Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

Why climate change threatens our children’s future: hurricanes, floods, and a call to act

Sheetal Khedkar Rao, MD
Policy
October 31, 2024
Share
Tweet
Share

As Valencia, Spain, reels from devastating flash floods and the U.S. Southeast recovers from hurricanes Helene and Milton, I, like many other parents, look at my own kids with increasing concern about the ailing world they will inherit.

If a climate haven like Asheville, North Carolina, lying 2,000 feet above and 300 miles away from the ocean, can be swept away by a single catastrophic storm, how can we possibly keep our children safe?

Scientists have shown that ocean warming due to climate change contributed to 50 percent more rainfall during Hurricane Helene. But ocean warming is just one of several examples of climate change that scientists see intensifying now and into the future because of human-driven fossil-fuel pollution.

I worry about future generations, not just as a mother but also as a primary care physician who has spent over 15 years treating patients. When I’m not in the clinic, I teach graduate students about the health impacts of climate change and work to ensure that our future doctors understand how the environment affects patients and communities.

A growing number of medical professionals share my concerns. In fact, climate change is recognized by the World Health Organization and 200 medical journals around the world as the “greatest threat to human health.” The American Medical Association, the National Academy of Medicine and several other medical societies also acknowledge climate change as a public health crisis.

Children’s health, in particular, is deeply intertwined with that of their environment, which means protecting the planet is an important part of caring for our kids. Children breathe more, are more sensitive to temperature extremes, and haven’t finished developing. So illnesses and exposures in childhood can carry forward throughout their life.

What’s more, kids are among those who will suffer the most from climate change. A report from the World Bank states, “A 10-year-old in 2024 will experience three times more floods, five times more droughts, and 36 times more heatwaves over their lifetime compared to a 10-year-old in 1970.” Extreme weather isn’t the only climate-related health threat kids face: My colleagues and I are also seeing an uptick in allergies and asthma due to higher pollen counts as well as more mosquito and tick-borne illnesses like West Nile.

The health effects of climate change aren’t just physical. We know kids’ mental health thrives on stability and routine, but wildfires, heat, and flooding have already led to school closures here in the United States and throughout the world. Even as I write this, many schools in North Carolina remain closed weeks after Hurricane Helene’s landfall, with no clear timeline for reopening. While remote learning was an option for some during the COVID-19 pandemic, the technology doesn’t quite work without power, phone or internet.

If we don’t act to limit global warming now, it will continue to intensify with profound implications for every single aspect of our kids’ lives. Future generations will see more food and water shortages, more poverty and less stability and security. Put simply, the climate will increasingly determine how our kids learn, what they can eat, what sports they can play or if they can be outside at all.

Despite the established scientific consensus that climate change is real and that humans are causing it, over one-fifth of Congress publicly denies its existence.

In previous national crises, like the COVID pandemic, we saw how the decisions made by our elected leaders, both locally and nationally, impacted the safety of our communities. The pandemic also taught us that we cannot begin to address a problem until we acknowledge it, and the most vulnerable among us do not have the luxury of debating the existence of something they are too busy surviving.

While the science is clear on the health impacts of climate change, it is also clear that, with immediate action, we can still prevent the worst outcomes. Next month’s election is a historic opportunity for all of us to decide whether we will prioritize and protect the health of future generations by electing climate champions or hand our kids a world that is less safe, less predictable, and incompatible with many of the things we grew up taking for granted.

We don’t have time for elected officials who peddle conspiracy theories about weather control or refuse to accept the reality of climate change. Our kids deserve better.

ADVERTISEMENT

Come November 5, we can either stick our heads in the sand or stand up for our kids and face our collective crisis by voting for climate champions. If you aren’t sure where your candidates stand on this issue, you can start with the League of Conservation Voters scorecard.

For many in the U.S., Hurricanes Helene and Milton were a wake-up call, but climate change has been devastating communities around the world for years. How we recover as a nation and how we prevent future disasters will have a lot to do with the outcome of this election.

It is our parental duty to show up and choose carefully.

Sheetal Khedkar Rao is an internal medicine physician.

Prev

Why the RVU system makes attaining the quadruple aim laughable: a deep dive into a broken health care model

October 31, 2024 Kevin 2
…
Next

How modern ads manipulate your health fears for profit [PODCAST]

October 31, 2024 Kevin 0
…

Tagged as: Public Health & Policy

Post navigation

< Previous Post
Why the RVU system makes attaining the quadruple aim laughable: a deep dive into a broken health care model
Next Post >
How modern ads manipulate your health fears for profit [PODCAST]

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

More by Sheetal Khedkar Rao, MD

  • The unfair blame on primary care physicians

    Sheetal Khedkar Rao, MD
  • The problem with allowing COVID-positive health care workers to continue working

    Sheetal Khedkar Rao, MD

Related Posts

  • The vital importance of climate change education in medical schools

    Helen Kim, MD
  • The physician’s crucial role in combating climate change

    Megan McLaughlin
  • The Inflation Reduction Act: Can it build back medicine better and reduce climate change?

