Climate Health Organizing Fellows’ Projects
Georgia Christakis, Catherine Toms, Hilary Kobrin
Florida
Using the successful Miami-Dade County collaborative model, the FCCA team will engage clinicians, local government staff, and community based organizations to equitably address heat exposure, risk reduction, and prevention in Palm Beach County. We plan to explore and implement further preventive public health measures to mitigate the effects of heat on PBC residents with a focus on mothers and children from low-income and historically marginalized communities.
Mili Roy, Samantha Green, Lyn Adamson
Toronto, Canada
Our project, the Ontario Climate Emergency Campaign, is a non-partisan multi-sector environmental democracy movement promoting awareness and action on environmental health issues to empower citizens in pressing political leaders with their democratic voice to drive the urgent climate action critical to securing our collective present and future. This inclusive broad-based campaign brings together groups and individuals from all sectors and walks of life both to amplify and support the work of each group, and to mobilize the entire campaign together for impactful climate action by framing environmental issues around shared priorities such as the climate crisis representing the greatest human health crisis of our time.
Kathleen Shapley-Quinn, Jennifer Lawson, Andrew Muzyk
North Carolina
The aim of our project will be to facilitate the formation and empowerment of Sustainability Teams at Duke University and University of North Carolina Health Systems with ultimate goals of 1) creating climate-positive operations and healthcare, 2) assessing and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, 3)educating and supporting employees in the commitment to sustainable practices and, 4) partnering with community leaders on environmental justice programs for low-wealth communities and communities of color. We hope our work will inspire these health systems to sign on to the national HHS Health Care Sector Climate Pledge.
Ethan Sims, Elsa Lee, Amanda Blanchet
Idaho
We are exploring the cost, both in dollars and greenhouse gas emissions, of converting buildings in the St. Luke's healthcare system from natural gas to geothermal power for heating and cooling. We will work with the city of Boise, who runs the geothermal power program, the VA hospital and Boise State University, which run on geothermal, and our partners in St.Luke's to see if the transition is cost efficient while providing significant reduction in CO2 emissions.
Brittany Wray, Debra Safer, Kyle McKinley
Toronto, Canada
Working with youth leaders recruited from across the state of California, this project lays the groundwork for a broader effort to understand the experience of eco-anxiety (and climate distress) while developing tools that help youth harness this distress for transformative change. Participants and facilitators will work together through a series of dialogues, creative media practices, and reflections on specific climate goals in a shared mission to reshape dominant narratives about eco-anxiety as fundamental to the global struggle for climate justice in ways that have co-benefits for young people’s mental health.
Julia Richerson, Libby Mims, Melissa Rue
Kentucky
We will organize pediatricians in our community of Louisville, Kentucky to promote climate and child health equity through providing climate change counseling at well child visits. We will focus on identifying key partners in the pediatric and broader community, developing a common vision, and considering barriers and strategies for impact, working in close collaboration with the Kentucky Child Health and Climate Advocates group.
Sara Wohlford, Samim Atmar, Abigail Hankin-Wei
Virginia
We plan to mobilize Virginia clinicians to advocate for improved sustainability measures at their hospitals, by connecting their clinicians to each other via the Committee for Hospital Sustainability within Virginia Clinicians for Climate Action. With this groundwork in place, we hope to generate a collaborative space across healthcare systems to cross-pollinate ideas for sustainability and envision a reality where hospital sustainability will be a core principle of Virginia hospital systems, independent of state political shifts
Madeleine Kline, Julia Malits, Natalie Baker
Massachusetts
Maddy, Julia, and Natalie are interested in translating the available science about heat exposure and health into actionable, accessible steps that communities can take to prevent harm and protect their wellbeing.
Hugh Shirley, Marissa Zampino, Erin Plews-Ogan
Kentucky
Our group’s project will focus on the intersections between extreme heat and public health in the Mystic River Watershed. We want to demonstrate how local community organizing can be used to facilitate resilient development, and how residents/ those who are most affected can use their collective power to effect policies and change in their local communities. These interventions could include more tree plantings, advocating for more (and better) cooling centers, and other green infrastructure changes. Our project specifically hopes to add a public health lens to the work, and also offer teaching for health professionals about climate and health in their communities.
Katie Lichter, Jasmine Kamboj, Leticia Nogueria
California
In collaboration with OUCH (Oncologists United for Climate Health), we aim to increase focus on climate change in oncology-related professional institutions’ activities. Our efforts will focus on implementing sustainability strategies to reduce the environmental impact of conferences and adding climate change as a conference theme and key agenda item (e.g. panels, educational sessions, symposiums) in oncology-related professional meetings and conferences.
Tanya Coventry-Strader, Preeti Jaggi, Anne Mellinger Birdsong
Georgia
Our project is focused on empowering community members, school officials, and pediatricians to advocate for school districts to transition their school bus fleets from diesel to electric-powered vehicles.
Shuinn Chang, C Freeman, Cindy Haag
California
Our project centers around supporting Climate Health Now (CHN) in base-building, a member activation activity such as a Lobby Day, and building a statewide political action team.
Rosa Vazquez, Ilan Shapiro, Destinee Rodriguez
California
Communities of color in Southeast LA and Central Orange County have been disproportionately impacted by environmental injustices, climate change and systemic racism resulting in high levels of air pollution, disproportionate social vulnerabilities and little to no infrastructure for the community to enact change. Our project seeks to mitigate these conditions by building capacity and infrastructure for the community to leverage their expertise, lived experiences and power to change these environmental and systemic conditions. We hope to do this through the establishment of a community Environmental Justice Ambassadors program and the co-development and co-implementation of a community change campaign focused on environmental justice.