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CLIMATE HEALTH NOW
January 2022 Community Newsletter
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Climate Health Now is a group of doctors, nurses, and health professionals in California who recognize climate change as the public health and equity emergency of our lifetimes.
We organize and mobilize the trusted voice of health professionals to advocate for a rapid, just transition off harmful fossil fuels toward a healthy, equitable society sustained by renewable energy.
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Dear Climate Health Now Community,
Welcome and we hope you are all staying healthy and well during this stage of the COVID pandemic. We know many of you are facing new challenges with clinical work, childcare, and concern -- we are with you.
We are thrilled that despite everything going on, about 40 people attended our January monthly community meeting. If you missed it, the recording is here.
We are two years into CHN's existence and focusing on creating a sustainable, transparent, and inclusive democratic structure with an explicit policy platform and clear goals we will work together to achieve through community organizing. At our meeting we proposed 4 strategic areas of work as a starting point:
- Where we practice: advocating for decarbonization of the healthcare sector in California.
- Within our medical organizations and societies: working to compel organized medical associations like California Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, and regional medical societies to lobby for climate legislation and regulations in California.
- In the media, public venues and within our medical communities: leveraging our voices as trusted messengers to communicate that climate change is a health emergency and the enormous health co-benefits of climate action – to boost political will for action.
- In our communities: in partnership for climate justice with community-based and environmental justice groups, including legislative and regulatory advocacy.
As we mentioned at our meeting, we are at the very beginning of this process of building our foundation-- and there is a lot of work ahead. We need feedback and input from our members – and collaboration.
This Winter and early Spring, we are planning a Listening Campaign– in which we build a team of CHN members to engage with as many of our 522 members as possible to hear what resonates with you about these 4 areas of work, and what doesn’t.
Our Listening Campaign will be woven into our statewide membership structure building process in a way that creates a solid foundation for the years ahead - including the creation of bylaws, explicit decision-making processes, and self-governance. We are planning to work with a team of organizational development consultants for this process as well. There will be lots of opportunities for you to engage with colleagues and we sincerely hope you will link arms with us in this pivotal process to be part of crafting our strategic plan for impact.
Lastly, we will be working hard to resource our vision of all health professionals in California being involved in the climate movement as a part of our professional duty. We’ve never done it before, but this year we are going to fundraise! We know our impact will be exponentially greater with some staff to enable our members to act effectively together. Our aspiration is to fundraise $225,000 by June 1st to support our own continued work on CHN in an intentional and sustainable way as well as to fund a part or full-time Membership Associate. When the stakes are as high as they are, and our voices can do so much to build the social and political will for the climate action we need – we’ve decided it’s time to give this our all.
We could not be more honored to be leading this amazing community of health professionals who are ready to use their voices to call for healing our communities with a Just Transition from dirty oil and gas to clean, renewable energy in California. This is going to be an incredible year and we can’t wait to collaborate in bending the arc of history towards climate justice with you.
In solidarity,
Ashley McClure & Amanda Millstein
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Climate Health Now's Inaugural Advisory Council!
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We are thrilled to announce the 7 members of Climate Health Now’s inaugural Advisory Council! The people below bring expertise and experience in public health, policy, environmental and racial justice, communications, community organizing, and more. Welcome!
Bev Harp, based outside Washington, DC, is the Digital Communications and State Policy Manager at the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health.
Dominique Thomas is the Training Manager at the Climate Advocacy Lab and was previously the Mid-Atlantic and Regional Organizer at 350.org. She is based in New York.
Lisa Patel, MD, based in the Bay Area, is a pediatrician and Clinical Assistant Professor at Stanford. She is the Co-Director for Stanford's Climate, Health, and Equity Task Force at the Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy and Asthma Research.
Linda Rudolph, MD, MPH, based in the Bay Area, is a public health physician. She is currently the Senior Advisor on Climate, Health, and Equity for the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health and previously worked as Director for the Center for Climate Change and Health at the Public Health Institute.
Keshia Sexton, MSW, based in Los Angeles, is the Director of Organizing for Mothers Out Front.
Andres Soto has been the Richmond Organizer for Communities for a Better Environment (he just announced his retirement last week!) and is based in the Bay Area.
Sarah Spengeman, PhD is Deputy Director of Communications for Energy Innovation and was formerly the associate director for communications and advocacy at Health Care Without Harm. She is based in the Bay Area.
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Med Society Consortium on Climate and Health - Annual Survey and Annual Meeting
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We are hoping that as many CHN members as possible will complete the Consortium's annual survey to help provide them with feedback and to shape upcoming efforts. The survey deadline is January 23, 2022.
