NPR’s Claim That Climate Change Is Destroying Children’s Summer Fun Is Ridiculous
15 hours ago Guest Blogger
National Public Radio’s (NPR) recent article, “Climate change is now threatening a pillar of childhood: summer break,” tells readers that climate change is making outdoor play increasingly dangerous through heat, wildfire smoke, floods, and storms. The story features interviews with children disappointed by canceled camp activities and interrupted pool days, then presents those experiences as evidence that today’s youngsters are growing up in a fundamentally different and more hazardous world.
The premise is false, ridiculous even.
Rather than citing data or explaining the meteorological definitions of weather and climate, NPR quotes a child from Pennsylvania in the article, the daughter of Lauren Smith, who describes climate change as “the areas around you are just, like, changing all around you all the time.” Maybe she is conflating seasonal weather with climate because irresponsible adults told her that climate change is the same as weather?
The outdoors has always involved risk. Long before anyone falsely blamed rising atmospheric carbon dioxide for the weather, children have been taught to avoid lightning storms, stay hydrated on extremely hot days, steer clear of swollen rivers, and respect the hazards of forests, lakes, and mountains. Summer has never been risk-free, nor should anyone expect it to be.
