Ep 102 “Science Mom” Dr. Claudia Benitez-Nelson

Midlife Mixtape

“Start the conversation”: Oceanographer Dr. Claudia Benitez-Nelson talks about the ScienceMoms.com initiative seeking to apply “Mom Power” in tackling climate change, how midlife made her a better scientist, and why she’s hopeful for the future.

• ScienceMoms.com website
• Dr. Benitez-Nelson’s research lab website

Dr. Benitez-Nelson interviewed aboard the research vessel Sally Ride

What other song could I choose, given my late mom’s affinity for all things John Denver?Thanks as always to M. The Heir Apparent, who provides the music behind the podcast – check him out here!

***This is a rough transcription of Episode 102 of the Midlife Mixtape Podcast. It originally aired on July 20, 2021. Transcripts are created using a combination of speech recognition software and human transcribers, and there may be errors in this transcription, but we hope that it provides helpful insight into the conversation. If you have any questions or need clarification, please email [e-mail] ***

Dr. Claudia Benitez-Nelson 00:00

You have to believe and have faith in your children, the next generation, that they are going to help move the needle and solve these issues. And our job as parents is to make it happen.

Nancy Davis Kho 00:18

Welcome to Midlife Mixtape, The Podcast. I’m Nancy Davis Kho and we’re here to talk about the years between being hip and breaking one.

[THEME MUSIC – “Be Free” by M. The Heir Apparent]

Nancy 00:43

Okay, I have another summer book recommendation for you! Check out The People We Keep, by Allie Larkin, which comes out from Simon and Schuster on August 3rd. Allie is the bestselling author of Swimming for Sunlight, and she’s back with a heartbreaking and soul-stirring coming-of-age tale about a young songwriter looking to find a home in the world.

Little River, New York, 1994: April Sawicki is living in a run-down motorhome, flunking out of school, and picking up shifts at the local diner. But when April realizes she’s finally had enough, enough of her selfish, absent father and barely surviving in an unfeeling town, she decides to make a break for it. Stealing a car and with only her music to keep her company, April hits the road, determined to live life on her own terms. She manages to scrape together a meaningful existence on the road, encountering people and places that grab hold of her heart. From lifelong friendships to tragic heartbreaks, April chronicles her journey in the beautiful music she creates as she discovers that home is with the people you choose to keep.

Fun fact: I know Allie because we are on the same house concert circuit, we’ve bonded over many a living room show, and I know how hard she worked on this book and how long and how much she believed in this story, and it’s just a thrill to see a talented friend like Allie Larkin get chosen by none other than actress Rachel Bilson to be featured as her August Book of the Month Club pick.

So preorder The People We Keep by Allie Larkin at your favorite indie bookstore or online now!

[MUSIC]

Hey party people, hope you’re having a fabulous summer and working on your San Tropez tan. Who remembers that jingle? Bain de Soleil. Well, not really, I think you should be wearing sunscreen and a big hat, but I think that’s been well established between us in many episodes and probably again in today’s.

I’m Nancy Davis Kho and I’m the creator and host of this podcast, as well as the author of The Thank-You Project: Cultivating Happiness One Letter of Gratitude at a Time. I hope you’ve had a chance to read my book and if you haven’t, well, there’s probably room in your beach bag.

I’m so grateful that you’ve tuned in to today’s episode, and we’re going to get right to it! I love every guest who comes on this program, it’s true, but the ones I put into the “Shero/Hero” mix I might love most of all. These are people putting their midlife acumen to work in service of the wider world, and today’s guest is a shining example.

Dr. Claudia Benitez-Nelson is an Associate Dean and Carolina Distinguished Professor in the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of South Carolina. Her research focuses on understanding the biogeochemical cycling of nutrients and carbon and how they are influenced by climate change. Her many research honors include the Early Career Award in Oceanography from the American Geophysical Union (AGU) and being named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the Association for the Sciences of Limnology, which I didn’t know was a word, and Oceanography. Claudia is passionate about teaching and mentoring the next generation and is active in many efforts to increase diversity in science.

