Welcome to Our First Newsletter of 2023!

Hello Climate Health Now Community,

We hope you all are doing well, staying healthy, and enjoying the start to the new year. We know things have seemed somewhat quiet on our end but there has been LOTS going on with Climate Health Now, and we can't wait to share it.

We have been busy talking to many of you and building teams. In the next few weeks, we'll be welcoming our new leaders to our Northern California and Central Valley Local Hub Teams and our Healthcare Decarbonization/Sustainability Resource Team. We also will be announcing the members of our Advocacy Advisory Team for 2023-2024 -- this is a group of people outside of CHN with expertise in climate, health, and equity policy in California who will make recommendations to us on our legislative and regulatory campaigns. Please stay tuned for those announcements soon!

And related to our campaigns, we are thrilled that Kathy Dervin, until recently the chair of the 350 Bay Area Legislative Advocacy Committee, will be joining us at our first community monthly meeting of the year, coming up on March 1st at 12:30. We'll be learning together about the legislative cycle in California, talking more about how our campaigns will work, and discussing more about where each of YOU can jump in. 

We've also been thinking a lot about our membership and our vision for the future: that every member of the California health community -  including but not be limited to, those involved in services, administration, research, and products related to public, community, and individual health and medical care, both within and outside healthcare facilities - engage in climate advocacy to protect health. You can check out more about the community we envision on our website here!

We've set a big goal for ourselves for 2023: to enable every current CHN member to participate in an engagement activity with us this year! This means we'll be reaching out to each and every one of you to engage, take action, and collectively help us achieve equitable climate policies to protect health in California.

In solidarity,

Shuinn Chang, Margie Chen, Ashley McClure, Amanda Millstein, Brenda Nuyen, and Nneoma Ojiaku

The Climate Health Now Transitional Leadership Team
 
Our Next Monthly Meeting: Learning About the California Legislative Cycle and where YOU can jump in!

It is with great excitement that we invite you to join our first community meeting of 2023, coming up on Wednesday, March 1st from 12:30-1:30p.  

This meeting is going to focus specifically on the California legislative cycle. We'll be joined by Kathy Dervin, who until recently co-chaired the 350 Bay Area Legislative Committee. We'll go through the structure of Climate Health Now's new Advocacy Advisory Team and focus on how our legislative campaigns will work for this year and how YOU can get involved! We will record and share this meeting out for anyone who can't attend. 
REGISTER HERE FOR CHN'S MARCH COMMUNITY MEETING - MARCH 1, 12:30P!
 
CHN is fundraising! Can you help?

Thank you to everyone who has generously donated -- we are getting on our way to being able to hire part-time staff members! If you are able, please consider donating -- monthly donations are especially helpful and no amount is too small!

Would you be interested in hosting a small fundraiser for Climate Health Now in-person? This is an opportunity both to gather people together to talk about climate change, health, and equity and for people to learn how to support our work. Please reach out to Amanda Millstein if you're interested! 
 
Climate Health Now Member Spotlight:
Bill Pevec

Where are you from and where do you live now?

I'm originally from Cleveland, Ohio. I live in Sacramento.

What type of healthcare are you involved with?

I am professor emeritus of vascular surgery at UC Davis. I was on the faculty at UC Davis from 1992-2018, and was chief of the division of vascular surgery from 1992-2018.

Was there a specific event or experience that caused you to become concerned about climate change?

As an outdoors enthusiast, I have had a life-long concern about our negative impacts on the environment. I became focused on the multitude and extent of our impacts after reading Thomas Friedman's "Hot, Flat, and Crowded" in 2008.

When and how did you become involved in climate advocacy?

After retirement, I developed a lecture on the risks to our species as part of my involvement on the Sustainability, Health, and Environment working group, established in response to a call from the UC president to include environmental and climate change topics in the curricula of the health professional schools of the University. 

This soon seemed like too little, too late, so I organized a sustainability working group at UC Davis Medical Center. When this also seemed inadequate, I joined CHN to participate in civic activism.

Who or what inspires you to do this type of work?

