Category: Climate Advocacy

August 8, 2020

by drplasticpicker

As a former valedictorian of a large public school that made it to Crimson University, and then made it through the gauntlet of the morass of premedical students to Crimson Medical School, then residency at Mans Greatest Hospital, and even up the HMO ladder as Assistant Boss – Dr. Plastic Picker is competitive. And when State Senator Ben Huesos said in response to the community effort to lobby regarding AB 345, gas and oil set backs to protect schools and day cares and hospitals from air pollution, “This, ladies and gentlemen, is nothing more than a publicity stunt at a time when we cannot afford publicity stunts,” Hueso said. He did not make a friend of Dr. Plastic Picker.

I will continue to play the demure non-partisan pediatrician who ocean plastic picks along the beach (because that is all true). I refrained from saying mean things about him. But I looked up his CV and his accomplishments, and I said “meh.” What made me mad about his response, was that he was obviously speaking to some kind of other audience. Why make fun of people? Why paint everyone who called in and took their time to lobby as part of their civic duty “publicity stunts.” As a pediatrician and as a parent, I teach my children there is never a reason to be unkind. And that comment was just mean. But I live in a world where I see trash carelessly thrown all over the place, and can learn to work with anyone. Being Assistant Boss in a department of over 100 pediatricians with various interesting personalities has taught me a lot. Indeed Ben Huesos, in some ways I probably have better political skills than you. Try surviving as Assistant Boss of Pediatricians in my work place!!!

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August 4, 2020

by drplasticpicker

I am preparing for my first press conference as a pediatrician on environmental health. The other speakers are Mayor Alejandra Sotelo-Solis (National City) and Mayor Serge Dedina (Imperial Beach). There have been groups working on ensuring the passage of Califronia AB345 for months. These groups include from Mothers Out Front, CA Youth Vs. Big Oil, Climate Health NOW, VISION (Voices in Solidatrity Against Oil in Neighborhoods), The Center for Biological Diversity, NRDC, Sierra Club and STAND LA, and many others.

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July 28, 2020

by drplasticpicker

I graduated today. Truly graduated from the Climate Reality Leaderhip Corp. The program wanted to virtually issue me my certificate on Sunday, but I wanted to finish the last two modules/projects before I claimed the certificate. It was a very important exercise to me, and I’m glad I did it. The funny thing is that this short project, which I call my “thesis,” is probably a million times more impactful than my actual senior thesis on cleft palate and degeneracy theory in college. I spent one entire year working on that one, which probably only 5 people ever really read. So here is the long more illustrative title, “Climate Change Affects My Patients: More premature births, more pediatric asthma, and more COVID-19 deaths especially of my patient’s parents and their grandparents causing more grief, despair and health inequities in already overburdened communities of color in the South Bay of San Diego.”

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July 26, 2020

by drplasticpicker

There are a lot of environmental advocacy groups out there. Now we started another one, our American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Climate Change and Health Committee for our local chapter. There was a California bill AB 345 the oil and gas setbacks bill. Between the AAP Climate Change and Health coalition of all 4 California chapters, Climate Health NOW (which overlaps with many AAP Climate Change members), PHAC and Climate Action Campagins, and Climate Reality Leadership Group and my just being on the litter-picking Instagram committee – I literally received 20 emails about this. I had already signed a personal letter, and had already sent it to our committee. Our AAP Climate Change and Health local chapter already endorsed it. Bruce Bekkar is writing a letter on behalf of PHAC Climate Action Campaigns. And now we need individual members to lobby specific state representatives about it. And during our Climate Reality Training first local meeting, it came up again. And I get it, this one is important. The elephant in the room is climate emmissions, and this helps reduce emissions. There are a lot of climate groups and a lot of concerned citizens, and we all want the same thing.

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July 16, 2020

by drplasticpicker

To All the My Patients and Your Parents,

Dr. Plastic Picker has now completed my FIFTH anti-vaping trash art piece. Yes my FIFTH trash art piece. The first one was Ocean Plastic Beach Baby which made a great splash on my personal facebook page. She was quickly followed by Vaping Company CEO Man, Hypertensive Man Made from Vaping Pens and an old blood pressure cuff, Shark Boy with Vaping Pen Arms, “A Deconstructed Life,” and yesterday I posted on Instagram “Vaping Aliens: Vaping Flavors Hook Adults, Kids and Aliens.”