She’s also a member of Science Moms, a nonpartisan group of climate scientists and mothers.

They founded Science Moms – you can find it at sciencemoms.com – to help mothers who are concerned about their children’s planet, but aren’t confident in their knowledge about climate change or how they can help. Together, the Science Moms aim to demystify climate science and motivate urgent action to protect our children’s futures.

Put on your life jacket and grab a Dramanine if you are prone to seasickness, like I am… we’re setting sail with oceanographer and Science Mom, Dr. Claudia Benitez-Nelson!

[MUSIC]

Welcome to the Midlife Mixtape Podcast. I am so pleased to have you here today.

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 04:27

Thank you so much for having me. I’m so excited to be here.

Nancy 04:31

I’ve known about Science Moms for a couple of months and as soon as I saw that press release, I’m like, oh, yeah, we’re having one of the Science Moms onto the show. But nobody gets past the first question on this podcast, which is what was your first concert and what were the circumstances?

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 04:47

Oh my gosh. Okay.

Nancy 04:50

I feel like you’re about to blow my mind.

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 04:53

Well, yes. The very first concert that I went to, and maybe I’m dating myself is the Grateful Dead, and I went with my parents.

Nancy 05:03

Now, they were enlightened.

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 05:04

They were very enlightened and I grew up in Seattle, so you can perhaps understand I went to many concerts when I was growing up in the 80s and 90s. But no, it was the Grateful Dead.

Nancy 05:18

So where was it in Seattle?

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 05:20

Well, I was young and so I remember it being this huge space. I think it was the King Dome, which doesn’t exist in the same form now. There were all these people, and they were having such a wonderful time, and everyone was happy. That’s what I really remember most about it.

Nancy 05:38

Now, I noticed in your official bio, you mentioned that you have two kids who are 20 and 16. Is that right?

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 05:44

Yeah.

Nancy 05:45

You mentioned in your bio that your kids have a musical talent.

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 05:48

They’re actually musicians in that they play classical instruments, which I have no talent for whatsoever. I can’t hold a tune. I mean, they are my kids but other than that…

Nancy 06:02

I think that’s one of the coolest things about watching your kids grow up and find the thing that they love that you have no idea about. Because that’s how we are with ballet – both our daughters became ballerinas, and we learned so much about ballet. We had no idea about that before we had kids, and I would never have thought that that would be something I knew about. But here we are.

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 06:21

Well, exactly. Right. My son plays the oboe and I had to look up what an oboe really was. I was like, “What really is that instrument?” My daughter plays the flute, which, I DID know what a flute was.

Nancy 06:37

You’re familiar.

Alright, so I’m going to call you Dr. Benitez-Nelson because I know you’ve said I can call you Claudia, but I want to put the respect on your name that you have earned. Because it’s been a long path to get where you are. So I want to talk about what compelled you and eight of your fellow mom scientists to start ScienceMoms.com. It started in 2021, right?

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 06:59

Actually, it started a couple of years earlier. I’m actually the newest member to the group.

This was a group that was started a couple of years ago by Potential Energy, and it was a $10 million ad campaign. Essentially, what they have done is they’ve brought together a bunch of scientists who are mothers to really talk about climate, how our climate is changing. And really the group that we are targeting is other moms. I thought this was fantastic, right? I’m new to the group, I had met these other amazing scientists, and when they were telling me what they were doing, I was like, “I got to get in on this.”

So it makes sense, in some ways – research has shown that moms are the group that is both the most concerned about climate change, and the most likely to do something about it. In retrospect, that makes sense. But I didn’t really know that when we started. I just know that I’m really passionate about the future for my kids and the work that I do, being all about climate and how our climate is changing, really has put this in the forefront of the things that I think about. So yeah, that’s how I kind of got involved and it’s been a fantastic experience.

Nancy 08:28

Can you talk a little bit about the goals and the components of the project?

