Generation Heat

By Ankita Chachra

Capita’s Director, Climate Ankita Chachra argues that children and pregnant women must be integral to climate adaptation solutions, particularly when it comes to addressing the impacts of heat.

My memories of growing up in India are filled with scorching summers and school gatherings that often turned into health hazards. In the early morning assemblies, kids would frequently faint, or a few would get nosebleeds. We would speculate during the day about who it was and remark on how they were so “lucky” to skip a school day! Growing up in Delhi, this was simply accepted as a normal part of our annual heat waves. And it wasn’t all bad because we got two months of school holidays. (My brother and I eagerly looked forward to them, while our parents tried to find activities to keep us busy while staying cool and hydrated.) Air conditioning was a luxury back then, making schools unsafe in the sweltering heat. That was in the 1980s and 90s. Fast forward to the present, and what sets that time apart from today is our growing understanding of the significant impact of heat on young children, pregnant women, and families around the globe.

As the Harvard University Center on the Developing Child recently reported, extreme temperatures can have powerful effects during pregnancy and childhood: “Extreme heat affects infants and young children more than most adults because their smaller bodies heat up more quickly, and they have less capacity to release heat via sweating.” Effects include low birth weight and prematurity, learning loss, impacts on mental and behavioral health, and heat-related illness and death. In addition, “the stress that accompanies climate disruptions is a further threat to children’s healthy development,” the U.S. Early Years Climate Action Plan recently reported. Potential impacts on their health and development can be lifelong. 

We are in the tenth consecutive month of global heat records—my colleague in Peru hasn’t had a normal winter in more than a year. Her friends share concerns over an increase in the number of children experiencing heatstrokes during school. Yet in my work, when I bring up children in policy and planning discussions around the impacts of heat in cities, the response is often surprise rather than a sense of urgency. There is limited awareness among global political leaders, decision-makers, and funders about how to address heat’s unique threats to children’s health and development. 

However, amid this crisis, we have a unique opportunity. Many cities and countries around the globe are already implementing adaptation plans to protect their residents from the ravages of heat. Children and pregnant women must be an integral part of those adaptation solutions. But placing young children at the core of how we adapt to climate change is more than a moral obligation. It can transform our communities for all, making them better able to adapt to the effects of climate change and ultimately creating a sustainable future. Ensuring child-centered action on climate change will create cleaner air and water, more green space and shade, healthier buildings, communities better prepared for extreme weather events, and more. All the benefits ripple out far beyond the individual child and family, as cited in the U.S. Early Years Climate Action Plan.

This is not just about making sure that facilities have air conditioning. We need to reimagine all the systems and structures that serve families and children—from health and human services to infrastructure and urban design. We need policies for reducing urban heat islands and an overreliance on air conditioning through passive cooling, adding green spaces and shade, and improving infrastructure. We need early warning systems to ensure that pregnant women and children are informed about the impacts of extreme heat and ways to stay safe. We may even need to rethink our current behavior patterns and routines, perhaps by encouraging children to spend time outdoors during cooler hours or extending summer breaks during warmer months while ensuring that we have the right child care support in place. 

We need to learn from cities like Abu Dhabi, Delhi, Freetown, Santiago, and many others that have been adapting to heat for years and take inspiration and ideas from what has worked for them. For instance, Abu Dhabi is investing in parks and shade structures to provide children and families with cooler and more comfortable public spaces and streets. Some cities, including Freetown, Athens, and Monterrey, are leading the charge in addressing the impacts and adapting to extreme heat by appointing chief heat officers. With an explicit focus on the needs of young children, chief heat officers can ensure better health outcomes for all, especially young children and pregnant women. 

Warmer temperatures often bring back my nostalgia for summertime in Delhi—the wait for ripe mangoes and hopes for missed school days. They also surface memories of techniques and strategies that were standard practices to beat the heat while I was growing up. In architecture school, I learned about traditional practices that incorporate time-honored knowledge and methods in designing cities. Today, architects in Indian cities are reviving ancient design techniques, such as constructing jaalies (lattice screens) to create comfortable, passively cooled, low-carbon buildings, with inspiring examples like Sharana Daycare Facility in Puducherry. In addition to exploring innovative solutions, we should embrace vernacular architecture and practices and revive relevant Indigenous city planning techniques. Together, they are promising avenues to achieving sustainable solutions that address and adapt to extreme heat in cities. 

While rising temperatures and their impact on young children are concerning and require immediate action, there are already existing adaptation ideas that we can draw on. This is an opportunity to build on what we have and reimagine our communities for the better, especially for young children.