Children's Health and the Peril of Climate Change

The Air They Breathe offers a powerful, deeply human exploration of how climate change is reshaping children’s health, told through the eyes of a practicing pediatrician on the front lines. Drawing on real clinical encounters from Reno, Nevada—the fastest warming city in the United States—Dr. Debra Hendrickson reveals how worsening air pollution, extreme heat, natural disasters, and emerging infectious diseases are already harming children’s bodies and futures. Blending medicine, storytelling, and ethics, the book reframes the climate crisis as a pediatric health emergency and a defining moral challenge of our time, emphasizing children’s unique biological vulnerability during critical stages of growth and development.

Key Features:

• Presents real-world clinical stories illustrating the direct health effects of climate change on children, including respiratory disease, heat injury, displacement trauma, and infectious threats.
• Explains why children are biologically and developmentally more vulnerable to environmental change than adults.
• Connects climate science with pediatric medicine in a clear, accessible narrative for both medical and general audiences.
• Highlights inequities and disparities, showing how climate-related harms disproportionately affect certain children and communities.
• Frames climate change as both a public health crisis and a moral responsibility toward future generations.
• Written with emotional depth and scientific credibility, combining advocacy, clinical insight, and storytelling.