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 08:34

Yeah, so for us, the real major goal is to give moms the tools and the information that they need to break down this climate change idea in simple and engaging ways. There’s a lot of information out there, a lot of misinformation out there and for me, the science is straight. This isn’t political. It’s all about what the science says. And so any way that me, as a mom in particular, can break this down so that other moms who are just as busy and crazy as I am understand what they can do about it, I’m all in. So that’s really what it is. It’s about engaging moms, showing them that they can do something, and really making it really clear that climate change is happening now, and it’s really on us as moms to make a difference.

Because you know when moms get in on it, we know how to make a difference.

Nancy 09:39

That’s right. Moms get it done. Because what choice do we have? We’d all rather be lounging, it’s true, but here we are.

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 09:45

It’s true.

Nancy 09:46

I know that one of the aspects is that you encourage letter writing to your representatives, and there’s also in-person actions. Can you talk about those two different tactics and maybe how those are deployed in a complimentary way?

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 10:00

Sure. I think that in general, there’s a kind of a day to day things that we can do as moms to think about climate – recycle, maybe we take the stairs that day.

But in reality, if we’re going to make a difference now, it’s all about contacting our local representatives, our state representatives, our federal representatives, and making them understand that this is really important for us, this is an action item that we really need to have now. We know it was 105 degrees in Seattle, like where I grew up.

Nancy 10:35

Right.

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 09:36

Oh, my goodness.

Nancy 09:36

That’s not right.

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 10:39

My poor family. I live in South Carolina now. I’m a little bit used to the heat. They were dying. Just not prepared, don’t have the air conditioning. So many people were really suffering. We’ve got to make things happen and we know that you get the government involved, you allow them to help them along and putting those resources in the right place. We can make some change immediately.

Nancy 11:06

I think what’s important for people to remember. This really landed for me during the 2020 election cycle when I was calling…somebody had given me the great suggestion to just program your representatives into your phone. In my case, it was Senator Harris, Senator Feinstein, and I have them all programmed in. So when I was sitting in the car it would say, “Call Senator Harris” and I would get her office, and I had it both for California and DC, and I just say, “Hi, I’m a constituent. This is important to me. I wish you would do this.”

Then in the next day or two, I’d be sitting in traffic and I would just do it again, because they do look at the volume of calls. They want to know what’s on the mind of their constituents. And importantly, if you have a representative who is tuned in on climate change and doing stuff about it, those calls still matter, because you’re telling them that yes, you’re on the right track, keep pushing for the changes that you’re making. I know a lot of us worry, “I’m in this bubble. Everybody who I’ve elected to office has the same general viewpoint than I do, how does this make a difference?” But the fact is, you are saying to them, yes, keep going, keep going. So whether you’re listening and you’re in a location where maybe your elected representatives are not taking action on this, or they are, either way the calls, the letters, all that stuff can make a difference.

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 12:28

Oh, absolutely. I think it’s important to recognize that climate change is not a partisan issue, right?

Nancy

WELL.

Dr. Benitez-Nelson

It isn’t about what party you’re in. Here in South Carolina, we have Charleston, it is flooded. We have sunny day flooding: the beautiful day, high tide, that whole beautiful city is flooded. And a lot of people in my state, which is a red state, they think about this, we talk about it, and it’s just bringing it up to the forefront that, hey, you should be thinking about this, too, and take away this political component and let’s have that difficult conversation about why is Charleston flooding. And yeah, why is it October and we’re out here watching our kids play soccer and yet, yes, they have to take another break, because it’s so hot outside? And that does break down barriers.

Nancy 13:28

I didn’t mean to be disrespectful, I apologize. I was just going to say a lot of people have spent a lot of time in the past 15 months looking at facts in the face and saying they don’t exist. So do you have suggestions? I know there are lots of resources and facts on the Science Moms website to help us, but just to on a personal basis, I don’t want to fight with people about whether or not climate change exists. I just want to work with them together to end it.

What have you learned that would maybe help us have those difficult conversations in a way that’s not an attack and it’s more building solutions?