Remembering that there is no greater challenge facing Homo sapiens.

What climate projects are you working on currently?

I am leading a healthcare sustainability working group at my former hospital, and am trying to share our experiences with other centers.


What do you do to recharge?

I ski (alpine and water), bike (mountain and road), hike, and travel.


What are two books that left an impact on you?

"This Changes Everything" by Naomi Klein. "Collapse" by Jared Diamond.
 
Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health Annual Meeting - March 19 & 20!

The Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health Annual Meeting is coming up soon -- this year it will be held virtually and in person! You can check it out and register here! And if you're planning to attend in person, there is a lobby day in DC on March 21!

Planning to go in person? Amanda Millstein and Shuinn Chang are too -- get in touch so we can coordinate! 

CHN has some (limited) funding available to help assist members who might not be able to afford the cost of attendance -- please also reach out if you're interested!
 
STEPS Forward Webinar Series: Improving Environmental Stability in your Medical Practice

This month, Climate Health Now’s My Green Doctor program is the focus of a free 40-minute online program offered by the American Medical Association to any health professional, not just AMA members. Watch the webinar -- and ask your practice manager to watch as well-- to learn how easy it is to save money with environmentally sustainable practice management.

Here is the link to watch the webinar and here is the link to claim CME credit!

About My Green Doctor:

My Green Doctor is a free money-saving & climate-saving membership benefit from CHN.  Members use My Green Doctor’s “Meeting-by-Meeting Guide” to learn how to adopt environmental sustainability, save resources, and help create healthier communities.  The program adds just five minutes to each regular office staff meeting or weekly office “huddle”, making small changes at each meeting that over time really add up.


Everyone in your practice can register as Partner Society members at www.MyGreenDoctor.org or at www.MyGreenDoctor.es.  Use the discount code MGDCHN to save $60 instantly and give full access to My Green Doctor for free.  Ask your practice manager to register today and to put My Green Doctor on your next agenda.  You can do this!
 
Healthcare Decarbonization and Sustainability Resources - CleanMed 2023!
 
Have a Minute?
Tell EPA to Strengthen Limits on Particle Pollution!

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently reviewing national health limits on particle pollution - and science shows that current limits do not protect health. Have a minute? Sign this petition from the American Lung Association to tell EPA to set strong new limits on particle pollution and make our air safer to breathe!
 
More Opportunities to Learn and Engage
  • Climate Change & Health 2023: Achieving Human and Planetary Health through Sustainability Action - a virtual symposium offered through the MGH Institute of Health Professions' Center for Climate Change, Climate Justice, and Health - April 1 - registration and more information here
  • The Climate Center is hosting its California Climate Policy Summit on April 11 in Sacramento - check it out and register here 
 
Climate Health Now Shout Outs and Thank Yous!

  • To Chelsea Young for leading our member spotlight and Bill Pevec for being spotlighted
  • To Jeff Mann for his talk at the Benicia Public Library on February 9th, titled "Climate Solutions are Health Solutions"
  • To Ashley McClure and Jerry Abraham for their moderation of the American Medical Association's February webinar: Healthcare & Climate Change: Prioritizing Health Equity
  • To Shuinn Chang and Brenda Nuyen for being accepted to the USC Women's Conference. Their talk is called "The Climate Crisis is a Health Crisis: A Call to Action." In or around the LA area on March 3? You can register here!
  • To Laurie Lalakea who is giving Grand Rounds on climate change and health to the Stanford Otolaryngology Department on March 2
  • To Shuinn Chang, C Freeman, and Cindy Haag for their awesome work as part of the Climate Health Organizing Fellowship
  • To CHN's Transitional Leadership Team for its dedication, hard work, and willingness to jump in and get going over the last many months
  • To Shuinn Chang for her awesome updates and changes to our website
  • To Alice Aguilar and Jamie McClelland at the Progressive Technology Project for all their help with our Powerbase database!
  • To Matt Leonard at Oil and Gas Action Network for all of his help with managing finances and answering our many questions!
 

Unsubscribe