Cause for Concern: Systemic Neglect and Our Duty to Call it Out
I’m Jen, Mum of a 4 year old and a Primary School teacher.
Like many, I am concerned about the harm being done to children and young people now as a result of climate breakdown and ecological collapse. I think the risk of harm in the future is even greater and the lack of action to prevent it amounts to systemic neglect. For example:
- Child lung development is impaired as a result of illegally high levels of air pollution across the UK (Paulin and Hansel, 2016; WHO, 2016; National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory, 2019; Client Earth, 2019).
- One child death, in South London, already linked to air pollution (BBC, 2019).
- Rising levels of eco-anxiety, particularly amoung children and young people (Strife, 2012; Gifford and Gifford, 2016).
We all have a duty to promote the safety and welfare of children and to report any concerns (Working Together to Safeguard Children, 2018). So I decided to write a "cause for concern" letter and send it to my Local Authority and the Department for Education. If you are concerned about the safety and welfare of children as a result of climate breakdown and ecological collapse you can do the same. Using current safeguarding legislation, let’s report our concerns together so that action must be taken.
Here is a copy of my letter which you can use to inspire your own.
Mr John Readman,
Director of Children’s Services,
West Sussex County Council,
County Hall North (Parkside),
Chart Way,
Horsham,
RH12 1XH.
18/11/19
Re: Cause for Concern.
Cc: Mr Paul Marshall, Mrs Jacquie Russell, Mrs Morwen Millson, Mrs Brenda Smith, Mrs Deborah Urquhart, Jeremy Quin (MP).
N.B.: Similar letter sent to the Department for Education.
Dear Mr Readman,
I am a Primary School Teacher in Crawley, West Sussex. As a member of the children’s workforce I am aware that I have a duty to work together, with partners, to safeguard and promote the safety and welfare of children (Working Together to Safeguard Children, 2018; Safeguarding Children Partnership, 2019).
I am writing to you because I need to raise a serious concern about the harm being done to children living within this local authority area as a result of climate breakdown and ecological collapse. Action to protect children from harm, both now and in the future, is currently inadequate and amounts to systemic neglect to secure the safety and welfare of all living beings, including children living in this local authority area. This is a global concern which threatens the ecosystems which support human life, and specifically affects around 144,955+ children in West Sussex (West Sussex County Council, 2013). For example, damage to lung development caused by illegally high levels of air pollution in the South East (Paulin and Hansel, 2016; WHO, 2016; Client Earth, 2019). I see the real impact of this every day as I teach high numbers of children with asthma living close to busy roads and Gatwick Airport. This systemic neglect is causing present harm with increasing risk of harm in the future.
Already the death of one child, Ella Kissi-Debrah, living in South London has been linked to illegally high levels of air pollution (BBC, 2019). Exposure to particulate matter (PM) air pollution is linked to reduced lung function in children (Paulin and Hansel, 2016). Levels of air pollution in many parts of West Sussex are as high as those in South London, in particular, nitrogen oxide, PM2.5 and ozone which exceed WHO guideline amounts (National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory, 2019; World Health Organization, 2016; Client Earth, 2019). At the same time, the number of people per 100,000 population, in the south east, who are newly diagnosed with asthma, has been rising since 2011 (British Lung Foundation, 2019). The illegally high levels of air pollution in the UK, the lack of action to clean up our air and Government decisions taken which make the problem worse (e.g. expansion of airports, ending subsidies for renewable energy, subsidising the fossil fuel industry) amounts to systemic neglect, i.e. insufficient action to protect the safety and welfare of children. The science is real. If the failure to act continues the neglect may be seen as wilful.
Increasingly, research shows that eco-anxiety affects children’s emotional and mental health (Strife, 2012; Gifford and Gifford, 2016). Findings reveal that 82% of children express “fear, sadness and anger” when discussing their feelings about the environment and most also expressed "apocalyptic and pessimistic feelings" about the future state of the planet (Strife, 2012). Eco-anxiety is not a ‘disorder’, it is a rational response to a dangerous situation (Bednarek, 2019). During a recent geography unit my pupils were researching environmental charities. They responded with fear and anger when they found out what is happening to the Earth.