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 14:04

Well, I think that’s the wonderful thing about moms and moms with kids. You’re sitting out there, your kids are playing in the playground, or they’re at the beach, they’re going to school. We share so much in common and for me, it’s all about having the conversation. I think sometimes you’re like, “I’m not going to have that conversation if it’s going to be a tough one. I don’t even want to bring it up.” For me, I think it’s just important to start the conversation, just talk about climate, talk about how things have changed, talk about how hot it is outside.

For us, we just had another tropical storm just go through South Carolina, and just lay out the information. Tell people where they can go and find it and talk about what it means if we don’t address this problem. Believe it or not, I do think that when you can take that politics away from it and just really talk about what’s happening, you’d be surprised about how many people, moms, parents in particular are like, “Yeah, no, you’re right. This is something we’ve got to think about and really, what can we do and what is the process?” I’m very optimistic in that space.

You’ve got to have the conversations, you’ve got to talk to people, ask them their opinions, why they think that way, and then provide them with the resources to find out some different answers.

Nancy 15:38

So what are the impacts that Science Moms has seen from their initiatives so far?

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 15:43

Well, for me, it’s been amazing how many people like you are seeing about Science Moms, are reading about it, reaching out to us and starting these conversations about climate change, about what do we do, how do we reach out to our senators letting them know that this is happening right now?

We’ve had a tremendous number of people, and I’m sorry, I should have just looked up the number for you who are writing in, they’re contacting us and telling us that they’re writing in, that they’re having conversations with their kids. Actually, they have conversations with their kids, and their kids are like, “Yeah, mom, and here’s all the reasons why we need to do better.” I’m like, “Yeah!” I’ve been overwhelmed at the really positive response from all sectors about people who really want to know more, they want to share their stories about their experiences about how they talk to their kids or their friends about climate. So, yeah, it’s been great.

Nancy 16:44

So you’re feeling encouraged by the impact so far?

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 16:48

I am. It’s really easy to be discouraged, particularly when you go outside, you’re like, oh, it’s 107 degrees and I’m in Portland, or once again, we’ve got to batten down the hatches because we have another storm. So I really think that the conversation is getting out there.

I look at the number of people who are really interested in hybrid cars, electric vehicles. My daughter actually is like “Ah, the air conditioning is down a little bit, we need to turn that up a few degrees.” I was like, “Uh! Okay, yeah, let’s do it!” Even the littlest things – I think that’s huge.

Nancy 17:26

Well, I think climate change is the number one thing where I can easily feel overwhelmed and helpless. I talk a lot about that on this show about just taking a step like doing what you can in your own little sphere, don’t get overwhelmed, don’t lose hope, blah, blah, blah. I believe that.

But I will say that with climate change, it’s harder for me. I never went to see An Inconvenient Truth because I’m like, “I get it, I know it’s going to be terrible, I’m doing what I can.” I’ve been known to stand out in front of my compost bin sorting the garbage into the recycling and the regular garbage because I don’t feel like it was done at a level of granularity that is convenient for the recycling team there in Oakland. I’m trying to do what I can, but I sometimes think if I look at the big picture, I’ll give up.

So what do you say to an idiot like me? How do you tell someone like me – I know the answer. I don’t the luxury of giving up. But I think what I’m looking for is some sense of optimism, and maybe that’s unrealistic in 2021.

But a group of Science Moms gets together to start this…is there in your view, hope for progress, hope that people are going to get this, hope that we are going to be able to solve our way out of this?

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 18:40

Oh, I’m so sorry that you feel so overwhelmed.

Nancy 18:45

I’m a person who reads the paper, how could you not? I’m a person who pays attention. We’ve lost so many chances – and listeners, plug your ears. I don’t want you to get more depressed.

But I think if you are a person walking around on the planet, who’s seen firsthand that impact of climate change, you know it’s a big challenge. So how do we stay positive and just keep sorting that garbage? We just found out today in California, we’re now supposed to cut 15% of our water use because of course the drought in the western states has gotten real again and I’m like, “We already have given up every plant that could drink anything.” So I don’t know where I’m going to get my next 15% from but don’t come too close, because it might be bathing. I don’t know.

