CHIP: Child Health Is Planetary Health—collaboratively Connecting Care for Children with Care for the Earth

Background: Our CHIP (Child Health Is Planetary Health) Team coalesced in August, 2020 around our shared visions about the vital importance of simultaneously considering and prioritizing healthy children and a healthy planet. Although our initial terminology focused on “Planetary Pediatrics”, following a series of conversations that gave serious attention to our long-term goals, our existing team's composition, and the diverse global audience that we aim to meaningfully engage, we eventually arrived at more general and inclusive terminology that explicitly links children and planet. One of our foundational aims is to showcase the synergistic relationship between child health and planetary health.

Methods: To raise awareness, build community, and simultaneously improve both child health and planetary health, we have hosted community meetings, presented at conferences and meetings, and engaged key stakeholders and prospective partners who are doing similar work. Specifically, we participated in the Planetary Health Annual Meeting in April 2021 through a poster and panel presentation. We also presented about CHIP during the January, 2021 Community Call for the Clinicians for Planetary Health initiative of the Planetary Health Alliance. Additionally, one of our team members also gave the Grand Rounds presentation about CHIP at Emory University in January, 2021. We continue to work closely with several organizations and initiatives, including Clinicians for Planetary Health, the International Society for Social Pediatrics and Child Health, and inVIVO Planetary Health.

Results: Our Results include forming a complementary “Teachers For Planetary Health” network within the Planetary Health Alliance. We also have an ongoing collaboration with the Planetary Health Campus Ambassadors to develop and disseminate an “ABC’s of Planetary Health” children’s book. We have mobilized an International Society of Social Pediatrics and Child Health Planetary Pediatrics Working Group, and are planning to submit an abstract for the upcoming inVIVO Planetary Health Conference in November, 2021. We have hosted approximately 10 meetings for both our members and members of the general public who are interested in sharing ideas and connecting with others who share an interest in optimizing both child and planetary health.

Conclusion: CHIP was founded to raise awareness about the fact that humans are a part of nature. To advance this recognition, our expansive vision is to achieve both healthy children and a healthy planet for all. Both the Covid Pandemic and the Climate Emergency showcase the negative consequences when humans perceive themselves to be separate from and above nature. Long-term, we aspire to build diverse communities of practice that not only raise awareness, but also lead to positive and transformative outcomes by explicitly linking care for children with care for the earth. This planetary community will necessarily draw from and invite intergenerational, international, and interdisciplinary diversity.