Hello Climate Health Now Community --

Welcome to our July community newsletter. We are excited to announce this is our first newsletter we've made in Powerbase, our member database -- we are curious to hear your feedback on it.

We've talked to so many about you about how you're doing right now with all that is going on in the world -- and the news that keeps piling on every day. Despite the news out of the Supreme Court, we were heartened to see responses from the American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, and others speaking out about climate change, health, and air pollution. As many people have pointed out, these decisions and more point to the urgency and importance of state-level action, and of working together as health community allies to the greater climate justice movement in California to catalyze climate action. We believe it is only with grassroots organizing— building people power— that we can counter the profit interests of the few in the interest of the health and safety of the many.

This coming Wednesday, July 27, we'll be hosting our second strategy and structure update - we hope you will join us.

Below you'll find lots more information -- including a recap of our first strategy and structure update, an overview of the U.S. Call to Action on Climate, Health, and Equity, our first-ever section on talking to patients about climate change and health, opportunities to advocate for a more health-protective and just Scoping Plan, and more.

In solidarity for maximally leveraging our trusted voices in advocacy to protect everyone and everything we all love,

Amanda Millstein & Ashley McClure

On June 29th we shared our first strategy and structure update resulting from our collaboration with Building for Mission and based on input from the 1:1s and Focus Groups in which so many of you participated. In case you missed it, you can watch the recording here.

Based on your input and feedback and our work with Building for Mission, we are excited to present our Theory of Change, Mission, and Proposed Values. 

Climate Health Now's Theory of Change

If we organize and enable California’s health professionals and workers to put pressure on policymakers and decision-makers then we will see bold, urgent system-level climate solutions because of the social trust and influence our professions have on public opinion.

Climate Health Now's Mission

Climate Health Now is a group of members of the California health community who advocate for climate action through a health and equity framework.  We use community organizing to build the base of climate-engaged health, allied health, and healthcare administrator professionals across California to leverage our trusted health voices in support of the climate justice movement in order to protect health and achieve health equity.

Climate Health Now's Core Values

We will be presenting another strategy and structure update on July 27th at 12p PT -- you can register for that here.

Please reach out with any questions, ideas or feedback and thank you to everyone who attended and offered feedback during and after the meeting. 

The U.S. Call to Action on Climate, Health, and Equity is a policy action agenda endorsed by nearly 200 health organizations and societies in the U.S. We were honored to have Dr. Linda Rudolph join us for our June community monthly meeting to discuss the Call to Action and share more about the basis of its framework. 

Dr. Nneoma Ojiaku is an OB/GYN practicing in Sacramento. She is currently a 2022 Climate, Health and Equity Fellow through the Medical Society Consortium. Each month she is sharing with us a deep dive into the U.S. Call to Action and the intersections between climate change, structural racism, and health inequities.

_____________________________________________

The Call to Action calls on the United States government to recognize climate change as public health emergency and take action. Endorsed by over one hundred and fifty organizations, including Climate Health Now, the document outlines ten recommendations that relevant stakeholders need to address in order to mitigate the effects of climate change on human health. This policy agenda is the culmination of years of extensive work by local and national thought leaders in the climate health and equity space, such as Dr. Linda Rudolph, who spoke on its origins and goals during our June community meeting.

Some of the key recommendations include developing a national strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increasing access to healthy and sustainable sources of food and water, engaging the health care sector, and funding climate solutions.

Recognizing the unequal toll of the climate crisis on marginalized communities, the U.S. Call to Action on Climate, Health, and Equity requires that policymakers take into account health equity benefits and risks in decisions about how we respond to climate change. The policy agenda requires renewed attention to bolstering community climate resilience, ensuring a just transition for low-wage workers in the fossil fuel industry, and supporting individuals and communities still reeling from the impacts of climate change. A summary of the ten recommendations is found here.

Climate change is one of the most pressing global issues of our time. It threatens public health and disproportionately affects the poorest and most vulnerable populations. Climate change and health equity are interconnected. The U.S. Call to Action on Climate, Health, and Equity lays out a clear roadmap for improving human health and advocates for climate action that addresses the disproportionate burden of climate change on low-income communities and people of color.

Stay tuned -- each month our newsletter will feature a deeper dive into one aspect of the Call to Action, thanks to Dr. Nneoma Ojiaku. 

This last Wednesday, July 20, we held part II of our Call to Action series. We were joined by Nailah Pope-Harden (Executive Director, ClimatePlan), Linda Rudolph, MD, MPH, and Will Barrett (National Senior Director, American Lung Association), who discussed how the U.S. Call to Action on Climate, Health, and Equity applies to current and future legislative and regulatory efforts in California around climate, health, and equity. Thank you to all who joined. If you missed it or want to re-watch it, check out the link below. 

