Code Black Toolkit

Coal's Assault on America's Health

The Code Black Toolkit contains:

• Fact Sheet: Coal-Fired Power Plants: Understanding the Health Costs of a Dirty Energy Source (download here)
• Fact Sheet: The Medical and Public Health Impacts of Global Warming (download here)
• Coal's 7 Deadly Threats wall-size poster (must be ordered -- see sample here)
• Coal's 7 Deadly Threats mini-poster (11" x 17") (must be ordered -- see sample here)
• Local Event announcement poster (order or download DIY here)
• Model newspaper ad (order or download model here)
• Code Black post card (order or download model here)
• Code Black bumper stickers:
  • Stop the Coal Plant (order or download DIY here)
  • Clean Coal Is a Dirty Lie (order or download DIY here)
• Code Black Tee Shirt (must be ordered -- see sample here)

More materials will be coming soon.

How to Order the Materials:

Click here to download the mail-in order form.

How Health Professionals Can Use the "Code Black Toolkit"
to Take Action

1. Learn with us about coal’s impact on health and on the planet.
 
With total disregard for coal’s deadly health impact on scores of American communities -- and the entire planet -- Big Coal seeks to build more than 100 new coal-fired energy plants.  Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) takes this assault on America’s health with the utmost seriousness.  Code Black is PSR’s program to inform health professionals about the multiple threats that coal poses to public health, and to help health professionals strengthen local efforts to oppose and defeat the approval or licensing of new coal-fired plants.

The materials in this packet provide a solid foundation for grasping the health impacts of coal and those of global warming.  More information will be posted periodically on the Code Black website -- visit it at www.psr.org/CodeBlack. 

2.  Take a stand to assure that our communities have safe, healthy sources of power. 

The American people turn to doctors and nurses for reliable information on issues of health and safety.  Use that trust and respect to provide positive leadership by insisting that energy sources be safe and healthy. 

• Post Code Black educational materials in your health care waiting room, in hospitals and in health clinics.  Download materials above. Use the order form in the Code Black Toolkit to order informational posters, tee shirts and other resources. 
• Draw on Code Black materials to write letters to the editor or op-ed articles for local newspapers.  Voice your concern as a health care professional, highlighting both the toxic pollutants that coal combustion spews out, and coal’s significant contribution to greenhouse gases and global warming.
• PSR and Student PSR members and chapters can circulate petitions, distribute information at health fairs, and voice your concerns to candidates and elected officials. 
• If there’s a new coal plant planned in your state, call or email Barbara Gottlieb, Environment & Health Program Manager, for information on local opposition efforts: bgottlieb@psr.org, 202-587-5225.

3.  Mobilize the medical community to prevent global warming and health risks caused by coal.

As you lead, bring other health professionals along with you.  Educate your fellow health professionals where you live and work about the deadly threats that coal-fired plants pose to health.  Work with your local affiliates of health professional associations (AMA, ANA, APHA, etc.) to pass resolutions opposing the construction and licensing of new coal-fired plants.

For support, resources and draft resolutions, contact Barbara Gottlieb, Environment & Health Program Manager, at bgottlieb@psr.org.

Together, we can stop coal’s assault on America’s health.  Because power shouldn’t be poisonous.