Month: July 2026

July 20, 2026

by Dr. Plastic Picker

It’s 4:43am and I can feel my body adjusting to the weird time change between Copenhagen and California. I guess it’s a 9 hour difference? But it’s nice to be up at 4:43am because this is the time I used to get up before I started binge watching Kdramas about 4 years ago. I stopped binge watching Kdramas and Cdramas, and did a puzzle yesterday that I had purchased at a cool little book store in Copenhagen. So most of yesterday was doing this neat puzzle spread all over the kitchen table, and watching the World Cup Finals (Argentina vs Spain) at my good friend Dr. LC’s house.

It was such a beautiful day. They live very close to us and it only took about 15 minute to get there by car, so technically the entire trip there and home was all electric on my hybrid. I was going to buy something to bring, but I was so immersed in my puzzle that we didn’t have time and our daughter did not want to miss the beginning of the World Cup. For some reason this year, EVERYONE has been watching the World Cup – even me. We watched it before we traveled to Copenhagen, and then while in Copenhagen and then on our return to Copenhagen.

How many times did I write Copenhagen? Five times! LOL.

But while we watched the World Cup, I did not mention Harvard too often. Someone mentioned Williams College multiple times but in a very natural way, as there was a son of a friend who is a sophomore there. We mentioned judges names, Speech Team, Law School, Election, CEQA, various prep school names, various colleges (and made fun of Stanford), various medical specialties, various lawyer fields. We talked about the H3SD summit, facetimed my sister who was in Tennessee but who knew several people at the World Cup 2026 watch party because Dr. LC’s family is close with her family too. My sister made arrangements to meet one person there in Indianapolis because that person’s 18 year old daughter is niche Instagram famous in the baton twirling/drum major world. In that world if you have 8000+ Instagram followers you are very famous. I watched my niece who is a 16 year-old drum major jumping in the background of the Facetime call because she was so excited about the meet-up to come in Indianapolis.

We talked about careers, and work-life balance. We talked about clinical work (as there were two adult cardiologists there) and someone was excited about her next clinical research trial that does address health equities in this rare neuromuscular disease. We talked about soccer teams, and summer activities and YMCA camps. We talked about cerviche and Golden Chopsticks Salt and Pepper chicken wings, and there are two locations now – one in National City and one in Mira Mesa? We talked about Harvard, mostly because other people chatted about it in a natural way. We didn’t talk about it, but I learned from my daughter who has been avidly following the World Cup that Messi was 500 million + Instagram followers because he is the most famous soccer player in the world. The 19 year old star player from the Spain team who is a rags to riches story has 80+ million followers. But I was reminded that in the Instagram world 8000+ is famous as well if you are a baton twirler but in soccer you have to have 80 million+. Me? I have 3000+ which is all I ever wanted. I was happy when I got to 1500+.

The day was filled with little moments like that and memories. I had the best nap of my life in the corner of my cardiologist’s friends house as the breeze came in so lovingly on World Cup 2026 day. I sat close to our daughter and she leaned against me. I woke up just in time to see Spain score! Dr. LC was rooting for Argentina because his brother-in-law in from Argentina, and I got to watch my friend Dr. LC watching his text messages for little video clips from his brother that were filled with the light blue and white striped jerseys.

It was a beautiful day yesterday. We got home and I finished the puzzle. Mr. Plastic Picker came home and ate the left-overs we brought home from the party (Cerviche and the chicken) and listened attentively as we recounted our outing to our family friend’s house. Then he took our daughter driving and they drove around the parking lot as a local university that is safe to drive around.

It was such a lovely day, and I am reminded how much work it takes to create that community. A text message from the wife half of the lovely couple. I saw glimpses of her throughout the day, darting back and forth making everyone feel loved and comfortable. She is so filled with light and love, and impish humor and strength. I am grateful to know this couple and their family and their network. And I would not know them as well if I hadn’t become Dr. Plastic Picker and reached out to the smartest and kindest and most Harvard cardiologist that I know. I would never had that beautiful nap and that beautiful day if I hadn’t decided to dive into climate and health advocacy. I am so grateful for this life, and for yesterday. We almost didn’t go because I was so immersed in my puzzle, and I’m naturally very introverted. But my daughter feels very loved at that house as well, and she really wanted to watch the World Cup and see our family friends. She said “Mommy, we should be in community.” And we were.

