A child psychiatrist and pediatrician has described how children are disproportionately vulnerable to the effects of climate change in her testimony at Canada\u2019s first youth-led climate trial.<\/p>\n
Dr. Elizabeth Pinsky outlined to Federal Court in Vancouver an array of risks, from susceptibility to extreme heat, air pollution and tick-borne illness to anxiety and depression linked to climate change.<\/p>\n
The Boston-based doctor pointed to several physiological factors, testifying that babies and very young children have immature thermoregulatory systems, diminishing their ability to regulate their internal temperature in a heat wave.<\/p>\n
Children breathe more rapidly than adults and take in more air pollution relative to their size, said Pinsky, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School.<\/p>\n
There is also a \u201ctemporal reality,\u201d she said, as younger people are \u201csimply at increased risk\u201d from climate hazards over the course of their lifetimes.<\/p>\n
As climate change worsens, so too will the health harms, she testified on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s just no question left in the medical literature about whether that\u2019s true.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pinsky is a witness for 15 young plaintiffs in the trial in Federal Court in Vancouver, where they\u2019re arguing that federal legislation violates their constitutional rights by continuing Canada\u2019s trajectory of greenhouse gas emissions.<\/p>\n
She described the knowledge that \u201cthe people who should be protecting you and keeping you safe and safeguarding your future are not just failing to do so, but knowingly failing to do so\u201d as a unique harm among children.<\/p>\n
The plaintiffs\u2019 lawyer, Catherine Boies Parker, told the court in her opening statement on Monday that the case was not about the existence of climate change.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rather, it hinges on whether the government is \u201cconstitutionally required to stop making it worse,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe plaintiffs are asking this court to hold Canada legally accountable for its role in continuing and worsening the climate crisis that is causing harm.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pinsky also described some of the mental health effects of climate change among young people, including \u201ceco-anxiety,\u201d saying it can include feelings of fear, sadness, grief, anger, and a sense of betrayal and powerlessness.<\/p>\n
She explained the term \u201csolastalgia,\u201d meaning \u201cthe experience of feeling homesick when you are at home, but home has changed around you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Someone might feel a sense of solastalgia when their childhood home is now engulfed in wildfire smoke every summer, Pinsky said.<\/p>\n
Nothing could fully protect children from climate harms other than ceasing to burn fossil fuels and halting climate change, she said.<\/p>\n
Pinsky is set to be cross-examined by Ottawa\u2019s lawyers on Friday.<\/p>\n
Earlier Thursday, the court heard from Stanford University professor Mark Jacobson, an expert in environmental engineering and atmospheric science, who said it is \u201cdefinitely\u201d possible for Canada to shift to full renewable energy by 2050.<\/p>\n
He said the transition is technically and economically feasible, and the obstacles on that course are social and political in nature.<\/p>\n
Jacobson has developed sophisticated models and road maps to help cities, states and countries, including Canada, make the shift to renewable energy.<\/p>\n
Canada does not need to rely on fossil fuels, he said, outlining how the country could meet its energy demands by tapping \u201chumongous\u201d resources and opportunities in wind, solar and geothermal, along with pre-existing hydroelectric capacity.<\/p>\n
Combine that with the electrification of energy and transportation and \u201cCanada can do it,\u201d Jacobson said of transitioning to renewables by mid-century.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether it actually does it by 2050 is more of a social and political question.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jacobson said electricity is significantly more efficient than combustion.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy electrifying everything and providing that electricity from renewables, you use a huge amount less energy. In Canada, it\u2019s like 60 per cent less energy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The shift would also slash air pollution and emissions that cause global heating, he said, noting thousands of people die every year from air pollution in Canada.<\/p>\n
Jacobson agreed under cross-examination by a lawyer for the federal government that his report prepared for the trial did not present any policy proposals for Ottawa.<\/p>\n
He also acknowledged the study did not account for potential \u201cbottlenecks\u201d in Canada\u2019s renewable transition, such as supply-chain constraints.<\/p>\n
Jacobson had testified earlier Thursday that his study projected a net job loss for Canada in the shift to renewables, though it wasn\u2019t a comprehensive account.<\/p>\n
The figure excluded \u201cthe jobs that would be involved in the production of electric vehicles, electric heat pumps, other electric appliances and machines, and also some transmission distribution jobs,\u201d he said under cross-examination.<\/p>\n
This report by Brenna Owen, The Canadian Press, was first published Oct. 29, 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A child psychiatrist and pediatrician has described how children are disproportionately vulnerable to the effects of climate change…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":951402,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[45,49,48,295,713,47,714,66,14237],"class_list":["post-951401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-justice","tag-national","tag-politics","tag-science","tag-utilities"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=951401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951401\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/951402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=951401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=951401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=951401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}