Also, please save the date and register for the Consortium's Annual Meeting, coming up March 5-7, 2022! Last year we had a strong group of California health professionals who met with many of our local officials and we hope to do it again! More info and a link to register are here.
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Save The Dates and Other Climate Health Opportunities!
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Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education -
Earth Day 2022 Campaign
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January 28, 10 am PT -
Climate and Health Social Media Training
Join the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health for a training on using social media to educate, advocate, and mobilize fellow health professionals on climate action. Learn more and register here!
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February 6, 1-4 pm PT -
350 Bay Area Action Legislative Training
The California Legislature will reconvene in January for its 2022 session. Join 350 Bay Area Action's annual California State Legislative Training to get skilled up in how to be part of the action. No prior experience needed! Learn more and register here.
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Starting February 8th-
Climate and Health Responder Course for Health Professionals
The Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education is offering an 8-week Climate and Health Responder Course for Health Professionals that begins in early February. You can check out more details here!
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February 16, 12 pm PT -
NorCal Mini Symposium on Climate, Health and Equity
The second annual NorCal Mini Symposium on Climate, Health, and Equity will be held on February 16th from noon-1PM PST with guest speakers Ms. Margaret Gordon from the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project and Dr. Gaurab Basu from Harvard. Register here!
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Climate-Smart Health Care Grand Rounds
Health Care Without Harm and the Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education are offering this 5-part virtual grand rounds series to explore strategies to reduce health care emissions and featuring the leadership of climate-smart clinicians and researchers. During the sessions participants will learn about:
- Strategies to achieve net-zero health care emissions
- Opportunities to bring climate-smart healthcare to the bedside
- Emerging research that supports healthcare decarbonization
Climate, health care and the Race to Zero: A call to action
During our inaugural session on Jan. 27, 11 am ET, Gary Cohen, president and founder of Health Care Without Harm, will issue a call for the health care sector to decarbonize, and will be joined by two clinical leaders who will discuss how their institutions are taking action to achieve net-zero emissions. Sign up today.
Clinical leaders as drivers of sustainability: a physician-researcher perspective
On Mar. 16, 11 am ET, in a session presented with the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for the Environment and Health, Dr. Jonathan Slutzman will explore the climate impact of clinical care, and why clinician leadership and research are critical in reducing health care emissions. Sign up today.
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Link up with other CHN members in your local area! If you haven’t already completed it, please fill out this demographic form to get connected. Any member can join one or more Action Teams, which help decide on campaigns, provide educational content to Hub Teams, and guide actions. Here are our Hubs:
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Capitol Corridor North State
(Sacramento, Sonoma, Napa, Solano,
El Dorado and north)
Golden Gate
(San Francisco and Marin)
East Bay
(Contra Costa and Alameda Counties)
Peninsula/South Bay
(Santa Clara, San Mateo, Santa Cruz)
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Central
(Monterey, San Benito, Fresno, Kings, Tulare, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, Mono, Tuolomne, Calavaras, Amador, Alpine, Inyo Counties)
MidSoCal
(SLO, Kern, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles, San Bernardino)
ORISD
(Orange, Riverside, Irvine, San Diego)
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CHN's February Monthly Community Call
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All CHN monthly calls will be 1 hour, from 12:30-1:30 pm PT!
Next up: Wednesday, February 16, 12:30-1:30 pm PT
Zoom info:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86135090394?pwd=WnlROWgwWEZPcm85TjhjYWFSbllTdz09
Meeting ID: 861 3509 0394
Passcode: 841449
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Thank Yous and Shoutouts!
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- To Jeff Mann, Susan Penner, Janet Perlman, Amanda Millstein, Carla Castillo and others who submitted written or verbal comments in support of an ordinance to ban oil and gas drilling in the City of Antioch -- which passed with unanimous support on 1/11!
- To Cynthia Mahoney for drafting a letter to the Contra Costa Board of Supervisors in support of building electrification from CHN!
- To Shoshana Wechsler of Sunflower Alliance for keeping us in the loop and activated on all that is going on in East and West Contra Costa County around oil and gas drilling
- To the 7 members of our inaugural Advisory Council for stepping up and taking a chance on us!
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To the people who facilitated breakout groups during our first monthly meeting - Teresa Munoz, Angelina Crans-Yoon, Adrienne Van, Aude Bouagnon , Bill Pevec, Mark Futernick, Meghana Pagadala, Nightingale Wakigera, and Vanessa Forsythe!
- To Pedja Stojicic for continuing to provide helpful, thoughtful feedback and coaching around community organizing!
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