As parents, there is nothing we want more than to keep our children safe and healthy. From the moment a child comes into our lives, we are oriented to the well-being of another in an entirely new way: we fuss over ensuring that car seats are buckled just so, pad the sharp corners of our coffee tables, stock our purses with band-aids. And it is a devastating truth that ever-worsening extreme weather is making it harder for parents to do what is most important to us—protecting our kids from harm so that they can live safe, healthy lives.
Many of us feel bruised and overwhelmed by what often seems like a constant onslaught of bad weather and bad news. But we are not powerless to protect the children we love. Over the past year, Moms Clean Air Force has worked closely with the office of Virginia Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan to develop a resolution calling attention to children’s unique vulnerabilities to extreme weather—and advocating for urgently needed adaptations to keep kids safe. Today, Congresswoman McClellan introduced this important resolution at Moms Clean Air Force’s Play-In for Climate Action at the National Children’s Museum in Washington, DC.
Tell the House of Representatives: Protect Our Children From Extreme Weather
Endorsed by the American Lung Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Public Health Association, and other esteemed organizations, the Resolution on Children and Extreme Weather offers a roadmap for critical protections to help young people thrive in the coming years.
“Whereas the health of all babies, children, and adolescents is a fundamental building block of a healthy society,” the resolution asserts, “…be it resolved that the House of Representatives expresses the sense that adaptations to and protections from extreme weather conditions must be deployed rapidly and equitably, with consideration for both the physical and mental health needs of both the current generation and all future generations of young people.”
Children are not just small adults
The Resolution on Children and Extreme Weather acknowledges that the physical and mental health needs of young people in a changing climate are unique. Children are not just small adults; they have developing organ systems, psyches, and behavioral patterns. They take more breaths per minute than adults and are disproportionately exposed to air pollution, such as smoke from wildfires or heat-exacerbated smog. Their smaller bodies don’t regulate heat as well as healthy adult bodies, and in extreme conditions, children are dependent on adult caregivers for safety. Both air pollution and extreme heat have been linked to adverse birth outcomes, like preterm birth, low birthweight, and even stillbirth. Hotter temperatures make it harder for children to learn at school, disrupting academic performance. And extreme weather disasters can be acutely frightening and traumatic for children, sometimes causing long-lasting mental health harms.
Solutions are at hand
The Resolution on Children and Extreme Weather asserts that legislation and funding for extreme weather adaptations must include considerations tailored to the needs of babies, children, and young people. It calls for adaptive measures like:
- Easily accessible public emergency alerts, such as for air quality, wildfires, extreme heat, or anticipated flooding;
- Mutual aid networks and community resilience programs;
- Language-accessible public information campaigns, such as for air quality, extreme heat, or disaster preparedness;
- Training for healthcare professionals, educators, and childcare providers on the unique vulnerabilities of children to extreme weather;
- Better extreme weather and air pollution guidelines for schools;
- Better air filtration systems in schools, to address numerous sources of air pollution, including wildfire smoke and smog;
- Expanded access to public green space, especially in urban heat islands;
- Child-friendly cooling centers and “clean rooms” during wildfire smoke events;
- Adequate shade at playgrounds and school bus stops; and
- Distribution of child-sized masks during wildfire smoke events or poor air quality days.
It’s time to strengthen the foundations of our children’s future by taking adaptation for extreme weather as seriously as we take other measures to safeguard their health and well-being. Join Moms Clean Air Force in calling on Congress to shine a much-needed light on children and extreme weather: the news and the weather may be bad, but there’s so much we can do to protect the children we love, even in these difficult times.
Learn more about Moms’ work on extreme weather.
Tell the House of Representatives: Protect Our Children From Extreme Weather