The risk of harm in the near future (next 5-10 years) is severe and increasing. Extreme heavy precipitation events such as that which flooded 780 properties in West Sussex in June 2012 (West Sussex County Council, 2012) will become more common. Food and water shortages will become more frequent and widespread. Global CO2 emissions are still rising. Continuing on our current path will mean upwards of 4 degrees of warming which will create sea level rises that submerge homes belonging to about 6 million people in the UK (Sinclair, 2019), including many vulnerable communities across the South East coast. The current UK target to reduce emissions to net zero by 2050 is too little, too late because it does not take into account additional warming created by feedback loops, such as the ice albedo effect, which will cause even greater sea level rises.
I acknowledge that West Sussex County Council works proactively with partner agencies to reduce the impacts and adapt to the effects of climate change and I support these efforts. However, progress has not been fast enough. The UK's continuing rising emissions (including imports, aviation and shipping) and declining biodiversity testifies to the fact that the coordinated response from ALL levels of government, to protect children from current and future harm, has been inadequate and requires urgent improvement.
I urge West Sussex County Council, together with the Department for Education, to reconsider the climate and ecological crisis as a major safeguarding issue which poses a real and present threat now, with an increasing risk profile over the next 5-10 years. The IPCC, 2018 report states that "staying within a remaining carbon budget of 580 GtCO2 implies that CO2 emissions reach carbon neutrality in about 30 years (2048)." (Chapter 2). Alarmingly, according to the IPCC, a 580 GtCO2 budget gives only a 50:50 chance of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees. So the UK's current target of 2050 for carbon neutrality is, at best, a 50:50 gamble on our children's future and doesn't address the critical issues of equity (fairness / climate justice), feedback loops (of which there are many) and risk (e.g. dependence on unproven carbon capture and storage technologies).
I request an urgent answer to the question, ‘what is your plan to abide by the duty to safeguard children from harm caused by climate breakdown and ecological collapse?’ I urge West Sussex County Council to work together with the Government to 1) tell the truth about the damage that our current system does (akin to public information about smoking for example), 2) adopt a target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2030 in Line with Zero Carbon Britain recommendations (Allen et al., 2013) and 3) to act in accordance with this target by appointing a citizens assembly to decide how the UK will meet this target and thereby protect the ecosystems which support the welfare of our children and all living things on Earth.
The harm to children caused by climate breakdown and ecological collapse, and the existential risk to their future, should be a part of every safeguarding policy and ALL departments and agencies should be working together to protect the safety and welfare of children from this major threat. Working Together to Safeguard Children applies to us all and in this time, when the science is clear that this is a crisis, we must work together and act now.
Yours sincerely,
Jennifer Altamirano Smith,
Mother and resident in Horsham,
Class Teacher in Crawley,
West Sussex.
References:
Department for Education, 2018, 'Working Together to Safeguard Children', https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-safeguard-children--2
West Sussex Safeguarding Children Partnership, 2019, Sussex Child Protection and Safeguarding Procedures Manual, http://sussexchildprotection.procedures.org.uk/yky/working-with-children-and-families/underlying-policy-principles-and-values
West Sussex County Council, 2013, 'About West Sussex'.
Paulin and Hansel, 2016, 'Particulate Air Pollution and Impaired Lung Function.
World Health Organization, 2016, Global Ambient Air Pollution, http://maps.who.int/airpollution/
Client Earth, 2019, UK Air Pollution: How clean is the air you breath?, available at: https://www.clientearth.org/uk-air-pollution-how-clean-is-the-air-you-breathe/.
BBC, 2019, Ella Kissi-Debrah 'pollution' death: Backing for new inquest,
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/science-environment-44612642
National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory, 2019, PM10, Total Emissions, https://naei.beis.gov.uk/emissionsapp/
British Lung Foundation, 2019, Asthma Statistics, (www.statistics.blf.org.uk/asthma)
Strife, S. J., 2012, The Journal of Environmental Education 43 (1), 'Children's environmental concerns: Expressing ecophobia', 37-54.
Eva Gifford & Robert Gifford (2016) The largely unacknowledged impact
of climate change on mental health, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 72:5, 292-297, DOI:
10.1080/00963402.2016.1216505.
Bednarek, S., 2019, Therapy Today, 'Is there a therapy for climate change anxiety?', 36 - 39.
West Sussex County Council, 2012, West Sussex County Council Report on June 2012 Flood Event.
Sinclair, T, 2019, Heading for Extinction - and What to Do About It, https://youtu.be/jA_aJSxfo20
IPCC, 2018, Global Warming of 1.5 Degrees C,, https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/.
Allen P. et al., 2013, Zero Carbon Britain: Rethinking the Future, Centre for Alternative Technology.
