Climate change may not affect baby boomers like me, but it sure as hell will affect my seven grandchildren. The headline of this article is drawn from the World Health Organization, an agency of the United Nations. WHO’s key facts include:

• Climate change is directly contributing to humanitarian emergencies from heatwaves, wildfires, floods, tropical storms and hurricanes and they are increasing in scale, frequency and intensity.
• Research shows that 3.6 billion people already live in areas highly susceptible to climate change. Between 2030 and 2050, climate change is expected to cause approximately 250 000 additional deaths per year, from undernutrition, malaria, diarrhoea and heat stress alone.
• The direct damage costs to health (excluding costs in health-determining sectors such as agriculture and water and sanitation) is estimated to be between US$ 2–4 billion per year by 2030.
• Areas with weak health infrastructure – mostly in developing countries – will be the least able to cope without assistance to prepare and respond.
• Reducing emissions of greenhouse gases through better transport, food and energy use choices can result in very large gains for health, particularly through reduced air pollution.

Of course, the oil and gas companies, and politicians who are rewarded by the industry, dislike blunt talk about the future of humankind. On the first day of his current administration, Donald Trump formally initiated the United States’ withdrawal from the World Health Organization. As a result, the USA withdrew all funding from the WHO and recalled American personnel working in the organization’s programs.

It is hard to imagine why any reasonable person would object to the goals of the WHO. These include:

• Health Emergencies Programme – Helps countries prepare for, prevent, respond to, and recover from disease outbreaks, natural disasters, and health crises.
• Life Course – Focuses on improving health and well-being across all ages, with a specific emphasis on women, children, and adolescents.
• Communicable and Noncommunicable Diseases – Combats infectious diseases (like HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria) alongside chronic conditions (like heart disease, cancer, and diabetes) and mental health.
• Healthier Populations – Works to reduce environmental, social, and behavioral health risks in communities.
• Access to Medicines and Health Products – Promotes safe, affordable, and quality medical products while fighting substandard or falsified drugs.
• Antimicrobial Resistance – Manages strategies to prevent drug-resistant infections globally.

Recently, a conversation with a young adult left me with an understanding that climate anxiety is real. Five years ago, The Lancet, a peer-reviewed general medical journal, published a global survey about this subject. Its summary included this:

Climate change has important implications for the health and futures of children and young people, yet they have little power to limit its harm, making them vulnerable to climate anxiety. This is the first large-scale investigation of climate anxiety in children and young people globally and its relationship with perceived government response.