Hello ,

Happy Spring!

It's been an action-packed March -- we hosted our first-ever New Member Welcome Meeting (stay tuned for the next one in May!), selected our 2024 advocacy campaigns, announced the launch of our new team CHN Speaks, and more. We hope you'll check out all of this and more below and please join us at our next Monthly Meeting coming up on April 17 at 12:30p to learn more about our 2024 advocacy campaigns -- it's going to take all of us working together to help bring these policies to fruition and we hope you'll join us. 

We also want to call out an exciting win for the Bay Area -- and for climate health in California generally -- from a few weeks back: many CHN members, in partnership with other health and community groups, advocated for the passage of Rule 6-5 in 2021, to mandate increased pollution controls on two Bay Area refineries. The Rule passed, but was immediately halted due to law suits by two of the refineries - Chevron and PBF. In February both companies announced they were dropping the lawsuits - meaning both firms will work toward compliance with decreasing particulate matter pollution. Thanks again to everyone who worked so hard to get this Rule passed! 

Sincerely,

Shuinn Chang, Margie Chen, Ashley McClure, Amanda Millstein, Brenda Nuyen- the Climate Health Now Statewide Leadership Team

After months of meeting with our Advocacy Advisory Team and our Advocacy Campaign Co-Leads and hearing input from you (thank you again to everyone who submitted their vote!) we are thrilled to announce Climate Health Now's 2024 advocacy campaigns!

Our April Monthly Meeting will focus specifically on these campaigns. Please join us to hear directly from coalition leaders and to find out how YOU can get involved! It's going to take all of us collaborating to win these and we really hope you'll join us. 

CHN Programming and Events - What's Up Next!

• Anatomy of a Campaign and Campaign Tactics - Thursday, April 4, 12-1p
  • In this final session, we'll look at the characteristics of a successful campaign - including one that brings about real change, grows and deepens our organization's work, and stretches us as individuals - and how to decide on campaign tactics.
  • Click here to register! 
• April Monthly Community Meeting - Wednesday, April 17, 12:30-1:30p
  • Please join us to discuss our 2024 advocacy campaigns, our healthcare sustainability work, and more!
  • Click here to register!
• Focus on healthcare sustainability - Monday, April 29, 12:30-1:30p
  • Join us for a special educational opportunity related to healthcare sustainability in California, led by CHN's Healthcare Sustainability Resource Team leaders
  • Click here to register!
• May Monthly Community Meeting - Tuesday, May 21, 5-6p
  • Join us for our May monthly community meeting 
  • Click here to register!

Remember - you can always check our website climatehealthnow.org to see upcoming events and find the registration links as well!

Calling all health care professionals passionate about climate! Join us on Earth Day, April 22nd, at 3p PT to learn how voting can support communities most impacted by climate change and the step-by-step of how to talk with patients and colleagues about voter registration. You'll also learn how to talk to candidates about climate change. Experience how Vot-ER's nonpartisan approach to connecting with patients about voting can help them turn out to vote. Come ready to practice your voting conversations. RSVP and join from a space where you can participate actively. Click the button below to register and make sure you select the April 22nd date.

In the words of Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, climate scientist and author,"the most important thing we can do about climate change is talk about it." While we know many of our health colleagues are concerned about climate change, we know it is still the exception, not the norm, to be talking about and taking collective action on climate change.

We are thrilled to announce the launch of a new team - CHN Speaks!

CHN Speaks will support members of the California health community to talk to their peers and colleagues about climate change, health, and equity. The team will have 3 coach leaders - Cindy Haq, Jeff Mann, and Carol Fonseca (see below for more info about these 3 awesome folks!). We will provide you with resources and information and ensure that each presentation has a concrete “ask” that helps galvanize members of the health community to join us and take collective action to further the climate health movement. Even if you have never given a talk like this, we believe that you absolutely have the ability to, and we want to help you do it!

If you missed it, you may check out the recording of our March Community Meeting here, focused on public narrative and storytelling.

• The Campaign for a Safe and Healthy California:
  • Add your name to a letter from the U.S. health community to endorse the Campaign for a Safe and Healthy California and KEEP setbacks from oil and gas drilling in California!
  • Click here to sign!
• American Lung Association: 
  • Join the American Lung Association in thanking President Biden and EPA for the updated cleaner cars standards, particle pollution limits and strong methane rules, and urging them to get the rest of their clean air to-do list across the finish line.
  • Click here to sign!
• Plastics Treaty:
  • The United Nations Environment Program is leading a negotiation for a Plastics Treaty for all nations to agree on an international legally binding agreement to end plastic pollution. In April, world leaders will gather for a meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) to address the plastics crisis that threatens human and planetary health through a Treaty to end plastic pollution, including in the health sector. However, some negotiators are calling for an exemption for healthcare plastics in the Treaty. Please share and consider signing the letter urging delegates to ensure an ambitious Plastics Treaty without any blanket exemptions for the healthcare sector
  • Click here to sign!