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 19:28

Well, I don’t want that to happen. First of all, let me just say, you’re right. There are a lot of misconceptions about climate change. It is complex. There are a lot of moving pieces to it and it can feel overwhelming.

Again, I would just encourage you to go to ScienceMoms.com, there are so many resources there. It just breaks it down into pretty straightforward facts and pieces that can help you internalize exactly what all of those moving parts are. So that’s the first thing.

The second thing I will say is we are incredibly creative and innovative, and the innovations that are coming out now about increasing battery life, solar power, moving away from fossil fuels, because let’s be honest, carbon dioxide, fossil fuels in the atmosphere, that’s really taken us out. It’s amazing. It’s amazing.

And so we can believe in our kids, and my students – because I’m too old. I’m not the innovator anymore, I just facilitate my students who are amazingly smart – and they really are going to solve the world’s problems. If we can help them, if we can really go to our senators, our state, local, federal governments and say “INVEST IN THIS SPACE.” If we can just take the amount of money that we spend to support looking for new oil and gas fields, that would be a tremendous increase in what we actually expend in terms of looking for new technologies so that we can kind of get off this horrible merry go round of being so dependent on fossil fuels. So we just need to invest and to move forward.

It’s amazing if you look at the private companies, they’re already doing it. They’re already making tremendous strides, and I feel like every day I look and I go, “Oh, that’s another battery. Oh, it’s increasing. Oh, yes. There’s more.” We’re the same people that can float satellites and do the internet, right? So why can’t we solve this problem? We’re sending people into space, right?

Nancy 21:51

Well, I’ll jump in with a mom brag for a second. Just to underline what Dr. Benitez-Nelson is saying, my older daughter (who graduated college from our garage during the pandemic) got a job as a mechanical engineer working for a solar tracker company, and her job is to help design these little devices that pivot solar panels minutely, so that they maximize the sun that they’re catching. It’s this little bitty thing that makes solar panels so much more efficient. Imagine that kind of invention times infinity, with these kids who have the will and the interest, and hopefully sometime, the funding to do these kinds of innovative technologies and inventions that will help us solve our way out of this.

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 22:38

That’s it. Exactly. How cool is that? It’s a small thing.

Nancy 22:42

How cool that she has her own health insurance. What?! Off my plan.

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 22:46

That’s the other thing. For me, going into oceanography, my parents were going, “Are you going to get a job?” I was like, “Yes, mom. I’m going to get a job.” I love my job. I have the best job ever, and I tell my students, don’t worry, you’re going to be fantastic, and you are going to go out and you’re going to make a difference. You know what? They are. Your daughter is a prime example of that. Who would have thought that this would be something that she would be doing, and yet we’d have such a huge impact on solar panels and their efficiency?

Nancy 23:27

I have a feeling sitting in your classroom, every student is so jazzed up to make a difference, just listening to you talk. Like, I’m going to go become an oceanographer just so I can be in your classroom. That’s the energy you’re bringing.

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 23:39

Well, let me just tell you, they come in and my kids, too, they come in and they’re asking me questions like, “How come we can’t do this?” I’m like, “We haven’t quite figured out the technology,” and they’re like, “We should do that,” and I’m like, “Yes, we should.”

So they’re already thinking about this, they’re already being innovative and thinking about ways to solve problems, the problems that I kind of thought were problems, but they already know are the problems, and they’re already 10 steps ahead.

Again, I am incredibly optimistic. Yes, you can let these ideas of climate and you can think about how hard it is, and the drought and the forest fires really weigh you down, but you have to believe and have faith in your children, the next generation, that they are going to help move the needle and solve these issues. And our job as moms, as parents, is to make it happen. We’ve got to start making this happen now. We’ve got to set the stage, we’ve got to get the foundation ready so they can launch, and reverse and change this trajectory that we’re on.

This is not like tomorrow’s problem. This is number one. As you said, call your leaders, call them up, just say, “Hey, this is important to me. I want you to invest in this space. Just wanted you to know, hey, Charleston’s going underwater.” This is one of our major cities in South Carolina. We’ve got to resolve this issue. We have all these military bases that are right on the water. This is a major issue for us in terms of our national defense. There are many reasons why we need to get this resolved, and get it going now.

