Language Playground: Climate Chinese IRL

On August 20, NSCD took climate language off the screen and into a cute Granville Island bookstore!

We kicked things off with our bilingual climate education web game, where participants explored Mandarin and English climate vocabulary through interactive cards and quizzes. Then we went analog: real language cards, real conversations, and a lot of trying to remember whether 碳中和 is tàn zhōng hé before confidently saying something completely different (sigh, tones amirite).

From greenwashing 漂绿 to carbon neutrality 碳中和, we learned that climate language isn't just about memorizing the "correct" translation. It's about context, culture, and figuring out how ideas actually travel between languages.

And because no respectable millennial/Gen-Z workshop ends with a lecture, we finished with Climate Charades: translating "forbidden vocabulary" into chaotic hand gestures, questionable acting, and surprisingly effective communication. It's great to know that while we are passionate about climate policy, we can still be unhinged.

The whole idea behind NSCD is simple: learn online, play together, and make climate communication more multilingual.

Climate vocabulary, why don't you go study it right now?

Event photos by Ahmad Abousaleh.