In this episode of Connect the Dots, host Rob Verchick talks about how the climate crisis hurts children – and presents ideas for possible solutions. He’s joined by CPR Member Scholar Maxine Burkett, Sierra Club Senior Director of Environmental Justice and Healthy Communities Leslie Fields, mother and NRDC advocate Gina Ramirez, mother and Moms Clean Air Force member Leah Barbor, and Aaron Bernstein, Interim Director of the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment at Harvard University.
If you’re a parent, you know the value of a backyard playdate or afternoon outing in the park. Fresh air, a space to run wild and free, open terrain with nothing to knock over or stain. Your kids can explore, and perhaps you can get a moment of respite, as well. Unfortunately, outdoor learning and fun isn’t a reality for many families. These days, in neighborhoods around the country, pollution fogs the air, heat penetrates spaces and surfaces, and a deadly alchemy of the two results in terrible contamination. In some parts of our country, sending the kids outside can be dangerous, even deadly.
Due to the impacts of the climate crisis, children are getting sicker, heavier, and less mobile. They may be forced to stay inside, avoid exercise, or eat poor-quality foods. In more catastrophic instances, they’re losing their childhoods to destructive natural disasters. Either way, the physical and mental consequences of the climate crisis have long-term effects on their futures – and the future of our planet.
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For more information related to this episode:
More on Our Guests:
 | Maxine Burkett is a Professor of Law at the William S. Richardson School of Law, University of Hawai’i at Manoa, and a Member Scholar at the Center for Progressive Reform. She teaches Climate Change Law and Policy, Torts, Ocean and Coastal Law, and International Environmental Law. View bio. |
 | Leslie G. Fields, Esq., is Senior Director, Environmental Justice and Healthy Communities for the Sierra Club. She brings more than 20 years of federal, state, local, and international environmental justice and environmental law and policy experience to the Sierra Club. View bio. |
 | Leah Barbor is a mom and West Virginia state field organizer for the Moms Clean Air Force, where her mission is to advocate for environmental justice and be a force in affecting political and social change within her community and beyond. View bio. |
 | Gina Ramirez is a senior program assistant at NRDC, where she works to further sustainable land use and zoning rules that can provide crucial protections to areas of Chicago, like the Southeast Side, that are burdened with cumulative industrial pollution. Ramirez is an active member of the Coalition to Ban Petcoke and the Southeast Environmental Taskforce. View bio. |
 | Aaron Bernstein is the Interim Director of The Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (Harvard Chan C-CHANGE), a pediatrician at Boston Children’s Hospital, and an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. View bio. |
Related CPR Resources:
- Climate Justice: State Courts and the Fight for Equity
- Toxic Floodwaters: Public Health Risks and Vulnerability to Chemical Spills Triggered by Extreme Weather
- CPR’s Past Reports, Op-Eds and more on Climate Change
- CPRBlog Posts on Climate Change
Other resources:
- American Academy of Pediatrics report on emotional disturbance after Katrina
- The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation’s State of Global Air/2019 (children’s life expectancy diminished by air pollution)
- World Health Organization data on deaths from climate change
Special thanks to:
- The College of Law at Loyola University New Orleans
- The College of Music and Media at Loyola University New Orleans
We’re also grateful to the musical artists featured in this episode, who make their work available to us through a Creative Commons license. Please check them out!
