This article was written by Moms’ Policy Intern Bobby Cook. It is part of our monthly series My Climate Job about careers in fields that fight climate disruption or are impacted by the climate crisis.
“If you are interested in child’s health, how can you not be interested in the climate crisis?” says Donna Koller, a researcher and professor of early childhood studies, with a focus on children’s health, at Toronto Metropolitan University.
Donna began her career at the Children’s Hospital at the University of Missouri-Columbia. In the U.S. and Canada, she has worked with children experiencing chronic illness, helping them to understand what they are going through and even talking to them about death and dying. Her comfort with the hard stuff made the transition to advocating for children’s rights and safety in a changing climate a natural one. She currently spends her days drafting research articles and editorials calling on policymakers and health professionals to center children’s physical and mental health when considering climate policies. She is also training the next generation of children’s rights advocates.
Tell Congress: Hold Zeldin Accountable for Corrupting EPA’s Mission
We spoke with Donna about her interest in the impacts of global warming on children and how she uses science in her approach to advocacy.
Why is it important for a children’s health expert to also be a climate advocate?
I am very involved in profiling the climate crisis now. We’re in a dire era of climate change where children’s health is being affected every single day, everywhere in the world. We can’t just dismiss what’s happening to kids in Africa or faraway. Anything that happens anywhere in the world ultimately trails its way back to everybody, and climate change is central to that.
How has your day-to-day work on climate change evolved over the years?
Ten years ago, I didn’t talk as much about climate change in my classes. Now, I assign readings and sections on climate change and children’s health. And that has led to students being absolutely shocked by the degree of impact, physically, emotionally, and socially.
Also, now I try to make sure that people know that this is a global problem. It’s a collective responsibility. And then the other piece that I’ve been doing more broadly at the university level is getting people to think about it and to talk to students about it, because we’re educating educators. We want these people to go into their own classrooms and talk to kids about climate and have them understand what’s happening.
What is the most surprising finding of your recent research?
Climate change has a direct effect on children’s ability to exercise their rights. If the environment is not a healthy place (because of heat, air pollution, vector borne illnesses, etc.), they essentially cannot enjoy a childhood that affords them opportunities for optimal growth and development.
The number of rights that children have that are currently under threat because of climate change is astounding. UNICEF has documented all the different rights from the Convention on the Rights of the Child that are currently in play when it comes to climate crisis. There are many at risk, but one that’s near and dear to me is Article 31, the right to play. If children don’t have a right to play, how are they going to grow and develop? That is at the core of what it means to be a child. Climate change may stop outdoor play if kids are restricted based what’s happening in their environment because of things like vector-borne illnesses [diseases transmitted by parasites or insects, like mosquitoes and ticks].
How do you see scholarly research fitting into advocacy?
We need to have literature. We need to have research. We need to have evidence. We need that stuff to legitimize what we’re doing, but we also need to focus on other avenues of advocacy, like creating a webinar and putting it on YouTube or doing a TikTok. I think we have a responsibility to also educate the larger world.
Advocacy means everything. I have made a point of sharing my advocacy goals with the rest of my department. For example, I have brought up the issue of heat-ready schools at faculty meetings and encouraged others to take this on—making sure that our students and the placement supervisors have a heightened awareness of how heat affects children’s health and their learning.
What keeps you optimistic?
The students and how they react to this information. Maybe I can’t reach climate deniers, but I can reach the people in my classroom. When I give them readings about climate change and the impact on children, and they’re like, “Oh my gosh. When I’m around kids, I’ve got to start educating them about climate.”
Tell Congress: Hold Zeldin Accountable for Corrupting EPA’s Mission