Maxwell Boykoff is the Director of the Environmental Studies program at the University of Colorado at Boulder where his research focuses on the cultural politics of science, climate change, and environmental issues – that is, he looks at how people use their values and beliefs to shape and decide our response to environmental challenges like climate change through collective actions and policies. He is a contributing author to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment report, which will be released in March. In this talk, he will share some information about what the Conference of Parties (COP) is and how it works, what the science tells us, and what actions we hope will come out of this year’s COP26 meeting in Glasgow.

Gina Fiorile is the Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN) program coordinator and a climate change communicator for CIRES Education and Outreach. She is joining the US Action for Climate Empowerment delegation at COP26 where she will be covering climate education and youth action and engagement. She will connect with us from Glasgow and share her experience of what COP26 is like, how young people can play a role in COP, and what she is most inspired by for our future.