July 15, 2025 | Originally published on Climate for Health
By: Keisha Callins, MD, MPH
Summer brings soaring temperatures, and with the new school year around the corner, now is the perfect time to launch your school’s summer climate initiative to prepare for the months ahead. What better way to bolster community outreach and boost ongoing efforts than to promote climate solutions through a commitment to climate and health education? This Climate and Health Youth Education Toolkit provides a pathway for community partners to engage with schools, camps, and more to educate and empower high school students about the health impacts of climate change and steps to advocate for climate justice.
The Toolkit, developed by the American Public Health Association’s (APHA) Children’s Environmental Health (CEH) Committee, is anchored by a 100-minute lesson plan on climate change and human health for high school students. The lesson includes important topics, such as air quality impacts, extreme events, vector-borne diseases, water-related illness, food safety, mental health, populations of concern, and more. This lesson is customizable and adaptable for many reading levels, spaces, and structure in an effort to captivate whole groups of students. Educating students by using the Climate and Health Education Toolkit is a powerful way for Climate and Health Ambassadors to fulfill their commitment to engage local communities…READ THE FULL ARTICLE>
Dr. Callins is a member of the Children’s Environmental Health (CEH) Committee. She is an obstetrician/gynecologist with Community Health Care Systems, Inc. in Middle Georgia and Professor at Mercer University School of Medicine; a 2025 Climate and Health Equity Fellow with the Medical Society Consortium for Climate and Health and the National Medical Association.