Month: February 2026

February 21, 2026

by Dr. Plastic Picker

It’s Saturday and I worked the late shift last night. The late shift is not as late as it used to be, and many many years ago when I was Assistant Boss – I had a large part to do with improving our schedules. Now I’m lucky to benefit from those changes. I’m in the trenches and a worker-bee now. I’m happy, and I’m content. I had an emotional outburst in the lunchroom, venting some of my pent-up frustrations being a woman leader. Baking brownies, organizing parties, mentoring when you aren’t ready, endless committees that are not of your choosing – these are the pitfalls that many young women fall into at the cost of their own professional development and their own personal lives. Burn-out is very real, and even now during the premedical process and the medical school and residency training process – it’s a very real threat to our profession.

I think about burnout and professional development a lot. I’m lucky to mentor and be surrounded by these amazing idealistic young premedical, medical students and trainees. I worry about them. I worry about their mental health. I worry about their future. I worry about our profession. I worry about our country and of course I worry about the climate.

But in general I worry a lot less than before. I’m very present these days in clinic, and enjoy the flow of patients that come and go from our hallway. Life seems to ebb and flow smoothly these days, despite doing a lot of climate and health organizing. I’m still almost full time in clinic. But I closed all my charts yesterday and mostly answered all my messages and did my results! If you are an actual physician, you know how wonderful that feels.

But I think what I’m most grateful for is the next 10 years. I get to be a pediatrician for 10 more years. After having been in the same office for almost 16-17 years, that is another 10 years of getting to watch kids grow up. I get to be involved in the community and with children, and try to keep them safe and healthy. It’s such an honor to see a child at their last visit after they have almost reached or just passed 18 years of age, and gently remind them “make good choices! I am so lucky to have been your pediatrician.” That last hug with their parents in the hallway, and with their last sticker in hand – is the best hug ever.

And that’s the greatest gift that being drplasticpicker has given me.

February 20, 2026

by Dr. Plastic Picker

The talks were deployed! It was our first time giving a talk on environmental health at UC San Diego Rady’s Pediatric Residency. This is during their new advocacy elective. I’m grateful for this opportunity to deliver the talks and give four new opportunities to students to present their projects, and to deploy a new partnership /project with the San Diego Air Pollution Control District. Probably the most important thing that happened is that I was able to connect the Office of Environmental Justice at SDAPCD. After two joint talks, our partnership is solid now and the students have been introduced. We also met two new individuals that are important for us to grow our organization. Anna Northrup a new Ms4 from UC San Diego School of Medicine, interested in pediatrics, and also going to head a project with NRDC on Nitrogen fertilizer legislation. And then a talented young freshmen Jaime from UCSD who is also from the an environmental justice neighborhood in San Diego. It’s critically important to mentor students who reside in the neighborhoods that we are trying to protect. I learned this concept called academic extractivism from my good friend Dr. Elizabeth Friedman. Academic extractivism is bad. Mentoring students from EJ neighborhoods is good.

All in all, it was worthwhile. The talks did not go perfect. The first talk went fantastic and it had that amazing energy and connections. The second talk, we were able to really meet our new partners and discuss projects, but it was 3-4 very tired residents in the afternoon who were set on leaving on time. I think this is why it’s hard to loop in residents into this work, as they are overtired. You have to find the right one! But we met a lot of new friends during the two talks and it was something I needed to do.

I was actually very impressed with the growth of the student presentations. The students get better and better, as they practice. One of our students Wooch Kim is working on a new line of thought on pediatric oncology and climate resilience. The growth from the first to second talk was remarkable. The powerpoint slides were improved and eye catchy, and definitely had an artistic unity to it. Eleanor Jung one of my more experienced students is always flawless in her presentations. And the third student that presented, Justin Buchanan, it was fun to get to interact with him and watch him learn a new skillset. Sometimes when you have been doing one thing so long and you are good at it, you don’t grow as much. And it’s fun to see more experienced students realize that new skillsets are interesting and challenging and fun.

No matter what, the two talks were memorable. I’ll always remember the rain yesterday, going from light showers to drizzle. I’ll remember wanting to tell the students nonsense gossip but not able to, because I had to go pick up our daughter from school earlier than planned. In the end, we were all able to fit this in. We prepared and delivered, and it got done.

Climate work like this is very forgiving, because is our team had not shown up – it would not have happened. The 2nd audience and talk was a bit frustrating, because so much preparation went into the talks and planning and coordination to get all the people there. And sometimes it felt like we were speaking to ourselves. But it’s hard to be a resident in the middle of training. They have a lot of ICU rotations and overtired.

Just wanted to share some of my emotional journey and share some of the process and feelings of disappointment and exhaustion – as this was a new challenge I took upon myself. But it was done! and I’m done with climate work for today! Going to work the late shift tonight and just have 1 meeting at 10am with Scripps Oceanographic Institute So Cal Heat Hub to coordinate their talk at H3SD.

Thank you for following along this eco-activism and climate and health journey of mine.

