November 25, 2019

by drplasticpicker

I wanted to continue the second in a series of weekly interviews with Pediatricians who are environmentally minded. Pediatricians are natural allies to the children fighting for the environment, as the American Academy of Pediatrics has stated children will bear the brunt of the effects of climate change.

Dr. Craig Canapari https://drcraigcanapari.com/did his undergraduate at Yale University, earned his MD at the University of Connecticut. He completed his General Pediatrics and Pediatric Pulmonology training at the Massachusetts General Hospital for Children in Boston. He was also one of the senior residents I worked with often when I was in medical training. Dr. Canapari was well loved and well regarded by all his fellow residents. He balanced a good sense of humor with excellent clinical care. When I was a resident, everyone wanted to be on his inpatient ward team because his rounds were fun! He taught me to always take care of the patient in front of me first. “No one ever died by note-openia” I remember him telling me.

Dr. Canapari is the Director of the Yale Pediatric Sleep Center, active researcher in the field of sleep medicine, and published author of It’s Never Too Late to Sleep Train https://drcraigcanapari.com/. He has been featured in the The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, US News and Boston Globe. While raising two rambunctious boys with his even busier physician-wife, he still has time to locally and nationally advocate for change in school start times to accommodate physiological differences in teen sleep patterns. I have referred hundreds of patients to his blog for down-to-earth advice. I was able to reconnect with him at the recent AAP Conference in New Orleans, and recently learned that he is a New York Yankees fan. How he survived for over 10 years in Boston, I do not know. But he is back in Yankee country at the Yale School of Medicine. Dr. Plastic Picker is so grateful that he had time to visit our blog.

What kind of coffe mug did you use this morning? Thermal mug while I play fetch with the dog outside. Oh on my travel mugs. I have a Corkcicle, Yeti, and two Zojirushis— the latter let me keep my AM coffee warm all day long.

Do you carry a reusable water bottle? Can you describe it? A bunch of different brands and off brand metal bottles. I used to use a foldable water bottle (like the Vapur) but had too many issues with leakage.

Your last trip to the grocery store, did you use a reusable grocery tote? Can you describe it? I try to remember this but don’t always. Fortunately now CT has banned plastic bags so only paper is available. I do have a canvas tote emblazoned with the motto of my senior society in college: “the best is yet to be.”

What kind of car do you drive and how many miles per gallon do you get? How far is your commute to work? I drive a late model Subaru Impreza and get about 30 mpg. Some academic days I work from home. Rarely I bike to the train. It’s gotten harder since we got a puppy and I have a lot of dog related responsibilities in the morning. It is a 12 mile commute.

What things have you done for the environment lately? This is super boring and not the most recent, but one of the more impactful things we have done is convert our heating system from oil to propane and install a heat pump. This has greatly reduced our emissions from the home by a) using a cleaner burning fossil fuel b) using the electrical grid to heat our house until the ambient temperatures is around 25 F.

More recently, I try to bring a plastic reusable tiffin to work for when I get lunches from the food carts instead of styrofoam.

What are your feelings about drplasticpicker? I am all for Dr Plastic Picker! I think a lot about the planet we are leaving our children. Sadly our government seems to be doing the opposite.

Thank you Dr. Craig Canapari for the actions you have taken on behalf of the environment and to reduce single use plastics! And thank you for your continued work on combating the Pediatric Sleep Deficit. Becuase drplasticpicker firmly believes that more well rested people use less plastic and probably litter less too!

Here in the next interview with a young pediatrician who is a paddle-boarder and a plastic picker! Dr. Sally Kaufman https://drplasticpicker.com/dr-sally-kaufman-pediatrician-and-environmentalist-3/