Climate Change, Climate Justice, and Children's Mental Health: A Generation at Risk?

Climate change poses the greatest threat to those who are the least responsible; those who are already vulnerable to deep-rooted challenges such as poverty and often living in areas with poor air quality or greater susceptibility to flooding or other weather hazards. Climate change is a threat multiplier for children's physical and mental health. Climate change exacerbates existing disparities in children's health that are a direct product of poverty and structural racism. Children from low-income communities and communities of color often have greater risk of exposures to environmental hazards and the impacts of climate change and these impacts have the potential to have a profoundly adverse impact on child mental health.