Summary

Climate change is typically framed as a future problem, but it’s already reshaping the environments where children live, grow, play, and learn. Despite that reality, public attention is rarely focused on how climate change affects children’s development—or what we can do about it.

This report, produced in partnership with the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University and Harvard Chan C-CHANGE, offers practical guidance for advocates, researchers, organizers, and other communicators who can help shape conversations about climate change and child development. It includes:

• An examination of how people currently think about these issues
• An analysis of communication challenges
• Recommendations for framing messages to build public understanding of the impacts of climate change on early childhood development

For a summary of the key findings and a snapshot of the recommendations, check out the companion brief to this report: Five Trends in Public Thinking about the Connections between Early Childhood Development and Climate Change.