October has been recognized as Children’s Health Month since 1960. Its origins are rooted in Child Health Day — first proclaimed by President Calvin Coolidge nearly 100 years ago in October 1928. This year is my first year celebrating Children’s Health Month as a grandmother. My grandson was born in August, and as all new grandmothers know, loving a grandchild renews your love for children in a way that nothing else can.
In fact, I love children — plain and simple. Every child — regardless of zip code and not just those I count among my family and friends. My parents, both social workers, raised me with strong family and community values. In the tradition of the Episcopal Church, they taught me about protecting children and protecting the Earth as God’s creation. Although I didn’t know how to express it as a child, I want my grandson and every child to grow up with the expectation I had of living in a world where they can live in a healthy neighborhood with clean water to drink and clean air to breathe.
The Air They Breathe, the Future They Inherit
Children’s Health Month reminds us about children’s unique health needs and encourages us to act to protect them. Children are not little adults. Their bodies are growing and developing rapidly, putting them at higher risk of immediate and long-term harm from environmental threats like air pollution and extreme weather. Unfortunately, we know there are many environmental threats confronting our children—dangers our children inhale with every breath.
In spite of decades of progress in cleaning up the air, millions of children are still breathing unhealthy levels of pollution generated by fossil-fueled vehicles, power plants, oil and gas operations, and increasingly intense wildfire smoke. These dangers begin before our precious children are born: when mothers breathe too much unhealthy air during pregnancy, their babies’ risk of preterm birth, low birth weight, and even stillbirth increases.
These adverse birth outcomes have implications for their health during childhood and into adulthood. This means they have increased risks for asthma, neurodevelopmental disorders, pediatric cancers, and adult chronic diseases like high blood pressure and diabetes. Worse yet, for Black children like my grandson and those children in low-income families, they are most likely to suffer from the health impacts of extreme weather and pollution because of health inequities. These physical threats are exacerbated by negative impacts on their mental health and well-being.
From Concern to Collective Action
Air pollution and the climate crisis are inextricably linked. Greenhouse gases heat the climate, leading to extreme temperatures and conditions that intensify wildfires, which in turn increase local particle and ozone air pollution. It’s a terrible cycle. Particle and ozone pollution have been linked to health harms from increased asthma attacks and lung cancer to heart attacks, premature births, and premature death. Both climate change and air pollution pose serious risks to children’s health during critical years of development for little hearts, lungs, and brains.
Because of rollbacks, policy changes, and funding clawbacks relative to protecting children’s health, we are living in a scary time. Candidly, I am tempted to succumb to feeling hopeless and overwhelmed. Fortunately, I am neither alone nor powerless. I am joined by the 1.6 million members of Moms Clean Air Force and other organizations that share the same mission and goals.
Millions of children are still breathing unhealthy levels of pollution.
Joining others in collective action strengthens my commitment and resolve to take action. Nelson Mandela is quoted as saying, “The true character of a society is revealed in how it treats its children.” We, collectively, must demonstrate the value we place on how we treat our children regarding their health and the planet.
In celebration of Children’s Health Month and the 10th anniversary of Children’s Environmental Health Day, I am challenging every mom, dad, caregiver, and person like me who loves children to commit to joining me and thousands of others in protecting our children’s future. We are telling our friends, neighbors, family, and elected officials that we demand they support preserving our planet as a place where every child can enjoy the human rights of clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, and a healthy neighborhood to live in.
Almeta E. Cooper, Moms Clean Air Force National Manager for Health Equity, lends her expertise in health equity and environmental justice to all aspects of the organization.