Jakes Landing is a centuries-old access point to Dennis Creek in Cape May, New Jersey, where the forest landscape abruptly drops into a tidal saltwater marsh. Near the marsh, row after row of dead Atlantic white cedars juts out of the ground like spikes. Just beyond those are swaths of statuesque loblolly pines that are healthy now, but these are at risk of becoming ghost forests. LeeAnn Haaf, a PhD candidate in Drexel University’s Biodiversity, Earth and Environmental Science (BEES) Department, studies the effects of climate change and sea-level rise on low-lying tree growth in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States.

Lately, there has been a lot of talk all over the world about the birds and the bees — that is, how they are impacted by the environmentally devastating effects of climate change and how humans play a role in this process. Many of us want to know how we can voice those scary feelings about the health of our planet and then transform them into positive action. While it is an important and timely topic to discuss, sometimes having this talk can be a challenge, especially with children. So, the Academy reached out to children’s book authors Lena Champlin and Jeremy Wortzel to learn more about their work, Coco’s Fire: Changing Climate Anxiety Into Climate Action, and how we can start this very important conversation with our peers and young friends.