July 16, 2026

by Dr. Plastic Picker

Our daughter and I are back from Copenhagen! We were there as tourists but mostly to reconnect with families and people in another realm of our life that is outside of strictly climate work. Because it wasn’t just a vacation but part retreat/conference, I didn’t know quite what to expect during this week. It was a pivotal week though since it was marked on my paper calendar for over a year VACATION/OFF. It really marks the end also of this marathon time between when our youngest was accepted to Harvard to now in the middle of the planned last summer as a high schooler. I honestly did not know what to expect and didn’t burden Copenhagen with my expectations, and it ended up being SPECTACULAR!

I realize now that I’m finally back up at my regular blogging time due to the super weird time change! It’s 332am and I used to blog at this time back when I first started blogging thousands of blogposts ago! But I’m up at 333am now because in Copenhagen it is – 1230am! The time change is CRAZY! My body definitely felt in while in Copenhagen during the retreat/conference.

My iPhone camera rolls is filled with pictures and memories. We were there with my son and little brother and one of my little brother’s close friends from Toronto. The three young men are still in Europe, and started their planned trek through the French and Swiss Alps.

This is a picture of our last night at a fancy dinner where my son found on a Reddit thread the best place to have Smørrebrød, which is the Danish open faced sandwich. I had never heard of Smørrebrød, but it was just one of those things we had to have in Denmark together – so we had it and it was really good I guess for what Smørrebrød is supposed to be. Here is the Michelin star rated Smørrebrød

I had not part in choosing the restaurant but the oldest wanted to go there, and it was our last night together in Copenhagen. We kept on telling ourselves “When are we ever going to be in Copenhagen together again?” the last evening there. So we had the sandwich and other food, and spent $350 on dinner which is more than I would usually spend. But it was worth it was the memories and the quiet, and the elegant ambience to end our trip.

We had so many experiences and connections together. Our family weaved in and out of other people’s narratives. And through this time I was replaying so much of my life, as I was observing and participating in this conference/retreat and family vacation.

But when people ask me what I will remember most about Copenhagen, I won’t be able to tell them all those intricate details and observations that make no sense to someone outside of our actual family. What I will tell folks, is that I will always remember the National Aquarium of Denmark – standing at the intersection of the Baltic and North Sea. I will remember the HUGE ALASKAN OTTERS that were the size of school children. I will remember the fish that I saw that had TEETH! Their teeth were HUGE, and as a pediatrician who cares about pediatric dental health – I giggled and I thought to myself “I wonder if anyone has ever tried to brush their teeth?” LOL.

And here I am showing my teeth! I’m wearing my work zippie which is actually the best zippie for traveling. I didn’t buy anything new for the trip and wore just the clothes that I had, and I think the pictures turned out great! It’s amazing how when one is just happy, the pictures turn out great. I loved how sustainable everything was in Copenhagen – although the Danish did pillage and colonize a bunch of cultures too.

And here I am wearing a visor from their prep school that I bought over a decade ago, and it works as the best travel cap! I’m only going to try to travel when I need to and combine this advocacy work with one vacation, but I’ll wear this cap! The water was so clean and it was sad because I kept on thinking about how dirty and polluted our water is because of the Tijuana Sewage Crisis.

And here is the less polluted water in the Baltic/North Sea, and wind turbines in the background. I think we were in the only place in the world without a heat wave, which is kind of sad.

July 5, 2026

by Dr. Plastic Picker

It’s 7:02am and I’m going to head out to the beach soon and help with the “Morning After Mess” Beach Clean-up after the 4th of July. There were hundreds of thousands of people enjoying the beach, and even the most conscientious beach-goer leaves a bit of trash behind. So there will be lots of people cleaning up the plastic debris before it goes into the ocean. There will be plenty of people on the beach, so I might just clean around the streets and gutters before it goes into the ocean.

