The Greatest Story Never Told: Making Climate Adaptation Visible

In this special episode of America Adapts (256), host Doug Parsons brings together leading voices from journalism, filmmaking, philanthropy, research, and climate practice to explore one of the biggest challenges facing climate adaptation: how do we communicate it? These conversations, sparked by a communications panel at the National Adaptation Forum, examine why adaptation remains "the greatest story never told," how to connect with audiences beyond the adaptation community, and what it will take to build a stronger culture of climate resilience. Along the way, an unexpected communications framework begins to emerge, with each guest offering a distinct principle for making adaptation more visible, relatable, and actionable. The conversations also point to an often-overlooked challenge: communications must be funded, prioritized, and approached with the same creativity and innovation we bring to adaptation itself. This episode was generously supported by the CO2 Foundation, whose commitment to advancing climate adaptation communications helped make these conversations possible.

Go Deeper: We turned this conversation into a concise Policy Brief that captures the episode's key insights, practical recommendations, and implications for adaptation policy. Download it here.

New! Download the companion Meeting-in-a-Box—a ready-to-use facilitation guide that distills the episode's key insights into a one-hour discussion designed to help your team turn ideas into action.

Experts in this Episode:

Karen Wolfgang – Executive Director of the CO2 Foundation - Transcript

Olga Loginova - Documentary Filmmaker and Podcaster  - Transcript

Beth Gibbons – Director, Resiliency Office, Washtenaw County - Transcript

Shaun Martin - Director of Adaptation, WWF-US  - Transcript

Pearl Marvell - Yale Climate Connections, Editora de YCC en español - Transcript

Dr. Deb L. Morrison - Learning Scientist focused on climate adaptation and Lead Author for the IPCC's Seventh Assessment Report on Climate Information and Services - Transcript

Memorable Quotes from This Episode

Doug Parsons, America Adapts