Family is Healing, And All FIRED UP for the earth (and other projects).
November 30, 2024
by Dr. Plastic Picker
It’s the 2nd day after Thanksgiving/Indigenous Foods Day and we are fired up in our house! For various reasons and seeing how money flows through our society, I am realizing more and more that this model of how our advocacy group is doing work is 100% my right path. San Diego Pediatricians for Clean Air never formed a non-profit because we don’t have any money flowing through our organization. We are all volunteer advocates in this beautiful organic sustainable group that is just working together at this moment in time, trying to do what is right for the climate and children. Not having monetary strings attached to this work is truly liberating. What we’ve been about to do with a $20 website, and just caring together – has been remarkable. I’m still a pediatrician, working on the front-lines and get paid for my clinical duties.
Others are working too, and I totally get it. Everyone is doing their part. But it’s empowering to know that I am where I am supposed to be. Our family is where we are supposed to be. And our daughter is where she is supposed to be (currently sleeping in her room recovering from surgery). That sense of rightness and peace is empowering. I just finished all my charts, and I have the 2025 year of climate work mapped out in my mind.
I am half through our November newsletter and will get that out today. Lots of updates for our amazing students, pediatricians and other public health friends. Public Health Advisory Council (OC) is going well, and a subgroup led by a very brilliant premedical student is taking on the gas companies to help block hydrogen blending at the UC Irvine campus and hopefully in the country. We have gathered the A team, including local OC pediatricians, nationally renown pediatric environmental health specialty experts, locally trusted high school students, and the most important part – a smart and motivated premedical student to lead the project from our side. Paired with our collaboration with Climate Actions Campaign, this is a recipe for success. I am so excited about this project! If you see me in real life, ask me about it!
The San Diego Heat and Human Health Summit 2025 is coming along well, and will be in it’s 3rd year this summer. The people that need to be there will be there. Likely some of the people who were the inspiration for H3SD and filled me with so much joy and love, will not be there. But that is okay. Wherever they are meant to end up, they will end up. I know in my heart, that it’s okay to love as long as that love is true and sincere and not selfish. And for them, my love was childlike and innocent and dream-like. But climate work does that to folks. It’s so filled with purpose and meaning, that it fills you up with these real emotions because we are doing real work. The heat summit will happen in District 8 (Western US minus California) as well. I just texted my good friend from college and we are well on our way. It’s still the holiday weekend so I won’t send any emails. Just texted her and yes District 9 Heat and Human Health are 100% going to happen! And I have three premedical students who need a project anyway and this will be their project. I just sent an instagram message to one of them.
And the little one. She’s about to get up soon. We’ve been off this week and she is healing from her wisdom teeth extractions. She’s been swollen and the healing has been harder than expected. But she was so adorable and darning her old jeans while swollen from her surgery. Perhaps that is what happens to dreams and wishes that I had for her. They get torn and tattered by circumstance, and events and feelings beyond your control. But I and she chose to mend them. We chose beauty and healing, and to stay on our path. Others would have chosen a whole new set of jeans and just thrown out the old. But we try to be sustainable in our choices here, including relationships. But I can’t and don’t want to control the world and folks feelings. Everything has to be a choice. And I choose to go with my heart and to work with those that bring me joy, and putting children and climate at the center – this usually leads me in the right direction.
I can’t wait to see what our group is going to accomplish this year. And I can’t wait to see how more awesome our little one becomes. She’s growing up to be a wonderful girl, for those that care to take notice.