Month: November 2024

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.

November 23, 2024

by Dr. Plastic Picker

I think at some point when I was chatting with my sister, I realized that we aren’t a normal family. We have a lot of accomplished adults in their mid to late 40s that care about our country and society, and actually taking responsibility for things. It’s a heavy load, but I realize that it’s us that keep us going. I look at my brother-in-law (which I don’t share too much on Instagram because of the anti-military rhetoric) is a naval hero, and I admire him and it keeps me going knowing how much he cares and works on behalf of what he thinks is right. When you are in that milieu, it pushes one further in your goals and ambitions and responsibilities. It’s a heavy load but we keep on going on, and supporting each other and playing our roles.

Just meandering thoughts as we head into the holiday weekend. The election results were crazy and the world is a bit off-kilter these days. But I’m strangely okay. I just know what role I’m supposed to play in this timeline and I’m playing it. I find life vastly amusing for the little stories that are happening just locally in the climate space. When there is hardship, there is also vast opportunities. So I’m moving forward with our premedical team and we are going to make lemons into lemonade.

We are getting involved in the UC Irvine Hydrogen blending project, pretty much trying to help stop it. It’s just a wonky subject that is perfect for this brilliant premedical student that I am working with. So we’ve reviewed the information. I just submitted my own personal comments, and will be working with our student on this project. It’s the prefect project because it’s so wonky, so important and it entails the skillset I’m the best at – which is making NOISE! Oh, Dr. Plastic Picker can make tons of NOISE about this. Resolutions, op-eds, blogposts, webinars. There are a lot of ways to work on this! Yeah!!! Where there is a motivated premedical student and also a just cause, that is the secret sauce to a great project!

We are also moving forth with H3SD 2025 and the chief of urology has already jumped in as a new piece, and bringing a group urologists for social responsibility. I didn’t even know they existed but they exist and that is wonderful and they are coming! We are working with AAP District 8 and helping to make a District 8 (which is the whole western US minus California) heat and human health summit in May and I’ve gotten the initial green light to bring along our HMO to co-brand and help. I just Instagram messaged a contact (which is also a Harvard connection) from HMO Oregon and I think this should be relatively easy to get involved with to move the climate work forward.

So lots to do. But realizing that some of all of this is that we went to top notch schools and that branding and networking does help. It’s hard to admit that to our daughter who is in the middle of junior year. She’s doing really well and I’m proud of her. I still fundamentally remember that she is an ex 28 week preemie, and seeing her aim for a top Ivy League is humbling – when I’m just grateful that she is alive and every day I get to be her mother. But I am also not stopping her from reaching for her dreams. So this thanksgiving break we are mostly just resting and resetting after her finishing the trimester. Her brother will be coming home as well soon from his sophomore year of college and I’ve been deep cleaning his room and excited he’ll be sleeping in a room relatively free of dust and gross things in the carpet. That is my climate activists life! I’m still manifesting many things and there are so many possibilities about how this whole drama is going to end. But I believe in happy endings for everyone!

November 1, 2024

by Dr. Plastic Picker

Can you believe it’s really November 1 2024? I had to submit schedule requests for April and May and it was kind of surreal. That is when our daughter will be taking AP exams and finished with her SATs. I can’t even begin to imagine her being that far into junior year. This time is so precious to me, and I want to slow time all the way down.

The list of the ever expanding doximity resume for me, continues. Which is completely ridiculous because I already have a job that I love. I keep on at it, because it’s part of how I address the existential threat of climate change and global heating. I decided I can’t now remember 5-6 years ago, to begin mentoring premedical students in climate and health and environmental health related projects. I am a projects based person. And as they get advising and meaningful projects to do, we advance the work of decarbonization forward. So because I was blogging to you about my resume, I just updated it on more stuff.

But here is my emotional journey. And I’m content today. I have a new tooth! Well at least a new good crown which I hope will last me at least 10 years as we continue to fight this existential crisis. My goal is to keep that crown and tooth healthy, and also to help keep us below 2 degrees of global warming. It might be easier to stop global heating then prevent a new root canal? And I’m serious about that.

But I’m content because I am here with you. I am just who I am. I posted above a picture of one of my biggest successes as a climate and health advocate. Dr. Melissa Campbell is my continuity clinic resident. I’m super proud of her! She’s going to be chief resident next year and is co-chair with me of the AAP -CA3 Climate Change and Health Committee. She’s really awesome. I missed her awards dinner because I had to work so much that weekend (YES I’M STILL WHINING ABOUT THOSE EXTRA SHIFTS). But it ended up well. I would have gone but I had just one day to spend with my teen daughter. I usually show pictures of her, and she has super gorgeous ones that I can’t post nor share. But if you see me in real life and you are a real friend, I’ll show you.

She had homecoming and all her little innocent teen drama. She has the day off today, and is working on her Informative speech for the next speech tournament. She gets to go to a pizza party on Monday for getting high grades and also doing well in certain classes (which I’m not sure!). So I’m excited to just be in the room next to hers, and I know she is doing her academic things and I’m typing nonsense into the blog. She peaked in and asked me “are you updated my resume AGAIN?” Yes, I told her. It’s my joy. That and taking cute pictures of her.

Otherwise since she is sixteen and busy with life and our also wonderful son is in college, I otherwise just try to save the earth for our collective children.

We have spread the heat and human health summit idea to District 8 AAP which is the western US and Canada, minus California. This is via real friends and colleagues and through natural networks. We are expanded our leaded aviation fuel advocacy model to our friends hopefully in Oregon, Arizona, Utah and New York State. We have a team for both things. And also indoor air pollution advocacy team that a very capable climate and health leader will take over, since she wants to do it and I have the team formed and there is too much work for everyone. What else? Oh yes the Tijuana Sewage Crisis and then decarbonizing Orange County.

It’s funny that anytime someone tells me no, I find a way to get things done. I’m not sure where I learned to be so contrary.

But it’s a beautiful day today because I have a great new tooth and crown and we are having homemade pizza tonight! Sending the blog readership a lot of green hugs and thank you for following along on my journey.