Month: September 2026

September 9, 2026

It was so hot yesterday that the H3SD San Diego’s Heat and Human Health Summit sticker partially melted into one of our extra programs. I have the programs in the back of my car and extra stickers, and I’m using them strategically through the next year to raise awareness of the next summer’s summit and the work that our coalition is doing.

I was so hot yesterday and sweaty, and I felt looked horrible on camera. But after thinking out it, it’s freakin +100 degrees and it was HOT. I had just come from an important to me trip from Boston, and saw a full morning of patients thoroughly and met with two important UCSD student leaders on their projects.

I’m giving myself a lot of grace this morning! I’m not sure if you are following, but you should some of the normal environmental accounts and we have now crossed the 1.5 degree threshold. Greta Thunberg is one of the young youth activists that is now an adult that initially activated me, and her last Instagram message is very clear-sighted.

My daughter is settled now up in Boston and started her first year at Harvard. She is allowed to stress about her language classes and making friends in her Shakespeare course, and I’m allowed to continue to try to save the world for my children. It’s hard to miss her, when I know she is safe for now in Boston and the other child is in San Francisco. They are adults now, and figuring out their lives with plenty of support from us. But I don’t have too much time to be sad, because this was the entire point. I’m getting them ready for the world that is fast approaching, and trying to help save millions if not billions of lives by continuing to be a climate activists!

Lots to do! Was on CBS 8 news yesterday which was in the end really important. Anything that generates coverage, and gets folks talking – even if I think I don’t look good on camera. I need to give myself grace! And I got to tell San Diego the links between extreme heat and mental health emergencies and child abuse, and also the importance of DE-ISOLATING ourselves. Connection and community, is really what is going to help us to continue to mitigate the worse of the upcoming disaster story.

Anyway, I don’t really feel bad about looking not great – because I’m a real doctor! I was seeing patients and needed to wear a facemask to make sure my unvaccinated patients don’t get sick -despite me reminding them to get vaccinated. I also was wearing a facemask because I saw a few newborns and wanted to make sure they didn’t get anything from me since I had just traveled. The facemask is not great on my foundation. Oh well! And then my eyebrows disappeared – AGAIN!

It is painful being a climate and health doctor, but all of this I do at great pains to my ego – because I am here to save lives.

I had a great meeting with two UCSD premedical student leaders, so I have a to do check list that I need to work through on their fast fashion project. I need to write a letter of recommendation for someone else for the Rhodes fellowship. I need to write another letter for someone for psychiatry residency. We have two articles we want to write about for the San Diego Physician Magazine, which I will circle back to my co-authors on. I have to reach out to Kaiser Mid Atlantic pediatrician who wants to do the same thing I’m doing, but in Mid Atlantic. I need to reach out to Kaiser medical school to see when they want me to go up to teach there. I need to reach out to our regional person regarding coding heat related injuries, which none of us are doing correctly. He came to our summit.

So lots to do! So just wanted the blog readership know that I am here! Still fighting for the earth. It’s still so darn hot that I’m going to try to jog a bit but at 6am!!!! Mr. Plastic Picker was supposed to take me for a walk yesterday but he came back too late and we had a haphazard dinner instead and fell asleep.

It’s okay though, some of it is the heat! But here was my reward for all my continued work on behalf of our community and children – I took a quick trip to see my special person in Cambridge to give her a hug.

I still am in amazement that she got into Harvard and is in the class of 2030! There are so many epic story lines happening during this time. I hope that you pick the side of good and do something to help stop catastrophic climate change!

September 2, 2026

by Dr. Plastic Picker

This is what I posted on my personal facebook and social media

“This was the honor of my lifetime, to meet Yahushua Robinson’s mother and sister. In August 2023, a 12-year-old student, Yahushua Robinson, suffered a fatal heat-related illness during a PE class held in extreme temperatures. California Senate Bill 1248 (SB 1248), also known as Yahushua’s Law, was introduced to prevent tragedies like this. At H3SD 2026, I co-presented with a powerful panel of like minded women and mothers on the importance on “Cooler Schools, Healthy Kids.” This was a call to action, and the four of us from AAP San Diego, Scripps So Cal Heat Hub, Green Schoolyards of America and Christina Laster from Stanford are committed to work together to make sure this does not happen to another child. Yahushua Robinson’s mom told us that she felt loved and supported at H3SD, and hopeful. We all brought our daughters to this breakout session, and we all connected. Wanted to share this meaningful moment.”

There are many moments from H3SD 2026 that I will remember. Joy, irritations, relief and exhaustion. This year was a harder summit for me, for various reasons and I’m committed to making sure the team works well together next cycle and that we iron out the frictions that happened. But overall, the team did amazing and the most important part is that the entire summit happened. And through many different break-out sessions and moments through the summit, we inspired and motivated each other to continue the different climate projects that we are responsible for.

For me, meeting this group of speakers was crucial for my work. I have to thank Nan Renner from Scripps So Cal Heat Hub for keeping us all together. My part was very short, and it was a montage presentation with some powerful speakers. But we delivered that session, and the most important part is that a family that had a young boy die of heat stroke and channeled that event into something productive (legislative action) were brought into the H3SD fold. It was an honor to meet Yaushua Robinson’s family. They were there at the summit with his picture, to remind us that he was here with us and that he is no longer here. This death was preventable and we need to prevent it, and also try to continue to address global heating.

So rather than just pontificating, I have things to do. I will reply to an email chain that is on my work email. We will set up a meeting with some people from Stanford and the AAP California. I need to myself read up on stuff, to make sure I fully understand the policy landscape. I need to loop in one of the UCSD graduates who is applying to medical school this next cycle. This will be her project.

I also need to write two letters of recommendations before I fly out on Friday to Boston.

I didn’t blog about it, but our daughter left for college and had an interesting and good transition to Harvard. Her first class is today. I miss her quite a bit. But I’m lucky that I had her at home for me for so long, and now she has to go to college! But I get many text and pictures throughout the day. I get to check her LIVE 360 to see where she is. And my daughter got to meet and hug Yaushua’s older sister at the session. All of the speakers’ daughters were there and got to see their mothers try to make the world safer for kids during extreme heat event. I am so grateful this happened, and for the advocacy work that I still need to do!