Climate Change

The decisions and actions of today not only affect our children and future generations directly but also the future costs to correct our poor decisions or lack of action--passed on to generations who follow us--will likely be huge. The American Academy of Pediatrics policy statement, I believe, correctly states that the use of resources by the current generation in meeting a current need must ensure future generations can also fully meet their needs as well.

Children are especially vulnerable to changes brought by climate change:

--Increased extreme weather events--hurricanes, tornadoes, floods,droughts and heat events may well cause displacement from homes, emotional trauma and direct risk of life

--infants dying when left unattended in vehicles, as well as heat related risks to the elderly, are likely to increase--heat events: heat stroke, heat stress and death.

--increase in tick populations and length of season of risk, increase in risk of malaria and dengue fever--also other re-emerging diseases

--diarrheal illness is likely to increase with warming of climate: increasing food borne illness, salmonellosis, food poisoning, and increased risk of Cryptosporidium parvum contamination of water supplies

--air quality decrease with increased pollution and increased load of pollens like ragweed

----potential increased exposure to UV radiation--sunburn, skin cancer, skin aging, cataracts, melanoma

--impact on production of necessary food supplies and water supplies

--decline in insect and bird populations which pollinate or transport/disperse seed

--mental health stress on children

Climate Change and Children, Pediatric Clinics of N. America 2007