Since Mr. Gore’s film debut, public awareness of climate change has dramatically increased. But how much do people actually know? That winter might be milder next year? More importantly, how much does the younger generation know? There has not been a mandated environmental curriculum to empower younger generations since the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. While progress has been made to educate the overall public about the climate crisis the world is facing, we are failing to adequately prepare the next generation — the one most immediately affected. In some extreme cases, we are even promoting their ignorance under the pretext of partisan political views.
Direct Effects of Climate Change on Children’s Health
According to UNICEF, children suffer the brunt of natural disasters, disease, and malnutrition throughout the world. Further, climate change will only worsen their plight. Children will pay for climate change with their health and development, and too often, with their own lives. According to the World Health Organization, climate change is responsible for almost three percent of worldwide diarrhea and six percent of malaria, diseases that disproportionately affect young children. As rains decrease, crops and livestock suffer, which exposes children to starvation, diminished water supplies, and decreased hygiene. Alizeta Ouedraogaa, a child from Burkina Faso, described the dramatic impact climate change has already had on her community:
For the community, it is even more serious…when the crops are bad, there is no money to spend. Every year, there is a food shortage. Children quit school because they cannot afford supplies and school fees, or because they have nothing to eat during the school day. Some of these children beg or steal; old people beg, too. Girls sometimes have to prostitute themselves..and may end up with an unwanted pregnancy or a sexually transmitted disease.”
Similar problems are plaguing children in Nigeria, as Rasheeda describes: “We here in our community are suffering from a lack of potable water. Where safe water is available, it is too far away; most times we have to walk ten to fifteen minutes to places where we can access potable water.”
Recognizing the increasing number of pediatric diseases and developmental problems linked to climate change, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are calling on all pediatricians to incorporate considerations of climate change’s health effects into their professional practice, including lifestyle practices, political advocacy, and most importantly, patient education. According to the AAP, children are most vulnerable to adverse effects of climate change because of their physical, physiologic and cognitive immaturity. These consequences range from injury and death from extreme weather events and natural disasters to increases in climate-sensitive infectious diseases and in air pollution and heart-related illnesses. Deaths from asthma, which is the most common chronic disease among children, are expected to increase by nearly twenty percent by 2016 unless urgent action is taken. However, while the AAP’s dedication to children is commendable, we must do more. Young people must be informed about the dangers of climate change and its dramatic effects on their health, environment and future, as well as the solutions.
Educating Children on Climate Change
The decisions we make today have a significant impact on younger generations and the generations to come. It is imperative we include today’s youth in the decisions we make as a nation and as a world. Together we need to prepare a youth that this not only climate-change literate, but prepared to fight the battle. Therefore, the Department of Education must mandate a comprehensive climate-change curriculum that can be incorporated into all grade and subject levels.
Currently, science mandates vary from state to state and it is dependent on individual teachers to incorporate climate change education into their curriculum. Governmental agencies, such as the EPA and the DOE, as well as NGOs, have developed a plethora of educational climate change computer resources. However, these resources depend on independent students and educators to find them and put them to use. Last May, Senator Obama sponsored a bill to authorize the National Science Foundation to establish a Climate Change Education Program. Aside from being referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, action has yet to be taken. This program would create a national information campaign to disseminate information on climate change, new technologies, and programs related to energy conservation, renewable energy, and greenhouse gas reduction. Further, the Climate Change Foundation will create education materials relevant to climate change and climate science, develop K-12 curriculum, and publish climate change and climate science information in print, electronic, and audio-visual forms.
More than forty-six percent of the world’s population is younger the twenty five years old. They are the next generation of environmental stewards and the more they know today, the more positive influence they can have on our world tomorrow. Education has consistently been the most effective way to empower young generations to take responsibility for their own health. For example, in its first two years that Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids used the Truth Campaign, smoking rates declined by 1.5 %, or 300,000 fewer youth smokers. While the younger generation will feel the effects of climate change, we do not need to leave them un-armed to continue the battle. Not only will educating children engage them in the global and local realties of climate change, but it will create a sense of empowerment at a young age. As H.G. Wells so eloquently wrote in 1920, “human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.” Let’s hope education wins.
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