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By Joshua Jacob
Featured in the Targum Dec. 1, 2025, 10:12 p.m. at https://www.dailytargum.com/article/first-year-author-interviews-26-climate-change-experts-in-new-book-20251202
For as long as she can remember, books have been Michelle Rozenfeld’s way of understanding the world. Now, a first-year student studying in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, she decided to write her own: “Teen Climate Changers,” a guide to help teens explore careers in climate change.
In an interview with The Daily Targum, Rozenfeld said her interest in climate change began during childhood. After growing up in Brooklyn, New York, and moving to North Jersey at 7 years old, her family’s home endured several storms, including Hurricane Sandy. That unpredictable weather event sparked all sorts of questions in her head.
“I remember in elementary school, I would see the ground, and I didn’t really know what erosion was or even compaction at the time,” she recalled. “But I just noticed the ground had cracks in it, and there was no grass in certain areas. And I was curious as to why that was, and I never really got answers, because I feel like there were no professionals at the time who really studied this that I had exposure to.”
Rozenfeld knew that if no one was informing the general public about something important like this, then she was determined to do soherself. Just before her junior year of high school, she reached out to 26 experts in the field around the world in order to learn about their different viewpoints regarding climate change. Coordinating interviews over Zoom and reviewing transcripts took months of work in order to make sure everything was perfect.
“It takes so much out of these people to share basically about their whole entire career, about all their inspirations. It really does take a lot of time and energy, and so does that whole process, the back and forth communication, getting the transcripts approved by them,” she explained. “You’re trying to make it engaging and really cover so much about this person — so, really going through details, making sure everything is correct, and that the person really did say those things.”
After hearing from this collection of expert perspectives, Rozenfeld discovered that there was more to climate change than she had initially thought. One insight that especially stayed with her came from Shomik Verma, a Ph.D. student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology at the time.
“He told me that it’s really important that you mix hard skills with soft skills and be able to integrate the two,” she said. “And I feel like that’s really important right now, as an environmental policy major interested in the social sciences, that’s something that social scientists have to do, use quantitative and qualitative methods, mixed method research.”
Rozenfeld pressed on to learn more about different solutions to help solve climate change and problems related to it, one step at a time. Shebrought up two examples that came to mind.
The first was Verma’s hydrogen-powered car project, which earned a Guinness World Record. The second was spreading the word about climate change. To Rozenfeld, talking more about climate change publicly inspires people to think more about the subject.
“It’s not a really direct solution,” she admitted. “But in the long run, it might help people become more inclined to solve climate change.”
Rozenfeld explained that several experts also highlighted the role today’s youth can play in climate work. With social media, rapid information sharing and established environmental programs, she believes Generation Z has tools thatolder generations never had.
“A lot of the people that I’ve spoken to, they went to school in the ’70s, the ’80s. Climate change was not a thing back then,” she elaborated. “I think now that we have these resources, it’s a lot easier to find your community and actually make a change and continue the legacy of something that already started.”
After reviewing all the transcripts and advice that she had received from almost two years ago, Rozenfeld reflected on not only what she learned but also what the overall process of getting the 26 different answers meant to her.
“I’ve never felt so equipped and supported and really just motivated to do something in the field, because not only have I spoken to 26 professionals, but I’ve also gotten insights into 26 different unique paths and what a career in climate might look like,” she explained.
Rozenfeld expressed that she actually wanted to make this story heard much sooner, as she felt that it was important not just for herself, but also for those who are interested in helping the environment.
“This experience gave me this viewpoint and kind of mindset about the future,” reflected Rozenfeld. “It gave me confidence too — to share this with others and be able to also make insights on my own.”
Rozenfeld’s self-published book is available to order from Lulu.com. She encouraged her fellow Scarlet Knights who might be interested in writing their own book to give it a chance. She explained that, even with guidance, the idea of writing the book felt daunting at first, but she knew that it was worth it.
“I thought that this would be a really valuable resource for that type of person who might have this large curiosity, but would appreciate some sort of guidance in the field,” said Rozenfeld.
Rozenfeld concluded by describing how her high school and Rutgers helped her feel motivated to finish the book, which she had taken a break from for almost two years.
“I find Rutgers a lot more fitting to the type of person that I am,” said Rozenfeld. “Being open and listening to people — I’ve been doing that a lot at Rutgers, and I really like that there’s so many different people and experiences that I can relate to here.”