Nancy 25:28

I’m about 10 seconds away from lifting my lighter in the air. YEAAAAHHHHH! I was going to ask you, what actions can listeners take right now to help make a difference? But I think you’ve just said it: go to ScienceMoms.com, read up, take some action, write some letters, call your representatives. Anything I missed?

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 25:49

No. If you go to Science Moms – sometimes you think, “I’m not really good at writing the letter” – they’ve got the templates for you! Hey, these are the things that you might want to say to your particular senator. Here’s their email address. There’s her phone number, go ahead, and we’ll help you make that happen.

Nancy 26:10

Alright. Well, we’re going to take a quick break to hear from our sponsor. When we come back, I want to ask Dr. Claudia Benitez-Nelson about her activism and whether that was baked in from the start.

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[MUSIC]

And I’m back with Dr. Claudia Benitez-Nelson, official Science Mom.

One of the most consistent lessons that has come out of the conversations I’ve had on Midlife Mixtape is that a lot of people come to activism in midlife with a real sense of purpose. “What’s my legacy going to be? I’m going to start giving back now. When I look back at my career, it’s all well and good, but I really want to make a difference. I really want to feel this larger purpose.”

I’m thinking from reading about you that you’ve been that way from the beginning, because I know you have worked not just in climate change activism, but you’ve done a lot to encourage diversity in STEM, and the inclusion of women and minorities in STEM has been a priority for you. Was this always a part of the way you looked at the world and your role in it?

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 28:09

I think it has been something that has always been instilled in me since I was a kid.

My mom has always been about doing the right thing. “This is the right thing, this is what we do.” She, as you might imagine, having gone to a Grateful Dead concert, was very much into activism and doing the right thing and equal rights, and making sure that everyone was starting from the same playing field and there was equity.

So she just raised me with this sense of purpose and that everyone should be treated equal, everyone should have opportunities, and shouldn’t be treated differently based on where they come from, how much money they have, what they look like. So activism has always been a part of what I’ve been about.

I will say that being in oceanography, being a woman and a person of color – when I was starting out, there certainly weren’t as many women. Now, it has completely changed. There are still not as many people of color as I would like to see in my field, and so this has been a passion of mine. Oceanography, changing the climate, it hits us all. It is not just a specific group. In fact, it disproportionately impacts people of color, poor communities. And so I just think that this is so important that we give everybody the information they need and support to be successful and to find the joy in life, their passion.

For me, I love oceanography. I think you know this, right? I love what I do, and so if I can just show everyone else what you can do, what’s out there and how you can make a difference in people’s lives then I’m done. I’ve made my impact.

For me, though, for activism and climate change, this is kind of what I do, and I’ve always known the climate has been changing. But I think it’s really when my kids were starting to grow up and I was out there in the field, and really seeing the changes and feeling the temperature change, and looking around, and I’m like, “Oh, this is not a ‘we’re going to fix this in 20 years’,” and so that space, activism with regards to making a difference in climate change specifically, I think has really come much more to the forefront as I’ve hit my middle years.

Nancy 30:51

Your years between being hip and breaking one. That’s a very general term.

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 30:56

So true, and I might be closer to breaking my hip.

Nancy 31:00

I mentioned when I was introducing you, that your research focuses on understanding the biogeochemical cycling of nutrients and carbon as they are influenced by climate change. I want to let you explain that in your own words, because I think I know a little bit of what that means. But I’d rather hear you tell me.

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 31:16

Sure. One of the things that we’re doing is we’re burning all these fossil fuels, and we were releasing all of this carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Well, some of that carbon dioxide doesn’t just go into the atmosphere, but it actually goes into the ocean. And one of the things that I’m really interested in is understanding how much of that carbon dioxide not only gets into the ocean, but then how is it transformed and how does it make its way maybe deeper into the ocean where it can be removed for kind of longer timescales: 500, thousands, millions of years?

