Don’t shield children from climate change
On Feb. 15, my brothers and I awoke to a thick blanket of snow over our Fort Bend suburb, and we ran outside in our pajamas to throw snowballs, build snowmen and make snow angels in the numbing cold. Our neighborhood was reminiscent of gingerbread houses and was perfect for an Instagram post, but of course, Winter Storm Uri had taken out our electricity and our internet along with it.
I expected this happy experience with my siblings, 12 and 7, to be the same as everyone else, but I was wrong.
My brothers and I didn’t realize that as we celebrated the snow, other families were rationing the scarce water and food they had left, others were inadvertently killing themselves with carbon monoxide, some were about to succumb to hypothermia and many were experiencing pipe bursts that deluged their homes and collapsed ceilings.
I read about these tragedies on my phone as the reports came out, but more than two weeks have passed since Winter Storm Uri, and my brothers have only just found out how exceptional and privileged their “snow day” was.
My brothers looked at me in disbelief as I recounted the dreadful deaths of children their own age, of Olivia, Edison and Collette Nguyen just next door in Sugarland, and their faces drew tears when I told them of Christian Paneda, a boy who seemingly froze to death in Conroe while his mother tried to keep him warm.
I told them, “It could’ve been you.” Many parents and older siblings would contend that the information I relayed to my brothers was inappropriate for their age, but the occurrence of children dying to the worst of the climate crisis is what’s truly unacceptable. It is even more concerning that children are not being provided the knowledge they require to understand their privilege or their unfortunate circumstances caused by climate change. They are unable to discuss how they may prevent natural disasters and protect their community.
Today, most children cannot go back to school and discuss the implications of a winter storm with their friends. The teachers and parents who are supposed to give context to their lives are busy trying to survive and meet deadlines in this vortex-ridden and COVID-tormented world. Our educators and caretakers are properly distracted and so often literally unable to reach their students. It’s no wonder my brothers were clueless.
In order to become fully functional adults, children must learn to recognize abuse and preventable calamities when they see them. Accordingly, it is critical for the youngest among us to comprehend the hardship their friends and members of their greater community face. Even more importantly, children who endure disasters should know their experience is shared, that it is not acceptable or normal, and it’s something they must speak about if they are to inherit a livable world to grow up in.
It is our responsibility as adults to first identify the most formidable threat to our dependents and ourselves: the climate crisis. The vast majority of scientists concur that large and increasing amounts of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere worsen the natural disasters we experience and increase their frequency. After comprehending this, we must demonstrate our political will for climate action through ballots, conversations, lobbying and protests. When our youth innocently welcome the onset of a winter storm, we shall remind them of the true price of a snow day. Only then will they be prepared for their future, a future where they may be compelled to take the reins and continue the fight for a comprehensive solution to climate change.
The cold hard truth is brutal, but as a climate activist and big brother, I know I owe my younger siblings nothing less. I am staunch in my efforts to provide my brothers with the information required for them to demand the livable world they deserve.
As soon as we help our children and siblings connect the dots of their experiences with climate change and injustice, they will be fearful and overwhelmed, and a bit confused. They will also be so much more prepared to deal with the harsh reality of our world.