Solutions-focused climate podcast featured in university course

In Spring 2023, University of Kansas Professor Shannon O’Lear launched the course “Geographic Adventures in Climate Change.” Instead of using a textbook for homework, students listened to episodes of the solutions-focused podcast “The Sweaty Penguin” and discussed them in class. The course was developed by three of Professor O’Lear's former star pupils (all of whom had admitted to not reading the textbook in her previous class), and its first run engaged 25 enthusiastic students. One of the developers of the course, Emma Jones, was an associate producer on “The Sweaty Penguin” team, and led its educational resources project aimed at developing similar courses around the country. The course will be taught again in spring 2024, with the recording of a live podcast at KU, and efforts to build curriculum from the reporting are now headed by Ethan Brown, founder of the podcast.