    Chris Kager, MD, MBA
  • Climate change is exacerbating diseases in vulnerable populations in America and abroad

    Andrew Williams and Jennifer Romanello, MD
  • Antibiotic resistance is the climate change of medicine

    Eric Beam, MD
  • How to address the mental health fallout of climate change

    Rishab Chawla

More in Policy

  • Why Medicaid cuts should alarm every doctor

    Ilan Shapiro, MD
  • Why physician voices matter in the fight against anti-LGBTQ+ laws

    BJ Ferguson
  • The silent toll of ICE raids on U.S. patient care

    Carlin Lockwood
  • What Adam Smith would say about America’s for-profit health care

    M. Bennet Broner, PhD
  • The lab behind the lens: Equity begins with diagnosis

    Michael Misialek, MD
  • Conflicts of interest are eroding trust in U.S. health agencies

    Martha Rosenberg
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab

      Saba Qaiser, RN | Conditions
    • Why Medicaid cuts should alarm every doctor

      Ilan Shapiro, MD | Policy
    • When the diagnosis is personal: What my mother’s Alzheimer’s taught me about healing

      Pearl Jones, MD | Conditions
    • Key strategies for smooth EHR transitions in health care

      Sandra Johnson | Tech
    • Reassessing the impact of CDC’s opioid guidelines on chronic pain care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why flashy AI tools won’t fix health care without real infrastructure

      David Carmouche, MD | Tech
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why tracking cognitive load could save doctors and patients

      Hiba Fatima Hamid | Education
    • How dismantling DEI endangers the future of medical care

      Shashank Madhu and Christian Tallo | Education
    • What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab

      Saba Qaiser, RN | Conditions
    • How scales of justice saved a doctor-patient relationship

      Neil Baum, MD | Physician
    • The silent toll of ICE raids on U.S. patient care

      Carlin Lockwood | Policy
    • Why shared decision-making in medicine often fails

      M. Bennet Broner, PhD | Conditions
  • Recent Posts

    • Why what doctors say matters more than you think [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • How Mark Twain would dismantle today’s flawed medical AI

      Neil Baum, MD and Mark Ibsen, MD | Tech
    • Mastering medical presentations: Elevating your impact

      Harvey Castro, MD, MBA | Physician
    • Marketing as a clinician isn’t about selling. It’s about trust.

      Kara Pepper, MD | Physician
    • Graduating from medical school without family: a story of strength and survival

      Anonymous | Education
    • Inside human trafficking: a guide to recognizing and preventing it [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

View 3 Comments >

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab

      Saba Qaiser, RN | Conditions
    • Why Medicaid cuts should alarm every doctor

      Ilan Shapiro, MD | Policy
    • When the diagnosis is personal: What my mother’s Alzheimer’s taught me about healing

      Pearl Jones, MD | Conditions
    • Key strategies for smooth EHR transitions in health care

      Sandra Johnson | Tech
    • Reassessing the impact of CDC’s opioid guidelines on chronic pain care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why flashy AI tools won’t fix health care without real infrastructure

      David Carmouche, MD | Tech
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why tracking cognitive load could save doctors and patients

      Hiba Fatima Hamid | Education
    • How dismantling DEI endangers the future of medical care

      Shashank Madhu and Christian Tallo | Education
    • What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab

      Saba Qaiser, RN | Conditions
    • How scales of justice saved a doctor-patient relationship

      Neil Baum, MD | Physician
    • The silent toll of ICE raids on U.S. patient care

      Carlin Lockwood | Policy
    • Why shared decision-making in medicine often fails

      M. Bennet Broner, PhD | Conditions
  • Recent Posts

    • Why what doctors say matters more than you think [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • How Mark Twain would dismantle today’s flawed medical AI

      Neil Baum, MD and Mark Ibsen, MD | Tech
    • Mastering medical presentations: Elevating your impact

      Harvey Castro, MD, MBA | Physician
    • Marketing as a clinician isn’t about selling. It’s about trust.

      Kara Pepper, MD | Physician
    • Graduating from medical school without family: a story of strength and survival

      Anonymous | Education
    • Inside human trafficking: a guide to recognizing and preventing it [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Why climate change threatens our children’s future: hurricanes, floods, and a call to act
3 comments

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...