Earlier this month, smoke from Canadian wildfires drifted into my community in northwestern Vermont, causing Code Red air quality and casting a gray pall on the Green Mountains during what’s normally a beautiful time of year. Researchers know that climate change is exacerbating conditions for wildfires like these and anticipate that the summer of 2025 may be another brutal season for wildfires.
I faced a question millions of other anxious parents across the country faced in the broad swath of states impacted by the smoke: should I let my kids play outside and expose them to the smoky air or keep them cooped up indoors? It was a reminder that we’re already feeling the impacts of climate change here and now, and that they’re already impacting our families’ physical and mental health. I ultimately decided to let my kids play outside for a short amount of time on the poor air quality days, but not without considerable worry about how the smoke might impact their health. And I’m sure I wasn’t the only parent feeling anticipatory dread about what the rest of the summer may bring in terms of air quality and weather extremes.
Tell EPA: Hands Off Climate Pollution Limits for Power Plants
Climate protections under attack
Right now, our most essential clean air and climate protections are under attack in the U.S.—and the dizzying pace of bad news is enough to take a toll on anyone who cares about our children’s right to a healthy, livable future. Among numerous other threats, the Trump EPA is poised to attack the Endangerment Finding, which is the legal and scientific foundation of EPA’s ability to regulate climate pollution. Revoking the Endangerment Finding and other critical clean air and climate protections would allow more of the pollution that is driving dangerous, costly, and profoundly stressful extreme weather—and more of the health impacts that so many of us are already experiencing in our everyday lives.
What do these attacks mean for families’ mental health?
Among the impacts of climate change that concern me the most are the effects on children’s and caregivers’ mental health. Experiencing significant adversity and stress in childhood has been linked to lifelong health concerns, and when caregivers’ mental health suffers, children’s well-being can suffer too.
Here’s a broad snapshot of what the administration’s attacks on climate protections could mean for families’ mental health:
Increased climate anxiety and distress
We know our metaphorical house is burning—and rather than putting out the flames, the Trump administration is silencing alarms and adding fossil fuels to the fire. Whether or not the administration is successful in dismantling the Endangerment Finding and other critical climate safeguards, many of us are already feeling profound anxiety, distress, and grief as we watch them try. A 2021 study of 10,000 young people around the world found that governments’ failure to act on climate change was linked to feelings of betrayal, anxiety, and distress.
Parents and caregivers are feeling this too. Research suggests that a significant majority of parents (nearly 80%, according to one survey) worry about climate change and fear being able to protect their children from climate threats. Research also suggests that Latino parents experience especially high levels of climate distress. As climate threats and attacks on vital climate protections intensify, worries about safety in the present and future may intensify too.
More stress and disruption for children and families
Children are disproportionately impacted by the health harms of a warming climate—and caregivers are often left without adequate support to help manage these risks in ways that promote family well-being. When it’s too hot or too smoky for children to play safely outside, parents are often left wondering how to entertain children who are virtually (and sometimes literally) bouncing off the walls. Children’s mental health suffers when they don’t have adequate time to play outside, and parents’ stress increases when they’re caught between keeping energetic children indoors and knowing that intense heat and poor air quality carry real health risks.
Extreme weather like strong storms, flooding, and wildfires can also disrupt childcare and parents’ ability to work, adding to families’ overall burden of stress. For children with special needs and their caregivers, extended time indoors and the disruption of everyday routines can be especially challenging for mental health.
Increased trauma from climate disasters
Global warming is intensifying weather disasters, like last fall’s devastating Hurricane Helene and this winter’s catastrophic Los Angeles wildfires. Living through a climate disaster can be traumatic and frightening for children and caregivers, particularly for families that experience impacts like displacement, loss of homes or beloved places, or harm to loved ones. Sometimes, extreme weather survivors can experience lasting mental health effects, including anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Experiencing repeated exposure to weather disasters may take a cumulative toll on young people’s mental health, which is particularly concerning as extreme weather events become increasingly common.
Pregnancy and new parenthood are times of particular vulnerability for the mental health impacts of climate disasters, as parents try to navigate extreme weather events amid the already-intense physical and emotional demands of pregnancy and caring for a new baby. For women of color, these risks may be particularly heightened, as they’re exposed to higher levels of stress and trauma from systemic racism.
Taking action as a way to cope
Taking action is one of the ways my colleagues and I are coping with our own climate anxiety and distress: Moms Clean Air Force and many other organizations are fiercely fighting the Trump administration’s attempts to gut the climate protections that can help keep our families and our futures safer. We refuse to give up on a world where all children live, learn, and play in environments that support their physical and mental well-being.
Thankfully, we’re not alone: Recently released data from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication shows that a majority of voters across political parties support strong climate and cleaner energy safeguards and want global warming to be a high priority for the administration. This summer, Moms Clean Air Force is launching #MomsSummerofAction—we’ll be pushing back on the Trump administration’s attempts to roll back the clean air and climate protections that are vital for our children’s physical and mental health. Join us today by sending a comment to EPA urging them to keep their hands off greenhouse gas emissions standards for power plants.
Tell EPA: Hands Off Climate Pollution Limits for Power Plants