Climate scientists are now telling us that we have less than 12 years in which to cut our climate-warming emissions in half or face irreversible consequences. That stark deadline is why we need a national awakening and a new commitment to action. Concretely, we need to adopt a set of policies that will move us …
by Barbara Gottlieb Two physicians from PSR’s Greater Boston chapter have just published a must-read article in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine. Entitled “Climate Change—A Health Emergency,” it is a strong and cogent statement of the challenge the world faces from climate change and the responsibility of physicians (and, by extension, other health …
Valiant activists, including some with whom PSR has collaborated for years, are celebrating two important wins against pipelines in Virginia. Virginia’s State Water Control Board voted recently to reconsider its earlier decision to grant a water quality certification to the Mountain Valley pipeline. That’s due in part to the tireless work of Tina Smusz, MD, …
Most of the countries of the world met recently in Poland to review their progress on the Paris Climate Accords and identify next steps. PSR’s national board president, Pouné Saberi, MD, attended the conference and shares her take on the outcome.
The U.S. EPA is proposing to roll back the rules that restrict methane and toxic gas leakage from oil and gas wells across the country. This roll-back would endanger health locally, and damage the climate globally. PSR responded with strong comments about these health impacts—and 19 other health professional and public health groups joined to …
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS) has released a new multimedia presentation on the 1983 television movie The Day After. This landmark film showed the actual consequences of a full-scale nuclear war, and it had a major role in shaping American public opinion about nuclear weapons. ABC broadcast The Day After on November 20, …
PSR’s Nuclear Weapons Abolition Program is working with chapters to conduct a series of advocacy trainings around the country, to develop critical community organizing tools and skills among PSR health professionals and advocates. This training series was made possible through support from the Otterman Foundation and from PSR members. Chapters have customized these events to …
Oregon PSR helped pass the landmark Portland Clean Energy Initiative, the nation’s first-ever clean energy fund for climate justice. The Initiative will raise $30 million annually to invest in renewable energy, energy efficiency, home weatherization, living-wage job training, local sustainable food production and more. Low-income residents and communities of color will be the first beneficiaries. Oregon PSR …
Two PSR/Washington physicians, Michael Soman, MD and Mark Vossler, MD, published a powerful op-ed article recently in the Seattle Times. “Climate Change is Killing Our Patients” presents with great cogency a number of PSR’s themes for 2019: that climate change is causing death and disease, here, today; that health professionals are taking action by promoting public …
As the nations of the world meet in Poland to discuss compliance with the Paris Climate Accords, PSR national board president Pouné Saberi, MD coauthored an article asking: Where is health in the conversation? Dr. Saberi is attending the conference, known as COP 24, and worked with other in the health contingent to write the …