Growing Up in a Warming World: How climate change is affecting the availability and safety of water in the developmental environment
Read our brief, Growing Up in a Warming World: How climate change is affecting the availability and safety of water in the developmental environment, to learn more about the direct and indirect effects of climate change and how we can protect children and address the root causes of these effects.
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A Cascade of Impacts: The Many Ways Water Affects Child Development
This working paper from the Early Childhood Scientific Council on Equity and the Environment explores how water affects children’s health, learning, and behavior, and how ensuring access to safe drinking water is necessary to support the healthy development of all children. It offers specific strategies to address disparities in access to clean water and resources to take action in your community.
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Solutions Spotlight: A Cascade of Impacts: The Many Ways Water Affects Child Development
What surrounds us—and goes into us—shapes our biology, including our brain, immune, and metabolic systems. This is particularly true during the prenatal and early childhood periods when our bodies are especially sensitive to outside influences.
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InBrief | A Cascade of Impacts: The Many Ways Water Affects Child Development
Given the body’s near-constant need for water, its availability and quality are critical for child development and lifelong health. However, freshwater supplies are increasingly endangered due to extended droughts, large-scale farming of water-intensive crops in arid climates, overuse of local water sources, and toxic contamination.
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The Brain Architects Podcast: A Cascade of Impacts: A Discussion on the Ways Water Affects Early Childhood Health & Well-being
In October 2024, we hosted a webinar where we explored the science from our latest working paper, A Cascade of Impacts: The Many Ways Water Affects Child Development. The discussion was led by the Center’s Chief Science Officer, Lindsey Burghardt, MD, MPH, FAAP, and featured Devon Payne-Sturges, DrPH, Associate Professor with the Department of Global, Environmental, and Occupational Health at the University of Maryland, School of Public Health, and Nathaniel Harnett, PhD, Assistant Professor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. In this podcast, learn about the many ways water affects early childhood health and well-being as well as actionable strategies and policy solutions that can support clean water access for all children and their caregivers. The webinar discussion has been adapted for this episode of the Brain Architects podcast.