I’ve been reflecting lately on what San Diego Pediatricians/Physicians for Clean Air is, and what it is – is really just us. It’s a list-serve of over a 100 folks that are truly connected and in step, trying to help with environmental health. It’s largely our HMO pediatric department, and the medical students and premedical students and residents that we’ve collected on the way. It’s also our own children and our family, that we bring along to participate in events.

I’m incredibly grateful to everyone who is part of this “loose coalition” which is more real and coordinated than official non-profits that have grants and full time staff. We just have ourselves and a $20 website, and honestly that is enough because we are actually doctors who practice and who are responsible for our community and patients.

Gosh, we’ve done a lot. And it 100% has been US. Yes I blog and I go on the news and I coordinate. But I’m mostly talking to everyone and texting folks about issues, and connecting all of us – and then trying to help us figure out together what to do. I don’t do this in a vacuum. It’s all of us.

And I found this picture on my old laptop, and it makes me so incredibly grateful for our pediatric community. We have worked to save the birds from the Sea World fireworks (at least reduced some of the fireworks and the pollution). We have mentored a lot of medical students and premedical students in advocacy, and they are going to continue to do this. We’ve picked up trash together, and hung out on the wetlands together. We helped Rewild Mission Bay, which was HUGE! And we put together now 4 years of H3SD , San Diego’s Heat and Human Health Summit! It started off with pediatricians, and we’ve inspired the internist and emergency room doctors and so many others to help with issues like the Tijuana Sewage Crisis and Nitrogen Fertilizer Pollution. And in all this work, it was pediatricians raising the alarm because environmental pollution disproportionately affects children.

Just going out to the beach to clean up, and feeling grateful to all of you.

July 3, 2026

by Dr. Plastic Picker

The blog traffic has definitely shot up since the KPBS interview with Tammy Murga. (Hi Tammy!). I’m sure she is busy doing other stories about environmental health. That’s the thing about the current climate crisis and environmental pollution, it’s endless and the super interesting honestly so there are so many stories, so many characters, and so many opportunities to make a difference.

I gave a talk two days ago at work, and honestly it was a very healing talk. I had not been invited to speak at our departmental meeting since leaving and it was nice to talk to my fellow pediatricians. I try to keep as low as a profile as I can these days, since so much of my advocacy is outside of work. It’s complicated work , politics, scheduling, interpersonal dynamics. But we have to all work together to keep the wheels of the HMO going. But the talk was on air pollution and health, and I had taken a good amount of time to prepare for the talk. Two students had the opportunity to deliver their talks and it went well. Several of my fellow pediatricians gave me feedback which was positive, and I’ve since watched my talk several times and it landed well.

There has been some super interesting developments on the H3SD project! We are putting together our fourth annual H3SD San Diego’s Heat and Human Health Summit. Things are going really well. I feel more in control this year, since I’m more involved with the planning. Our speaker coordinator Wooch Kim is going to send out the speaker scheduling emails soon. I’ve been working with our HMO CME team. Proud of the line up of sessions and we are definitely thinking together and generating new ideas and projects and collaborations together.

The cool thing, is that I helped connect the American College of Physicians Region 3 with the San Diego Foundation, and they are putting on the first ever binational border health conference end of August! It is the internal medicine group and they are super powerful and influential, and they are our friends! ACP actually has been involved with H3SD since it’s inception, and gives us a small grant and their membership attends too. But they are putting on a first of it’s kind conference where the first day is at UC San Diego and the second day is at a medical school in Tijuana. I’ve been invited! I’m super excited to see what my internal medicine colleagues are up to! They are going to have some sessions on environmental health!

I think we were able to bridge a lot of institutional divides and professional society divides because this work for many of us in volunteer. Being an environmental health hobbyist is a very effective thing! My friend Dr. Dear Friend said she didn’t think I should call myself a yapologists, but I like that term! I’m a clean air yapologists! I yap for free. I also blog for free! I figure it’s free entertainment for myself and for the world! My goal is just to inspire folks to do their part, or at least know there is a movement out there of doctors and medical student and premedical students in San Diego trying to help with the climate crisis.

