Climate and Young Children Webinar Series

Learning and Development & Community

Children’s access to a robust set of experiences, including interaction with the outdoors, their peers and those who care and educate them is a critical driver of their healthy learning and development. Climate change and environmental degradation threaten children’s access to these opportunities. Come hear from those who are studying these impacts as well as those working on the frontlines and in programs with children as they share their thinking, explore connections, advance solutions, and chart paths forward. 

Speakers:

• Sheila Williams Ridge, Co-Director of the Child Development Laboratory School at the University of Minnesota
• Christy Merrick, Director of the Natural Start Alliance
• Antwanye Ford, Co-Chair of the Early Years Climate Action Task Force
• Nat Kendall-Taylor, Chief Executive Officer at the FrameWorks Institute
• Special virtual guest Laura Schifter, Harvard Graduate School of Education Lecturer and Senior Fellow at the Aspen Institute
• Moderator Abigail Stewart-Kahn, Managing Director of the Stanford Center on Early Childhood

Physical and Mental Health & Community

Ensuring children, beginning before birth and continuing into the early years, are healthy and happy is a critical foundation for all that comes later.  The impacts of climate change and environmental degradation have demonstrated negative effects on the health of children both physically and mentally.  Hear from those who are studying these impacts as well as those working on the frontlines and in programs with children as they share their thinking, explore connections and chart  paths forward.

Speakers: 

• Jammie Albert, Program Manager for Early Childhood Success at the National League of Cities
• Anya Kamenetz, author, journalist and advisor to the Aspen Institute and the Climate Mental Health Network
• Lisa Patel, Executive Director for the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health
• Special virtual guest Mark Del Monte, CEO/Executive Vice President of the American Academy of Pediatrics
• Moderator Philip Fisher, Director of the Stanford Center on Early Childhood

Takeaways and Actionable Ideas

Hope and optimism echoed through the Stanford Center on Early Childhood’s webinar series on Climate and Young Children. Across both panels, first on learning and development and then on mental and physical health, we were reminded that solutions come in packages big and small. Below, we highlight the challenges raised by our panelists, as well as ways that we can all engage with the effects of extreme weather and climate change at the policy, community, and family levels. We are excited to help ignite this necessary conversation that showcases the intersection of early childhood and climate.

Current Challenges

• Climate must become a cross-sector issue in order to create change.
• Extreme weather events impact learning, with effects appearing across a child’s lifespan.
• Access to nature classrooms is inequitable across race and socioeconomic status.
• We need more solutions-focused rather than crisis-oriented messaging, curricula, and tools.
• Children in underserved communities are disproportionately affected by environmental hazards and extreme weather.

What We Can Do

Children and families: 

• Connect to your environment. Provide children with opportunities to form relationships with trees, plants, and other beings on the planet.
• Begin action in earliest years. Allow children to be active agents in addressing problems, shifting the narrative toward empowerment.
• Set an example for the children in your life. Avoid single-use items, talk about waste, recycle and compost, and shop locally and second-hand when possible.

Schools and communities:

• Focus on solutions. Help children move into the “zone of problem solving.” For example, if a classroom is learning about drought, pair that lesson with a workshop on how students can conserve water in their school garden.
• Share efficacious and empowering climate stories through children’s books, TV shows, games, and other forms of media.

Policymakers and climate leaders:

• Identify gaps in policy at the community level. Climate change is a global issue that will require local solutions.
• Focus on local infrastructure and adaptation. Build walkable schools, install bike racks, provide HEPA filters, and make recycling easier.
• Adopt a sense of Stubborn Optimism. We must paint a clear picture that communicates the urgency of the climate crisis in combination with actionable solutions.

Resources and Tools for Action

Education

Green Teaching: Nature Pedagogies for Climate Change & Sustainability - Claire Warden

Nature-Based Learning for Young Children: Anytime, Anywhere, on Any Budget - Julie Powers and Sheila Williams Ridge

Creating Healthy School Environments - Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Nurturing All Children in Nature - Trust for Learning

Nature Preschools in the United States - Natural Start Alliance

"We tend to focus on the distance to go rather than the miles traveled. Let’s take time to revel optimistically in the changes that have been made already." - Nat Kendall-Taylor

Mental and Physical Health

The Golden Hour Newsletter - Anya Kamenetz

Addressing the Impacts of Environmental Challenges & Early Childhood Development - Jammie Albert

Our Children’s Lungs Are Uniquely Vulnerable to All This Wildfire Smoke - Lisa Patel and Alexander Rabin for The New York Times

"Climate is a lens, not a topic." - Anya Kamenetz

Tools, Reports and Maps

Young Children, Families, and the Environment: A Framework for Action - Joan Lombardi

Head Start Environmental Exposure Mapping Tool - Urban Institute 

Climate Change and Children’s Health and Well-Being in the United States - Environmental Protection Agency

Mental Health and Our Changing Climate: Children and Youth Report 2023 - ecoAmerica

How to Talk with Children About Climate Change - American Academy of Pediatrics

Not A Moment to Wait - Joan Lombardi and Estelle Berger for the RAPID Survey Project

Place Matters: The Environment We Create Shapes the Foundations of Healthy Development - Harvard Center on the Developing Child 

Protecting Our Future Now: A Policy Framework for Climate Change and the Early Years - Early Years Climate Action Task Force, Capita 

How I Talk to my Kids About Climate Change - Dr. Laura Schifter for CNN

Families are Worried about Environmental Issues - RAPID Survey Project