WHEREAS: The mission of the members of the New Jersey Chapter of the American Academy of
Pediatrics includes advocacy and action on issues that affect children’s health.
WHEREAS: The Lancet Commission has said that climate change is the greatest public
health threat of this century, but it is also the greatest public health opportunity of this
century.
WHEREAS: According to the 2018 Fourth National Climate Assessment, the health and
well-being of Americans, especially populations that are already vulnerable (e.g. children)
are increasingly threatened by climate change impacts on extreme weather, air quality, and
the transmission of disease through insects and pests, food, and water.
WHEREAS: The effects of climate change in New Jersey are already apparent and include
increased frequency and severity of extreme weather events, heat waves, storms, hurricanes and flooding, and also a significant increase in mean temperature and sea level, and the spread of vector-borne diseases.
WHEREAS: Time grows short to successfully address and mitigate the effects of
largely unchecked climate change and the deleterious public health consequences for
children.
IT IS RESOLVED: That the members of the New Jersey Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics recognize that climate change threatens the health and well being of the patients we serve, and we:
• Support ongoing efforts to educate the medical community, legislators, patients and their families, and the general public about climate change and its potential negative effects on the health and well being of children.
• Support the Environmental Health, Environmental Justice and Climate Change initiatives presented in National AAP’s Transition Plan: Advancing Child Health in the Biden-Harris Administration.
• Support the re-entry of the United States as a participant in the Paris Climate Agreement and efforts to reverse the rollbacks on environmental protections of recent years.
• Support the efforts in New Jersey to make a rapid transition to renewable energy.
• Support efforts to communicate with our local, state, and national legislators, and request that they take urgent action to adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change.
References:
1. Global Climate Change and Children’s Health. Samantha Ahdoot, Susan E. Pacheco and the Council on Environmental Health. Pediatrics November 2015, 136 (5) e1468-e1484; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2015-323
2. Fourth National Climate Assessment: Volume II: Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the
United States, 2018
3. Tackling climate change: the greatest opportunity for global health, The Lancet, November 7,
2015
4. Global Climate Change and Children’s Health. AAP Council on Environmental Health, Pediatrics, November 2015.