As a litter-picking and ocean plastic pollution preventer, I am part anthropologist as I sometimes sort through the debris of our modern human lives. Not only are these vaping pens literally going into the oceans (I found the passion fruit one on the lower left panel on Tourmaline Beach in Pacific Beach washed onto the rocks), they are going into the lungs of our children and of their beloved parents. Two parents told me yesterday that they Vape, and that the flavors are hooking them. Now I am irate that children are being marketed to and children are telling me that the middle school bathrooms are FILLED with vaping students. And now I have realized that the hard-working parents that I have known for years are falling victim to the Vaping Company CEO Man. They are taking money from your children and your families, and also polluting our oceans.

This is the OBJECTIVE TRUTH that Dr. Plastic Picker sees in the world now.

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Much of this work on @drplasticpicker, this blog and with American Academy of Pediatrics has been driven by our children. The children we care for in clinic. The children we are raising in our own homes. And the children that will inherit this beautiful planet. The kids who are the ones who “get it” and have showed up for our group beach cleanings.

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July 5, 2020

by drplasticpicker

Honestly sometimes I’m not sure what I am doing. I pick up trash (223 bags now). I recycle (302 aluminum cans and 125 plastic mostly water bottles). I donate found items (41 pieces of clothing and 26 tennis balls/dog toys). I make trash art (see my anti-vaping pieces). I’m on instagram, never my face but always the trash I pick up (933 followers now). And I’m trying to go vegan, and educate my patients and fellow pediatricians that a planet-healthy and plant-based diet are one in the same. I just set in motion a journal club for our department on evidence-based discussion of veganism within the pediatric population called “So You Want Your Toddler to be Vegan?” Honestly one of the most impactful things I do is just donate money to environmental groups and we are at over $3000 this year and have helped preserve 7,212 acres of mostly rainforest and planted or helped preserve 200,000 trees. When the plastic picker children wake up, we’ll discuss where to donate this month.

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July 2, 2020

by drplasticpicker

I had a full day of clinic yesterday and everyone showed up. I was mostly catching up on physicals. We are desperately trying to make sure we get the vaccination rates up. Because of COVID-19, the national vaccination rates have plummetted and we are worried about the collatoral damage of a vaccine preventable disease outbreak among children especially measles. I’m on the vaccine planning committees for our HMO and we are getting ready for drive-through vaccine campaigns and have generally been very proactive in this work. Our area’s vaccine rates have not plummeted and have indeed remained steady, and hopfully will increase with our work.

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June 28, 2020

by drplasticpicker

Good morning pediatric climate activist! The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Chapter 3 San Diego Imperial County (CA3) Climate Change and Health Committee is alive and well. I just paid $755.17 to renew my personal AAP national membership ($676), CH Chapter 3 Membership ($66.67) and Council on Environmental Health (COEH) Fellow Package ($12.50). Although I am usually very frugal, the $755.17 is well worth it and it lends our work credibility to work within the auspices of a larger organization. Plus, now I can consistently put FAAP (Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics) – Fellow COEH (Committee of Environmental Health) in my emails. So much of life is just about showing up. Just updated my Who Is Dr. Plastic Picker Page with these credentials https://drplasticpicker.com/about-me/. Go me.

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June 21, 2020

by drplasticpicker

Yesterday it was Teenage TikTok Users and Kpop fans versus Trump, and the Teenagers won! Teenagers were partially the reason why the Tulsa Trump Rally tanked. Dr. Plastic Picker, your local plastic picking pediatrician, is your biggest fan (the teenagers and not Trump). It is Sunday, June 21, 2020 and a brief newstory made it online and now I can’t find it. I did take a screenshot of the story.

It just goes to show the mainstream media is missing the cultural shifts that are happening on the ground. I mentioned to Mr. Plastic Picker last night that I thought CNN was projecting a completely different world that I see as a litter picker around the neighborhood. But the tweens and teenagers, they know what is going on. If you are a teenager, you will unlikely read this. But I wanted this seared into the blogsphere virtual pages that you have my utmost admiration and support. Most of the blog and Facebook readers are your parents, and they need to know how wonderful you all are. Teenage TikTok Users torpedoed Trump – this is the headline that CNN missed.

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