Our Co-founder and Director Dominique Browning joined forces with Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan of Richmond, Virginia, to write a stirring op-ed about protecting kids’ health from climate change for the Virginian-Pilot. The duo, pictured here, also joined forces earlier this summer to develop a historic congressional resolution introduced by Rep. McClellan in partnership with Moms Clean Air Force. The resolution highlights the need to prioritize the physical and mental well-being of young people as we adapt to extreme weather. We are reprinting it here in full below with permission.
Tell the House of Representatives: Protect Our Children From Extreme Weather
Take action to protect kids’ health from climate change
U.S. Rep. Jennifer McClellan & Dominique Browning, Guest Columnists
During a week of withering heat in Las Vegas this month, parents received warning that playground equipment could give their children third-degree burns within seconds; the temperature reached an unprecedented 120°F. In fact, scalding temperatures affect playgrounds around the country: Record-shattering temperatures engulf neighborhoods from Maine to Arizona. More than the heat that affects families across our nation, other extreme weather conditions keep us all reeling. Chicago and New England wait nervously under flood watches, while more than 2 million families in Texas remained without power days after an unusually early major hurricane. Imagine being a child in any one of these places, trying to pass the time during a sweltering, volatile summer. Playground time? Too dangerous. Family hiking trips? Too dangerous. Outdoor sports? Too dangerous.
We write as two mothers who believe that all children deserve better than scorching playgrounds: one of us a congresswoman from Virginia, and the other a children’s health advocate with Moms Clean Air Force, an organization demanding stronger protections against the climate pollution causing extreme weather and unhealthy air. Scientists tell us—all of us—that extreme weather will only get worse, yet children need a stable climate in order to thrive.
It hardly feels stable at the moment. The World Meteorological Organization reports that 2024 has been unprecedented for extreme weather conditions. The world experienced its warmest June on record and the 13th consecutive month of record global temperatures. Severe wildfires, droughts, hurricanes, tornadoes and floods engulf the U.S. and the world, which have caused billions of dollars in damage to infrastructure and livelihoods, and untold harm to our bodies and psyches.
The health hazards of extreme weather make children uniquely vulnerable, both to their developing bodies and their mental health. Children take more breaths per minute than adults, and a child’s lungs can sustain long-term damage from air pollutants such as wildfire smoke or smog, which can inhibit the development of the alveoli that exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide with every breath.
Children’s susceptibility to the dangers of extreme heat affects their bodies; they don’t regulate temperature as well as healthy adult bodies. They suffer more from heat-related illness, increased respiratory diseases, tick-borne illnesses, and psychological harms, like the trauma of living through a wildfire or flood. Furthermore, extreme heat also impairs children’s cognition, making it harder for them to learn at school.
Despite all this, far too often, their needs are left out of key planning for harsher weather.
But we have the power to protect our children. A historic congressional resolution—developed and introduced by Congresswoman McClellan in partnership with Moms Clean Air Force—highlights the need to prioritize the physical and mental well-being of young people as we adapt to extreme weather. Endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Lung Association, American Public Health Association and other esteemed organizations, the resolution highlights the critical protections needed to help young people survive the storms ahead.
It calls for Congress to specifically and intentionally address the needs of young people in all efforts to create and fund adaptations to extreme weather. All facilities that serve children must be able to withstand extreme weather disruption; we must update the infrastructure of schools, playgrounds and child care facilities. We need improved air filtration systems in schools to address numerous sources of air pollution, including wildfire smoke and worsening pollen. We must create more public shaded green spaces, particularly in urban heat islands, and more safe places for families during extreme weather and air pollution events. We need many more indoor gathering spaces tailored to young people, places where they can play and exercise safely. We need child-friendly cooling centers and ‘‘clean rooms’’ during wildfire smoke events. We need more robust support for caregivers, more community resilience programs and more training for child care providers on children’s unique vulnerabilities to extreme weather.
To draw on a game beloved by kids, a dangerous round of Jenga with our children’s lives is playing out. Block by block, turn by turn, the basic elements needed by children to grow strong and healthy face removal: clean air, a stable climate, safe places, support for caregivers. The resolution forges a building block for a new reality. Our love for them must compel us to take action because we cannot let their futures, our future, topple.