Cheeky chubby babies, I love ‘em. I have had the great pleasure of being around some littles this past year. I have a 7 month old great niece and 3 of my bonus daughters have babies under 13 months. I also have young friends who have made a difficult decision to not bring children into the world as it is and is on trajectory to become. 

 It is a radical act of hope to bring a child into this world right now.

So for the life of me I cannot understand why we who make decisions can’t or won’t make decisions that center the children. And their children. And their children in turn, out seven generations as the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) philosophy mandates. Why aren’t we considering the impacts seven generations out as we lead our families, communities, states and nations in decisions small and grand every single day? How can we reconcile our hopes and dreams for our babies with our decision to continue to burn fossil fuels, engage in war, and collect stuff we do not need?

A UNICEF report from 2024 finds that climate change is endangering children’s health at every stage of development and consolidates growing evidence of climate change’s effects on children’s health, identifying six major hazards: extreme heat, droughts, wildfires, floods, air pollution and ecosystem changes. Climate-related displacement is a major concern. Over the past six years, weather-related disasters caused 43.1 million internal displacements of children, averaging about 20,000 daily. A warming world is intensifying infectious diseases like malaria and dengue. 

The report is not an easy read — more than an inconvenient truth for anyone with a heart. Just like the reality of the tragedy experienced at Annunciation School here in Minneapolis earlier this month. Deeply unsettling and disturbing. But are either shocking enough to move us to action?

Here in the USA, we have increased giveaways to the fossil fuel industry by over $4 billion per year. Those funds could provide nutrition to 3 million families through SNAP. $4 billion in funding for early childhood education (ECE) could significantly expand access to high-quality programs for millions of children, leading to long-term benefits like improved academic performance, increased adult productivity, and higher earnings for parents. $4 billion could significantly improve the quality of public education for our k-12 learners. 54 million households could install solar panels with those funds.

Our children, all of them, the whole world of children, deserve a future. They bear absolutely zero responsibility for the making of the climate crisis. They have zero responsibility for the lack of safety in their schools and communities. But they suffer because we have put profits before people, profits before children.

It really doesn’t have to be this way. We know what we could and should do. So I ask again, are we ready to figure it out for the children? Because we are, and we need you to join us.

Photo credit: Asian Development Bank

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