332: Parenting in a Changing Climate with Elizabeth Bechard

The Well Woman Show

Hello Well Women! On the show today, I Interview Elizabeth Bechard, Senior Policy Analyst for Moms Clean Air Force leading the organization’s work on climate change and mental health. She is author of Parenting in a Changing Climate: Tools for Cultivating Resilience, Taking Action, and Practicing Hope in the Face of Climate Change. Elizabeth also holds a Master’s of Science in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where her thesis research focused on climate change and parents’ mental health. Before joining Moms Clean Air Force, she worked as a health coach and clinical research coordinator. Elizabeth is a member of the Early Years Climate Action Task Force and lives in Vermont with her husband and twins.

On the show we discuss:

1. How parent-focused climate activism is important for mental health,
2. Effective ways for parents to support their kids’ mental health.
3. The EPA’s recent rules strengthening emissions protections for vehicles, and`
4. Her new book, Parenting in a Changing Climate: Tools for Cultivating Resilience, Taking Action, and Practicing Hope in the Face of Climate Change.

Also, The Well Woman Show is a proud media partner of the Work and Family Researchers Network conference happening on June 19-22, 2024 at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec Canada. You can hear our interview with conference chair Ellen Gallinsky at xxxx and coming up next month on the show, you can hear from Prof. Marcy Karin, a long time contributor to the Work and Family Researchers Network and she’ll be presenting there this year as well.

The 2024 conference theme is Big Questions in Work-Family, which will be part of a two-year agenda. These are the cutting-edge global questions that are not yet fully answered or recognized, including:

1. CHANGES IN WORK – What are the meanings of work at different life stages, for different groups, and in different kinds of jobs? How is work organized? What is the future of work and for whom?
2. CHANGES IN FAMILY LIFE – How are families and family experiences changing around the globe and what changes might we expect? For example, fertility rates are declining in high-income countries and there are reports of an epidemic of loneliness. What other changes are evident and what are the implications?
3. CHANGES IN WORK-LIFE INTERFACE: What theories, concepts, and measures best explain new and emerging intersections between work and family?
4. THE LIFE COURSE – How do changes in work and family impact children and their capacities to enter adult roles, for adults to successfully navigate transitions, and for older populations to age well?
5. SOLUTIONS AND PROMISING PRACTICES – What are the most promising solutions in policy and practice in the global north and south? What are the challenges and best opportunities for advancing equity and social justice?

The conference’s objective is to chart an agenda for the future of work-family research, policy and practice. And there will be numerous events to connect a global community of scholars with thought leaders in media, philanthropy, practice, policy, and social change. Find more information at wellwomanlife. com/radio [for show notes include wfrn.org)

The Well Woman Show is thankful for support from Collective Action Strategies – a consulting firm that supports systemic change so that women and families thrive, and by the Well Woman Life Movement Challenge Quiz at wellwomanlife.com/quiz