With temperatures reaching record highs, the risk of heat illness is also soaring for the millions of youth athletes in the United States.
Children’s still-developing bodies make them especially vulnerable to heat illness, and “just push through” culture in sports and the lack of education around the signs of heat illness can create a deadly combination. Moms’ Sam Schmitz tells Yale Climate Connections that air pollution pairs with high heat to create a “terrible cocktail” that is especially dangerous to children with asthma.
Tell Congress: Protect Youth Athletes From Extreme Heat and Dirty Air
The good news is that heat illness is entirely preventable, as Moms National Manager for Health Justice Almeta Cooper and Dr. Lisa Patel write in a USA Today op-ed. With protocols that include heat safety education for coaches and trainers, resources for parents, and mandatory breaks, children and youth can enjoy sports more safely.
In other news
- Fox 5 Las Vegas interviews Nevada Field Organizer Mary Wagner (pictured) at an event where she joined clean air advocates and local leaders to call on the federal government to support clean transportation.
- Moms Director and Co-Founder Dominique Browning sat down with People to discuss her experience at a “climate talking circle” inside Gloria Steinem’s “magical home.” It was one of the last events that Gloria Steinem hosted before she passed.
- A DC court’s rejection of the Trump administration’s order to keep a Michigan coal plant open is a win for children’s health, Michigan Field Organizer Elizabeth Hauptman tells Inside Climate News.
- Inside Climate News also spoke with Elizabeth Bechard for an article about new research showing that lowering children’s air pollution exposure is linked to higher test scores.
- Amanda Rowoldt, Moms’ Ohio Field Organizer, talks to the News Record about how Ohio’s plastics and petrochemical industry is contributing to the climate crisis.
- National Manager for Health Justice Almeta Cooper is featured on a Word in Black and Washington Informer TV program about the need for cleaner air in Black communities.
Honorable mentions
Over the last few weeks, Moms earned mentions in North Carolina News, Covering Climate Now, Eco-Plastics in Packaging, and Black Doctor.
Tell Congress: Protect Youth Athletes From Extreme Heat and Dirty Air