When three fifth-graders in Washington state sat all the way down to make a podcast, they did not should look far to discover a good matter.

“Wildfires are a problem and they’re dangerous,” they are saying of their podcast from Chautauqua Elementary School, on Vashon Island. “But there’s ways to prevent them, so respect wildfire safety precautions and do your best to prevent these fires.”

This entry from Roz Hinds, Jia Khurana and Sadie Pritsky was amongst greater than 100 podcasts this 12 months in NPR’s Student Podcast Challenge that touched on a subject that is more and more necessary to younger individuals: climate change. Over and over once more, pupil journalists tried making sense of maximum climate occasions which are changing into extra frequent or extra intense: flash floods, hurricanes, droughts, wildfires.

Here are 4 pupil podcasts that supply a glimpse into the minds of scholars and what they should say about climate-related information of their communities — and what they hope to do about it.

Behind the Scenes of the Mosquito Fire
In a 10-episode sequence, a sixth-grade class on the Georgetown School of Innovation in Georgetown, Calif., shares tales from the devastating Mosquito Fire in 2022. This group of eight college students asks two firefighters from the Georgetown Fire Department what it is wish to combat fires and shield family members of their hometown.

Fires: Set Ablaze
At Chautauqua Elementary, the Vashon fifth-graders speak concerning the far-reaching and lasting influence of wildfires and wildfire smoke — and the direct results on their lives, like ready for the varsity bus on a smoky day. The college students additionally interview consultants and share their analysis on wildfire precautions.

Flowing Through Time: The Past, Present, and Future of Water
In this podcast from Peak Academy, a gaggle of eight center schoolers studies on coping with water shortages in Bozeman, Montana. They hint the historical past of their rising hometown’s water provide, which has been depending on mountain snowmelt. As that supply turns into much less dependable in a warming world, the scholars flip to the grown-ups to ask what they will do to preserve water.

Washed Away
The deadly flooding in eastern Kentucky final 12 months perpetually modified the lives of excessive schoolers Ryley Bowman, Carolina Johnson and Hunter Noble. The three classmates at Morgan County High School in West Liberty, Ky., share firsthand accounts of their very own and their household’s experiences in the course of the floods.

Audio story produced by Michael Levitt
Visual design and growth by LA Johnson
Edited by Steve Drummond and Rachel Waldholz