Climate change is now threatening a pillar of childhood: summer break
Summer Break Faces New Challenges as Climate Shifts
Ecorescuezone.com – Children across the nation are experiencing their summers differently this year. Extreme weather patterns, driven largely by fossil fuel emissions, are reshaping traditional outdoor activities and camp experiences. From wildfire smoke blanketing entire regions to unprecedented heat waves, families are adapting to what experts call a changing reality.
Pool Days Turned Indoor
At Beauvoir Summer Camp in Washington, D.C., seven-year-old Penelope loves transforming into a mermaid during swim time.
"I like playing mermaid," she explains while dangling her feet in the water. "Like, I'm a human, and then I turn into a mermaid and I use one of the pool noodles as a dolphin, and I play with my friends."
However, this particular Friday's free swim session looked different. The pool sat empty while campers remained indoors to escape hazardous air quality caused by distant wildfire smoke. Drew Mackay, who directs auxiliary and summer programs at Beauvoir School, noted that earlier in the season, intense heat had already forced reductions in outdoor playtime.
Penelope and her best friend Sam, both seven years old, consider pool time their favorite camp activity. NPR is using only the children's first names since they are minors.
A Nation Confronts Extreme Weather
This summer has delivered an abundance of severe weather events nationwide. Communities in northern Minnesota and Canada faced devastating fires that sent dangerous smoke across large portions of the Midwest and Northeastern United States. Meanwhile, deadly flooding in parts of Texas triggered official disaster declarations. An extraordinary heat wave during July earned the nickname "the new normal" for Fourth of July celebrations.
Research indicates that as global temperatures rise, heat waves, droughts, hurricanes, and floods have grown both more intense and more common. Families are experiencing these changes firsthand.
Adapting to the Unpredictable
Further north in Pennsylvania, Lauren Smith and her children endured a summer filled with challenging conditions. Extreme heat disrupted normal soccer camp activities on a vast, treeless field where temperatures climbed nearly to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Wildfire smoke subsequently kept the family indoors for extended periods. When relentless rain finally arrived, Smith found it almost welcome.
"The kids are going crazy in the house — that's it, we're going for a walk," she recalls thinking. "Then, they're like, 'It's starting to rain.' I'm like, 'Doesn't matter. It's an adventure.'"
Surprisingly, Smith's children have embraced helping declutter the house. They also discovered enjoyment in baking and painting acorns. Yet on rare sunny days, she struggles to keep them inside.
"The summer is just like a waiting game — just waiting to do some stuff outside," Smith observes.
A Generation of Challenges
This cohort of school-aged children has already navigated the isolation of COVID-19, the global pandemic that compelled students to learn from home. Now they confront extreme weather as a regular feature of their lives.
Throughout summer months, parents work hard to get children outdoors. But when weather conditions transform outdoor fun from merely inconvenient to genuinely dangerous, everyone feels the impact. Parents, camp leaders, and children alike have shared their experiences with NPR about living with a changing climate.
"It's changed my summer a lot," Penelope, the mermaid, reflects. She describes climate change as "the areas around you are just, like, changing all around you all the time."
Camps Adapt to New Realities
For many children, summer represents approximately three months of freedom from school routines and homework assignments. A 2024 Gallup survey revealed that 55% of American parents reported their school-aged children participate in at least one structured summer program.
Henry DeHart, CEO of the American Camp Association, which offers resources and accreditation to hundreds of camps nationwide, emphasizes that skills developed at camp—such as independence, problem-solving, and teamwork—will prepare young people for the future, particularly in an increasingly AI-centric world.
While weather variability is nothing new for camps, and accredited facilities maintain comprehensive safety protocols, DeHart notes that the frequency of extreme events has become noticeable.
In the past few decades, he says, "A camp might have had three or four or five days with the heat index over 105 [Fahrenheit]". Now they may have eight or 10."
Impacts vary across different camps. In Ohio, Ellen Watkins directs Miakonda Day Camp, which operates on a 160-acre property for Scouting organizations. When wildfire smoke filled the atmosphere, the camp moved activities indoors and distributed masks to participants.
Indoors, children performed swim exercises on dry land and utilized an inflatable archery set. Watkins reported receiving numerous messages from grateful parents who appreciated the camp's ability to continue operations despite challenging conditions.
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