Here are a few pieces we're reading and sharing from CHN members and allies!

• Jess de Jarnette's commentary in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine on the mental health impacts of climate change - you may check it out here!  
• Spotlight on Barb Sattler and her awesome work with California Nurses for Environmental Health and Justice published in Inside Climate News
• This letter to the editor published in the New York Times by Linda Rudolph on the need to counter propaganda by fossil fuel companies 

Registration is now open for California Nurses for Environmental Health & Justice 2nd Annual Earth Day Conference at Liberty Station San Diego, Monday April 22nd. "Environment and Health: Risks to Children and Families" is co-sponsored by Point Loma Nazarene School of Nursing.

The conference features local health care providers and scientists who will address the impact of climate change in our transnational community. The $35 registration fee covers coffee/tea service and boxed lunches - which will give us time to network. 6 CEs will be available for nurses but other healthcare providers and those interested in public health will find the presentations worthwhile. Local environmental health and justice organizations will be tabling at the event.

Any questions contact Greg Zajac greg@calnursesforehj.org

Join the U.C. Berkeley Center for Occupational and Environmental Health on April 3 from 12-1:30p to hear from Dr. Jeffrey G. Demain, an immunologist from Alaska, who will be discussing the climate change impacts they're seeing on the Alaskan ecosystem & public health. He'll be providing a high level overview of climate science, followed by a discussion on exposure to insect-borne, water-borne, and food borne disease; increased exposure to wildfire smoke; and increased allergen exposure due to earlier and longer pollen seasons.

Climate Health Now is the California affiliate of the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health. In February the Consortium held its Annual Meeting in Washington, DC, which included 2 days jam-packed with updates and information for climate health advocates. If you missed it and are interested in viewing slides from the meeting, you may find them all here.

For the first time, this year CHN sponsored 3 members to attend the Annual Meeting in person! Read on for some of their reflections and stay tuned for a similar opportunity next year for support attending the Consortium's Annual Meeting. We'd also love to be able to support more members in attending in the future -- please consider making a donation to CHN to help!

Mani Berenji:

This is the first time I have ever attended the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health meeting in person. And it exceeded all my expectations! I was able to connect with the most esteemed thought leaders in climate health and climate communications and gather best practices for my clinical, research, and advocacy work. I also was able to share my perspectives as an occupational and environmental medicine physician: I presented on the impact of heat on outdoor workers and received positive reception from not only the in person audience but also from virtual attendees. And the legislative day gave me my first taste of what it takes to connect to legislators on a person to person level. Being able to relay what I am seeing with my veteran patients as well as my own climate journey helped me as I developed clear succinct messages that resonated with the legislative directors and aides. I also made so many new friends from across the country! I really felt a sense of community, something I have not felt before in my climate work. This trip to DC has just strengthened my resolve to keep doing the work and keep spreading the message far and wide so the momentum grows.

Abhinav Gupta:

“Climate is Health. Health is Climate:” Dr. Mustafa Santiago Ali, a leader in climate policy and environmental justice, spoke with intent and urgency. His presentation at the MSCCH Annual Meeting about spurring action for climate change policy not only reminded me of how climate change is the biggest public health crisis facing our world today, but also provided me with strategies to partner with diverse coalitions on the front line of this crisis. I was inspired by the many leaders in climate health and environmental justice who presented at the MSCCH Annual Meeting. Presentations on topics ranging from mental well-being to big oil and the fossil fuel industry provided a comprehensive overview of climate change’s impact on human health and actions to combat its effects. I especially loved the small group think tanks on redesigning health
care to have a patient-centered design and improving resilience against climate change. The Hill visits were an eye-opening experience for me; meeting with staff members of congressmen/women showed me how the capital functions. I know I will be better equipped to advocate at the state and federal level because of this experience. By far my favorite part of the conference was connecting with like-minded individuals who are passionate about fighting the climate change crisis. I will cherish all the conversations I had with trainees, fellows, retired health care providers, community organizers and more about their work; I know they will continue to inspire me for the years to come. I am beyond excited to attend the next annual meeting and I am so thankful to CHN for allowing me to have this experience!

Thank you to everyone who has generously donated -- we are getting on our way to being able to hire 3 part-time staff members! If you are able, please consider donating -- monthly donations are especially helpful and no amount is too small!

• To Brianna Egan for speaking on a panel about the health impacts of climate change
• To Ros Harder and Hina Fullar for bringing to life our new CHN Discussion Club
• To Lisa Chang for the awesome session she led for CHN Advocacy Campaign Co-Leads and members about the California legislative process
• To Margie Chen and Cindy Haag for planning and bringing to life CHN's first New Member Welcome Meeting 
• To Jeff Mann, Cindy Haq, and Carol Fonseca for jumping in with us to bring CHN Speaks to life
• To our Advocacy Advisory Team for working with us for the past several months to understand the current regulatory and legislative landscape in California
• To our Advocacy Campaign Co-Leads for all of the time and work they've put in already helping guide our advocacy campaigns for 2024