October 31, 2024
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Vote for a healthy climate for our children
The 2024 presidential election will have enormous consequences for the climate, and for the health and future of children
Tourists walk the National Mall as smoke from wildfires in Canada caused a pungent smell and foggy conditions in Washington, DC, on June 7, 2023. Officials in Washington warned that the air quality was “bad for people with heart or lung disease, elderly adults, children and teenagers” and canceled all outdoor activities in public schools, including sports courses.
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
For America’s children, the upcoming election will be one of the most consequential in our nation’s history. Climate change is taking a toll about children’s healthand the election will decide whether we continue to reduce fossil fuel pollution and slow global warming, or hard earned achievements with the disastrous consequences of recent years.
The Republican candidate, former President Donald Trump, has impeached him Global warming as a “hoax”. and if elected he has sworn forcefully expand the perforations for oil and gas. He has pledged to roll back or repeal the Biden administration’s clean energy and climate policies, especially targeting 2022. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) 370 billion dollars to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and transition clean renewable energies. deregulation road map in fact, a second Trump administration called “Project 2025” has unlimited fossil fuel production, repealing the IRA and other climate and environmental regulations.
In contrast, the Democratic candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, describes it as climate change “existential” threat.. He was fired as Vice President tie breaking vote Allowing the IRA to pass and support new emission standards that will limit pollution oil and gas operations, the cars, trucks and dirty power plants. Harris announced more than $1 billion in grants in 2022 to help states deal with climate change-exacerbated flooding and extreme heat, and has championed environmental justice programs to reduce the impact of climate change and fossil fuel pollution on marginalized communities.
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Researchers studying the health effects of climate change and air pollution on children from the womb to adolescence have found that climate change. threat multiplierNearly every child in the U.S. and around the world is at risk of at least one climate-enhanced hazard: extreme heat, severe storms and flooding, wildfires, food insecurity, and insect-borne diseases.
toll road physical and mental health the number of children is high – and is increasing. More babies are born prematurely or with low birth weight due to mothers being exposed to extreme heat or forest fire smoke. during pregnancy. Infants, young children, and adolescent athletes can suffer from hyperthermia, kidney disease, and even death from exposure to extreme heat. every year Wildfires in the US West expose more than seven million children to smoke that damages their lungs, often triggering asthma attacks. Infectious diseases such as Lyme have increased among children, mainly due to climate change. Children are also suffering physical and psychological trauma from severe storms and flooding, and many suffer from PTSD and depression as a result. Awareness of the health effects of climate change increases the risk of anxiety and mental health problems in children, to almost half of young people. recent survey they said that concerns about climate change negatively affected their daily lives. Extreme heat exposure can cause children to have poor cognitive function and a reduced ability to concentrate, learn and perform academically, which can affect future earnings.
Air pollution it is now recognized as a parallel health crisis to which fossil fuel emissions are responsible. Long recognized as a trigger for asthma attacks in children, air pollution is now understood to be a direct cause of asthma and other respiratory illnesses. From infant mortality and childhood asthma to mental health conditions, it has been linked to air pollution. Like climate change, exposure to air pollution affects children’s ability to learn. In a study in New York, my colleagues and I found that That IQ score and academic achievement It decreased in pre-born children exposed to air pollution from cars, construction and industry.
While all children are vulnerable, low-income, black and Hispanic children face them disproportionate exposure to the air pollution in the affected neighborhoods. discriminatory policies, such as redliningThey have created urban heat islands in communities of color where there are fewer trees and shade.
On the healthy side of the ledger, the climate and energy provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by one billion metric tons in 2030, reaching our goal of reducing our nation’s emissions by at least 50 percent. By then, IRA would also greatly reduce the levels of small particles that are inhaled, and 4,500 premature deaths119,000 asthma attacks and respiratory symptoms and about 179,000 cases of bronchitis, plus thousands of hospital admissions and respiratory ER visits each year. The deaths avoided would be concentrated in communities of color, which have historically suffered the most from air pollution. Estimated economic benefits are $49 billion by 2030 alone. The IRA’s climate benefits for the same year are $137 billion.
It is not the first time that policies have been shown to be of great benefit to health and the economy. The US Clean Air Act and amendments It achieved a 78 percent reduction in national average emissions of common air pollutants between 1970 and 2020. In 2020 alone, Clean Air Act programs had a net economic benefit to public health—saving lives, preventing hospital visits, and maintaining school days—up to $3.8 trillion. , plus Over $21 billion in avoided economic damages related to the climate.
The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative In the northeastern US, the power plants needed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, which led to a reduction in pollution, avoiding up to a certain amount. 830 premature deathsa total of 12,000 heart attacks, respiratory diseases, premature birth and low birth weightand cases of asthma and autism spectrum disorder.
Government policies can protect our health and economy, with our children being the biggest beneficiaries. This election will affect the health of our children now and in the future.
This is an opinion and analysis article, and the views expressed by the author(s) are not necessarily their own. American scientific.
