by drplasticpicker

I am a 40-something general pediatrician, married, and mother of 2 great kids. I found myself immersed in the modern dilemma of too much work, constant inputs from emails/social media/work patient messaging, poor sleep and back pain. I joined weight watchers, tried Keto, and contemplated joining one of the various fitness programs when I realized something was broken. Then inspired by the young climate activists including the young Greta Thunberg from Sweden who are trying to combat climate change, I realized that joining a gym was a waste of time and that climate change and not my appearance was a more pressing concern.

Why not use my human energy to help the earth? https://drplasticpicker.com/plastic-picking-round-up/ Why not donate the money I would spend on weight loss programs to environmental causes? https://drplasticpicker.com/donation-round-up/ This is my journey to help reduce plastic use and clean up ocean plastic, one walk at a time. Picking up ocean plastic, looking for the large and small pieces amongst the waves and kelp in the quiet of the Southern Californian mornings has inadvertently healed me. I learned to reprogram my brain to slow down, notice each small piece of plastic, and walking alone along the shore in the sand thinking my own thoughts and thinking about the world, helped me help myself. I feel better, and I think I am helping the earth and the community. This is my journey, and I hope you will join me.

You can follow drplasticpicker on instagram @drplasticpicker or Facebook or contact me via old fashioned email at drplasticpicker@gmail.com. Just like my internet personal finance hero lenpenzo, it’s just me @drplasticpicker and not an army of internet bots so I’ll try to get back to you as soon as I can. If you are a patient, this blog is for entertainment purposes and environmental advocacy only – so please go through normal procedures to contact me at the office.

You’ll find the bulk of all my non-clinical and non-academic writing on this blog. I have authored my fair share of academic papers and posters, and lots of middle management emails. But outside of work, I have been featured in KevinMD https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2021/01/how-ocean-plastic-picking-made-me-a-better-pediatrician-podcast.html, top social media site for physicians, listed as an official Physician Personal Finance Blogger on CrispyDoc https://www.crispydoc.com/physician-finance-bloggers/, profiled as a national climate advocate for Eco-America and the Medical Society Consortium for Climate and Health https://medsocietiesforclimatehealth.org/champions-of-the-month/january-2021-champion/. I have also been locally profiled in PBMonthly, Del Mar Times and local NPR radio broadcast. My son mentioned me at his Climate Strike speach at high school, that was a proud moment indeed. I am a Motivational Guest Speaker and provide lectures/discussions on Climate Change and Health as it applies to pediatric health. Check out our Events Page for schedule.

I advocate for the environment on this blog, but also serve as the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Climate Change and Heatlh commitee co-chair for our local chapter and am Fellow of the AAP Council on Environmental Health. I serve on the Public Health Advisory Board (PHAC) for Climate Actions Campaign https://www.climateactioncampaign.org/publichealth. And I am proud to be trained as a Climate Reality Leader during the Global Training 2020. Oh and I also co-founded San Diego Pediatricians for Clean Air https://sdpediatriciansforcleanair.com/, and have decided to become a part-time Truffle Farmer.