The fourth instalment of our Series, ‘How Children’s Lives Are Being Affected By Climate Change’, comes at a particularly relevant moment, as Europe is currently experiencing a severe and widespread heatwave[i].
Climate change is already reshaping the world children are growing up in, affecting their health, well-being, learning, and future opportunities. In this publication of our Climate Action Series, we explore why children’s voices and lived experiences must be at the heart of climate action. The article highlights practical approaches to supporting children’s participation and resilience, while calling for inclusive, child-centred responses to one of the greatest challenges of our time.
Extract
Climate Justice, Play and Nature: Preparing Children for a Changing World
‘…the evolutionary purpose of childhood is to provide a protected period in which variation and innovation can thrive. Play is the most striking manifestation of that strategy […] play lets us explore alternatives, whether they are alternative ways of moving or acting, thinking or imagining.’ (Gopnik, 2016, p.250)
These words from cognitive development scientist Alison Gopnik offer some hope for the future of our children at a time when the world grapples with the consequences of climate change. Whilst the possibilities provided by play induce hope, access to play is dependent on the protection of natural environments so that children can enact their instinctual sense of awe, wonder and curiosity and in the process become connected to the natural environment. Unfortunately, environmental degradation caused by climate change is impacting children’s right to play and develop, and more fundamentally, their right to survival.
Ensuring children’s access to unpolluted natural environments, relies on global citizens acting together to tackle the climate crisis. However, sometimes the enormity of climate crisis invokes a feeling of helplessness. Thinking locally with a children’s rights and a climate justice perspective may be more manageable. Read the full article here.
Climate Action Series
Read the first instalment: here
Read the second instalment: here
Read the third instalment: here
[i] European heatwave is worst ever and impossible without climate crisis, scientists say: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/26/europe-heatwave-impossible-without-climate-crisis-scientists.
Extreme heat is melting national records across Europe, with more coming Thursday: https://edition.cnn.com/2026/06/24/weather/live-news/europe-heatwave-temperatures-news