It’s the long holiday weekend so I hope everyone has a great and sustainable time! I’ll be anxiously awaiting to see what happens with the Sea World lightshow (or are they doing fireworks this year?). I’m anxious to see how the birds in Mission Bay do. We had a bird massacre two years ago, when hundreds of birds died on West Ski Island. Here is some of the coverage 2 years ago https://voiceofsandiego.org/2024/07/19/bird-nerds-take-war-against-mission-bay-fireworks-to-councilmembers/

It was cool to be involved in this fight for cleaner air and helping the birds in Mission Bay. We need more birds and more wildlife. We are all interconnected! A bunch of pediatricians and county health folks are going to drop an article on this concept soon called “One Health.” It’s an entire real public health concept! So cool! I love being in this place and learning about the world and human health and environmental health. It’s so fun to be a climate and health hobbyist!

July 1, 2026

by Dr. Plastic Picker

The house is quiet this morning. It’s 5:15am and its Wednesday. I have about 2 hours to finalize a presentation for our pediatrician HMO group today. I finished it, but it needs to be personalized and pizazzed up! My sister-in-law, one of three, just left on a flight to attend to her family and mothering. It’s been a busy and family-filled 2 months since our youngest was admitted to Harvard and finished with graduation and all the celebratory things our family went through to celebrate. It was honestly exhausting. It was much needed, but for me it completely tapped out my social battery. It was all too much. Too much emotion. Too many family dynamics. Too much rebalancing and reshuffling. There were too many emotions and relationship dynamics. At some points, I really just wanted to go to work where I don’t have to feel and I don’t have to be intertwined with two very close and two very intense family groups. But OMG it’s finally over. I’m proud of our youngest, but she’s off to just go to college and live her life. She has goals and ambitions, and she’ll be at the right place to try to achieve them.

As for me! I want to tell you about our H3SD stickers!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Aren’t they fantastic???!!!! My climate collaborator Dr. Luis Castellanos has three very talented sons, and their oldest designed the stickers!!!! It was part of his community service hours for school and I got to sign off on his hours. We are so grateful for his design. Then I saw on Instagram that you can order stickers so I ordered stickers and used a coupon! I tried to get the best price but honestly it was a really good price! $100 for 200 stickers. I may order more. I have to spend down about $800 from our H3SD 2025 budget, so I need to order some AAP-CA3 Extreme Heat and Youth Sports Flyers and buy some more laynards and name cards for the summit. All the labor is volunteer, so that is why we are so cost-effective in our budget!

H3SD has been such a great training ground for our entire region. It’s so fun! Pretty much we make it fun and FREE and community oriented. Only people who want to come, show up. And we try to save the earth together and help our community become more resilient to global heating. This year has been so interesting meeting with our planning committee, and thinking together in terms of sessions. That we all fundamentally like each other and respect each other, and bring what we can to this great collaboration – makes it all flow. I spent so much time yesterday working with our Speaker Coordinator Wooch Kim in organizing the speaker schedules, and updating the spreadsheet that is there for everyone. We applied for HMO CME credit as well, and are finishing up that process.

But the stickers are just an example of the opportunities H3SD provides to our community. Speakers from all over San Diego from different academic institutions converge on this Saturday in mid-August. We always do it right before UC Berkeley starts since our oldest is now a senior at UC Berkeley. There are the four conference planning leads, there are the speaker coordinators, there are the tech team, and there are the UCSD AIP students who help with things. There are the opportunities for the medical students, to be part of the EJ Youth panel and moderating the sessions. There are the poster sessions where you can do a test drive of any research or advocacy posters one might have worked on. We have all the talks and just getting to be at the beautiful space at UC San Diego School of Medicine – I think means a lot to everyone.

So anyway, just wanted to show everyone the beautiful stickers that Luis and Lizette’s son designed! I ordered them! And then helped find funding from the San Diego Foundation to put the entire thing on.

The only way to get a sticker is to come to the H3SD summit! So come help us address global heating and human health in San Diego on August 15! https://sdpediatriciansforcleanair.com/h3sd-san-diego-heat-and-human-health-summit-resources

Oh, we have to udpate the flyer on the website and also the link to the youtube channel. I’ll let our webmaster know! Shogo is amazing!