Although climate change impacts mental and physical health in so many ways, it is challenging to find ways to incorporate climate change into a clinic visit -- How will I find the time? how will my patient or their family respond? What if someone asks a question to which I don't know the answer? 

As climate scientist Dr. Katharine Hayhoe says, the most important thing we can do about climate change is talk about it.

This month we're honored to bring you our first installation of tips and ideas for talking about climate change and health with patients -- brought to us by CHN member Robert Rosenbaum, PhD, a clinical neuropsychologist.

___________________________________________________

1) PLAN WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO SAY. Craft a specific, 1-sentence message, then memorize it so you can produce it on demand without having to expend mental effort on it.

2) PLAN WHO YOU’LL SAY IT TO. Messages work if they’re specific to the patient’s situation. You might want to target patients with specific diagnoses (e.g. hypertension, MS, obesity, COPOD) or specific circumstances (e.g. working outdoors, parent of young children).

3) PLAN WHERE AND WHEN YOU’LL SAY IT. The “where” and “when” act as cues to remind you to give the message. For example, when you stand up from the computer, or when you move to a table to write a Rx, or when you put your stethoscope/otoscope etc. back into your lab coat. Also, it helps to make a time-limited commitment: “I’ll do this on Monday” or “I’ll do this for the month of August.” This makes it more manageable. Also, you’ll want to change your message and your target patients periodically.

4) MAKE A PUBLIC COMMITMENT. Tell a clinic colleague, a family member, or a fellow CHN practitioner what you’re going to do. This makes it more “real” than a well-meant but silent personal mental commitment. Here is a worksheet that can be helpful for setting your goal. 

5) HAVE AN EXIT PLAN. If we don’t know how to dis-engage from a conversation with a patient, we’ll be averse to getting bogged down in a conversation with a patient and getting behind schedule. This can be as simple as “I’d love to talk more about it, but I have other patients waiting to see me.” or “I can’t talk about it now, but if you’re interested here’s a pamphlet you might want to look at.”

Example: “This week, starting on Monday, whenever I see a patient with high BP, when I conclude the exam and sit down on my chair to talk to the patient, I’ll say: ’Today your BP was X.Climate change is causing more hot days, and this puts people with high BP at greater risk."

________________________________________________

Want to learn more or check out other resources related to talking to patients about climate change and health? Here's a few below. Have specific ideas or ways that you've found to talk about climate change and health with patients that you'd be up for sharing? Let us know!

• Climate and Health Alliance
  
• Messaging resources from the Med Society Consortium on Climate and Health here and here 
• The Health Promise of Climate Solutions from the Med Society Consortium 

We are excited to wrap up our first-ever membership fundraising drive, which we launched this spring. We raised $14,000 from members and supporters, with 48 individual donors. A huge thank you to everyone who donated or helped spread the word. 

Our goal is to hire our first ever staff member and we are steadily making progress toward that goal. 

• July 27, 12p -- Climate Health Now's Strategy and Structure update part 2 - register here 
  
• August 17, 12:30p -- Climate Health Now's August Monthly meeting - register here
• August 24, timing TBD -- Voting is a Social Determinant of Health Webinar hosted by Voting4Climate&Health - registration link forthcoming
• September 24, 8a - 4p -- Northern California Symposium on Climate, Health, and Equity -- registration link forthcoming

• To Shuinn Chang, C Freeman, Cindy Haag and Ilana Murphy for teaming up to apply to the Climate Health Organizing Fellows Program
• To Nneoma Ojiaku for her deep dives into the Call to Action 
• To Shuinn Chang for helping make some updates to our website
• To Megan Shumway for showing up in person to the California Air Resources Board
• To everyone who submitted comments to CARB about the Scoping Plan
• To Sarah Mae Smith, Jerry Abraham, Ashley McClure, and everyone else who worked so hard to get the AMA climate resolution passed
• To Bob Rosebaum for creating our first ever "talking about climate change and health" section for the newsletter
• To those who collaborated in the HHS Pledge Mini-Campaign - Helen Wirth, Dr. Naomi Hauser, Dr. Marc Futernick, Dr. Jerry Abraham, Dr. Bill Pevec and Dr. Jeff Mann 
• To the policy experts on our 2nd Call to Action webinar- Nailah Pope-Harden, Dr. Linda Rudolph and Will Barrett
• To Marjaneh Moini and SF Bay-PSR for sharing talking points for the CARB Scoping Plan