So it’s kind of a mechanism of sucking CO2, that greenhouse gas into another system. That’s really what I’m really interested in: how much goes in to the ocean, and then what happens to that carbon dioxide? How is it transformed, and then how is it going to get its way down deeper into the ocean where it can be stored for a much longer period of time?

Nancy 32:23

Do you think that you approach that question differently at midlife? Given the experience and the wisdom that you’ve gained, do you think that there are ways you do your job better now “in the years between being hip and breaking one” more efficiently, maybe with a little less white noise, because you’ve been at it for a while?

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 32:42

Oh, sure. I think when I started out I was very much into the very nitty gritty details about very specific – I’m going to nerd out – chemical reactions that are happening. And as I’ve broadened and really thought bigger picture, I realize, now, it’s not about this little piece, but really about how does the whole ocean work? Not just about my piece to all of this, but rather, how can I work with others in trying to understand the oceans and how they work? Actually, I just was out at sea for about a month as part of this research campaign…

Nancy 33:25

I guess that would be part of your job. That makes sense, but here’s me being surprised: “WHAT? You were at sea? As an oceanographer?”

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 33:31

All these amazing people doing all these different things, and we were like this huge team coming together to really tackle these questions in ways that are just very different when it’s just me. I was like, the lone, long distance runner just pushing along, it’s all about me.

Now I’m in this huge team, where it’s not just a basketball team or soccer team. We are a football team, we have lines going in, and we’re all about focusing on this question. That’s how my research has really evolved and it has taught me to be such a better scientist. Talk to people who are doing things completely different than you do, and realizing that – we’re talking English, but I don’t understand a word coming out of your mouth!

Nancy 34:27

That’s so interesting, because so much of the reading I’ve done around how to thrive at midlife has talked about how it’s a shift in priorities from accomplishments and ambition to relationships. That’s exactly what you’ve just described – not to say that you were laser-focused on your accomplishments to the exclusion of having relationships with other scientists before. But certainly it sounds like the ability to cultivate those kinds of connections within the scientific community benefit the work that you’re doing at midlife.

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 34:59

Well, absolutely. Those relationships have allowed me to be much more innovative, more creative, to look at problems from a completely different perspective than I had initially intended. So for all of us as we think about making a difference in terms of addressing this climate issue.

That’s why I’m so optimistic – you want to take it full circle – is because I’m like, “No, when we all work together in this space, and we bring everyone together and people from all different walks of life, perspectives, background, be it science, be it social science, be it history, I think we were going to tackle this and we’re going to win. If we invest now, and really put all of our brain power behind it, oh, absolutely, are we going to make a difference!”

Nancy 35:49

That’s awesome. I feel like the Science Moms will be the scientists who show up with the Capri Sun and the quartered oranges, so everybody stays hydrated.

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 35:57

Oh, you bet. We’ll be cheering everyone on. We’ll be like, “GO GO GO!” We all are going to do this. You are 100%, right.

Nancy 36:06

Pom poms and all. So what’s next for Science Moms?

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 36:09

Well, right now we’re continuing to get out the message. Our latest campaign is Using Your Voice, and when we say use your voice – you know that Mom Voice?

Nancy 36:23

Do you mean this one, Claudia?

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 36:24

Yeah, that’s right. “What did you do?”

Nancy 36:28

That one scared me. Like “oh, my God. I’ve got to come up with of an alibi.”

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 36:32

That’s exactly. “I thought it was the right…”

Nancy 36:37

“She did it! It was my sister!”

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 36:39

That’s right. “I was just standing by!”

Yeah, so it’s using that Mom Voice, and really using it to really call out our senators, our local, our regional people in power and government to just say, “Hey, time’s up. It’s time to get moving.” Use your Mom Voice and say, “Time to go.”

Nancy 37:00

There’s parallels in the gun violence movement, where Moms Demand Action has made huge strides. It doesn’t feel like it some days, but for sure they have made legislative changes. Because they’ve put their mom energy to the grindstone on behalf of getting rid of all the gun craziness, and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t do it on behalf of climate change.

