Author(s): Don Haas, Paleontological Research Institution (First Author, Presenting Author)
Climate change is an urgent and serious problem, but many people don't grasp its scale, or scale more broadly. To help, this session uses 'social math' and props to make large numbers understandable. It will illustrate the carbon released from a single gallon of gasoline (5.5 lbs of carbon becoming 19 lbs of CO2) and multiply that by the 376 million gallons burned daily in the U.S. This tangible approach, using items like graphite and 2x4s, aims to foster a visceral understanding of climate change's urgency. The goal is to motivate action by presenting undeniable facts in an impactful way, leveraging emotions like fear and anger as drivers for change.
