Connecting the dots between kids and climate change 🌎

3 questions about kids and climate for Elliot Haspel

Elliot Haspel, director of climate and young children at Capita – an organization focused on building a future in which all children and families flourish — is a child and family policy expert and author. He was a driving force behind the Early Years Climate Action plan released last month by Capita and the Aspen Institute. The report was informed by a task force of representatives from the education and health sectors, current and former elected officials in state and tribal government, parent leaders, and early childhood advocates.

Elliott shares his perspective on the importance of centering climate action on young children and families to benefit all.

What are the effects of climate change on young children?

There are direct effects on young children themselves, on their families, and on some of the systems they interact with, like child care and pediatric healthcare. Climate change is a context more than an issue. Almost every effect of climate change on health and well-being is exacerbated in young children because of their developing brains and bodies. Sometimes we think about little children as though they’re little adults, but they’re not. Their brains work differently. Their bodies work differently. That’s even compared to older youth, too.

Extreme heat is a good example. Young children can dehydrate faster and get heat stroke faster than older kids because a higher proportion of their body is made up of water, and they have more immature kidneys.

And exposure to air pollution in young children is linked not only to asthma and respiratory illness, but also to increased risks of mental illness and mental health challenges later in life.

Psychologically, young children experience more trauma and have a longer and harder time recovering from climate-enhanced extreme weather events than older children or adults do.

Then there are effects on the families. An extreme precipitation event that causes flooding can disrupt households and businesses where parents work. Those have knock-on effects because young children’s development is inextricably tied up in the well-being of their family and their household.

The more climate change threatens child care facilities, whether it’s through extreme heat, flooding, fire, or hurricane, the more it will have a negative effect on families.

Why is it important to look at climate change through an early childhood lens?

When we think about how climate change affects young children and how we might invest in them, it leads us down a path to better recognize what’s needed to get the entire community ready. We want to protect children from harm coming from climate change, but we recognize that it’s also an opportunity to reframe and reimagine a lot of our societal systems — not just for the future, but for the present. All the things you want to do to help children thrive in a changing climate — from having adequate shade and access to nature, to minimizing air pollution to having healthy buildings to providing mental health supports for caregivers and early years providers — are things that help everyone thrive.

Young children are often overlooked in climate discussions. Services for the early years are extraordinarily fragmented. When you’re doing a climate action plan for a city, the early years are an afterthought or not part of the conversation at all.

How did the recently-released US Early Years Climate Action Plan come about and what are some key recommendations?

Last year, Capita and This is Planet Ed at the Aspen Institute convened leaders from early childhood, pediatrics, climate action, research, and philanthropy, as well as parents, as a learning-focused task force. They held public listening sessions with people from the field and on the front lines, domestically and internationally, to understand the nexus of the early years and climate change. The resulting action plan has recommendations for federal, state, and local government leaders; early years providers; the business community; researchers; and philanthropy.

One recommendation is to make sure there’s access to such birth supports as midwives and doulas who are trained about climate change. They can often build trusting relationships with people from historically-disenfranchised communities who may have a negative relationship with the traditional medical establishment. They can ask families, “How prepared is your home? What is your air filtration system like? Is your basement likely to flood? Do you have a plan if there’s an extreme precipitation event?”

It would also be helpful to make talking about climate change a Medicaid reimbursable expense as part of the well-child visit. As half of all babies in this country are covered by Medicaid, it becomes a particularly important lever of public policy.

Facility funding is also important. We need to make sure early-years facilities can withstand this predictably unpredictable era we’re in. It means they need to have HVAC systems strong enough so they don’t blow out when there’s a heat wave. If it’s a family childcare provider in a basement in New York, it needs a solid enough literal foundation that the program won’t flood out when there’s an extreme weather event.

🔊 Listen in: For more from Elliot Haspel, check out this podcast episode on incorporating climate resilience and sustainability in early care and education settings.