one about electric cars and stuff like, I feel like that should be in place for like, a lot of the US and stuff like that. And

Thomas: I don’t know what you know about Trump’s climate policies, but how do you feel like those impact the environment, or, like, maybe your trust in the government to make good decisions for the environment?

Mody: Yeah, well, I don’t know a ton about his policies, but I could guess that they’re not, like, supportive of the environment, or, like, what we need at this time. So just kind of, like, I don’t know. I hope he doesn’t do everything that he’s saying says he’s going to do, like, mining and the Arctic, whatever.

Thomas: And how would you recommend others make changes in their personal lives to maybe counteract these rising temperatures?

Mody: I don’t know, like simple things like carpooling, like I said before, just being, like, get involved. Like, finding ways to help with the environment.

Thomas: So, okay, thank you so much for your time. Yeah, thank you. Yeah. Have a great rest of your day. Thank you so much for talking to me today. Thank you for tuning in to the [TRENDING] podcast today. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at lucyet.rubicon@spa.edu. Make sure to stay tuned to new episodes of the trending podcast at the start of every month.