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 37:21

It makes sense. Our number one job is to protect our kids. I never really thought that that would be me. But oh, yeah, it’s me. “Did you threaten my child?”

Nancy 37:36

“I’ve just taken off my earrings and put my hair back in a ponytail. So brace yourself.”

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 37:40

That’s right. We’re ferocious when it comes to our kids in any space. So this is just like gun violence, climate change is right there. This is a threat to all of our kids, and we’ve got to do something about it.

Nancy 37:55

But the good news is you’re optimistic that when we do that, there’s hope that there’s action that can be taken, and the next generation coming up is going to show us all how it’s done.

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 38:05

Absolutely. We are doing it and you are, and I’ll just say all the moms out there, we are making a difference. It may not seem like it, but we are. And it is time to keep stepping it up. Don’t relax. Keep those phone calls, those emails, those letters coming. Because this is the time, and we can make a difference.

Nancy 38:25

I want everybody to check out ScienceMoms.com. Of course, I’ll leave a link to that site in the show notes, and I also am going to share a really great video featuring Dr. Benitez-Nelson onboard a ship. I loved it. So make sure you check the show notes.

We have one last question, and that is what one piece of advice do you have for people younger than you, or do you wish you could go back and tell yourself?

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 38:47

Well, besides always wear your sunscreen?

Nancy 38:48

No, that’s a good one. That’s legit. I actually gave that piece of advice in the last episode, in all seriousness

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 38:56

Be kind to yourself. I’m just going to be very honest with that. I think sometimes when we were younger, we were so focused, we’re like, “Oh, I’m so worried about making the team, getting the grade, getting into the right college,” we graduate from the college, getting the right job… and we sometimes forget that this is our life. We need to be kind to ourselves, and to experience the world that we have around us.

Nancy 39:23

I think that’s a gentle piece of advice that’s hard to take. So it’s good to have the reminder.

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 39:28

It is and I’m guilty of it. I’m so laser-focused and thinking, gosh, I didn’t take advantage of some of the things that I really should have, because I wasn’t kind to myself.

Nancy 39:39

Everybody listen up and tell that to your kids and tell them that they are going to make a difference, too. You’re going to look at ScienceMoms.com and figure out exactly how your family can play a role in that.

Dr. Claudia Benitez-Nelson, I’m so honored to have you on today. I actually feel better. I actually feel optimistic and that is not how I went to this call.

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 39:59

Yaay! Oh my God!

Nancy 40:00

I’m sending in my application to USC so I can sit in your classroom.

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 40:04

I’d love to have you.

Nancy 40:05

“Hey, who’s the old lady in the back who has no idea what’s being talked about? That’s Nancy!”

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 40:11

That’d be great.

Nancy 40:12

Thank you so much for being on the show. I really appreciate it.

Dr. Benitez-Nelson 40:15

It was so fun being on. Thank you for having me.

[MUSIC]

Nancy 40:21

Honestly, I didn’t think there was a person alive who could make me feel optimistic about humankinds’ ability to tackle climate change, but when as accomplished and knowledgeable a scientist as Dr. Benitez-Nelson says there’s still hope, we have to believe her.

Of course, she also made it clear we all have a role to play on behalf of the next generation. So I do hope you’ll spend some time on ScienceMoms.com after this episode and figure out what steps YOU and your family can take to make positive change.

Let me know what you thought about this episode. You can email me at [e-mail] or find me on social media Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @midlifemixtape.

Hey guys, this is the last Midlife Mixtape episode for a whole month. I am heading out on vacation and I’m going to try to stay off social media as much as possible when I go. I’ve packed Allie Larkin’s new book and I’ve got a road trip playlist as long as my arm, but we will pick up again at the end of August, so make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen so you don’t miss that first episode back! And don’t forget to share the Midlife Mixtape Podcast with your friends and family while I’m gone! Maybe they’ll want to catch up.

I’m so appreciative of all of you for listening. I really am so grateful for your time and for your support on the Midlife Mixtape Podcast. I wish you a wonderful August.

[“Be Free” by M. The Heir Apparent]

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