February 12, 2026

by Dr. Plastic Picker

I’m up finally blogging and working on my own brain health. I have to write an important letter of recommendation this morning for one of my most favorite people in the world. She needs a real job that pays real money and she’s going to do real work. It’s important to understand money and finances, and the reality of life. Mr. Plastic Picker and I have been together almost 30 years now, and having the same familial values and also financial values is very important. We are a good team.

But as I wrote a draft of a letter for her last night, I realized it was complete gibberish and I stopped. Writing late at night doesn’t really work for me. My thoughts are garbled and my thinking is not clear. So I finally took care of myself and turned off my netflix (I’m been binge watching C-dramas these days) and went to sleep at a semi-normal time. And now my mind is clear, and I’m going to write that letter that needs to be submitted today.

But something I realized after thinking of the recent meetings I’ve been at. I attended my first SD Shade Cool Council meeting which was super cool. I was invited as one of 20 regional leaders as part of the H3Sd organizing committee. I realized that we are truly at the climate mitigation and climate adaptation stage. This is very scary and horrifying.

They shared with me the up to date power point which I’ve shared with climate and health friends, and will continue to share. We are happily starting to organize for H3SD 2026 now, and that is hopeful and happening. I have to set up the San Diego Foundation meeting to ensure funding for the summit, as they give us a grant for food. I’ve been invited to be a co-author for the San Diego State University Healthy Air Healthy Water research paper, and I’m so honored. But all of this is because, at this moment in time – the world needs all of us. Every tenth of a degree counts. There are massive climate migrations and shifting ecosystems. It’s completely horrifying that we’ve gotten here, and fossil fuel companies and AI aficianados are still trying to pump more carbon into the atmosphere and drain more of our water resources.

I’m going to write that letter now. But I wanted to let you know. We are at climate adaptation and climate mitigation, and the presentation from the UCSD Scripps So Cal Heat Hub made this starkly obvious.

Come to our summit and help out! We are still trying to save the world, but it just got scarier and more real.

February 2, 2026

by Dr. Plastic Picker

I think I may have used this picture in the last blogpost? I’m back here on the blog and actually on my old computer that is mostly broken. I still haven’t figured out how to log onto the blog from my new computer? I’m old and technology is still very challenging for me. But I’m here because the blog has always been my emotional diary to share my plastic picking journey!

I went to the beach this weekend and had a great adventure picking up trash along the beach. It was mostly styrofoam bits which are so interesting when they are weathered as they become this intense dirty yellow/gold color. It’s hard to spot if you aren’t an experienced plastic picker! Styrofoam isn’t plastic but I still pick up non-plastic things.

This really did all start with picking up trash, and now 7 years later I’ve been offered a faculty position at our HMO medical school! I’m really excited about it since it really will help me figure out how to extend our work on climate and health. Titles are super important, and whatever title they give me from HMO medical school will be enough! I’ll still be doing clinical work mostly, but now will mentor officially at the medical school and teach during their climate and health course which is every April. Our youngest is off to college, and I’ll have more time and probably use my educational leave time to go up there to teach.

Mr. Plastic Picker is now Chief of his department too! It’s funny how all of this happened around the same time. Our youngest has about 45 days until she finds out which of the 26 schools she applied to, will be her college home for 4 years. Honestly, being her mother has been so easy especially now that she’s 17 years of age and a self sufficient teenager. When she’s off to college next year, I need to keep busy and teaching students and meeting new people and doing new projects is always fun!

It’s so funny though. When I came to our HMO over 16 years ago, I actually didn’t want a full time job. I wanted a part time position and to be home with the kids. I had two little ones back then, and it was physically painful for me to be away from them. I was like every other mother I’ve ever met, I wanted to be with my babies. But having trained so long to be a pediatrician and the family and community that surrounded me, I was pushed into full time work. With the ebbs and flows of being a working mother, and the turmoil of feeling like I didn’t have a choice back then – I am now grateful. I am grateful that I chose my children and the earth 7 years ago, and left middle management and decided that every day I had left was important. I’m not sure what I would tell the young me from 16 years ago. I’m not sure if I would ever get along with her. But I would certainly admire her and cheer her on. I think she would cheer the current me on too.

Having a cheerleading squad, those that fundamentally believe in you is so important. I had one person that I admire not cheer me on, and actually questioned if I was qualified to teach climate and health. I admire this person and I realize it comes from their own insecurities. But it really hurt. The emotions and pettiness are all very real. And climate and health physicians have their own egos.

But I told the ones that I know are cheerleading the collective us on, and it felt good to reconnect with them and let them know my good news.

That’s it! I’m not posting or writing as much about the kids because they are adults or almost adults. It’s to give them privacy and as my son said “stay out of their business” to let them decide their lives. It’s been so fun to continue to be their mother, and to get to know all the fun details!

I’m continually grateful to my cute college boyfriend now husband. We had our happy ending, and now we are trying to make sure our kids get to have their happy ending (and other children out there too) by working toward a better world and saving as much of our climate/environment as possible.

Wow! It’s Monday and I’m working the staggered shift today! It ends at 730 though so it’s not bad.