Climate Change: Implications for Parents and Parenting

Abstract

SYNOPSIS: This tutorial draws together research on the impacts of climate change on children and youth, and suggests how parents, and parenting researchers, educators, and professionals, can engage with climate change. We start with an overview of the science of climate change and highlight the urgency of action to restore a safe climate for future generations. Then we discuss three major types of impact of climate change on children and youth: first, their greater vulnerability to its impacts on health and well-being due to physiological immaturity and dependency, a vulnerability that is greatly exacerbated for children in disadvantaged circumstances; second, evidence of widespread worry ab..