Monthly Newsletter
NOVEMBER 2020
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In this issue:
Welcome & Announcements | Educate, Empower, Engage | This Month's Checklist | Friday Note's Summary | Upcoming Dates & Events
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WELCOME
Next meeting: December 4th, 10 am– 11:30 am
Greetings and welcome to MiCCA's third issue of our monthly newsletter. First off, welcome to all our new members! We look forward to working with you. Secondly, a big thank you to everyone for all your efforts during this election season. Congratulations to everyone celebrating an administration that considers combatting climate change a top priority and recognizes that health and equity are on the line. Let this election win reinvigorate our work in climate advocacy.
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Announcements
Our next meetings will be held December 4th from 10 to 11:30 EST.
Zoom line here. Meeting password: 123.
This is different than our usual schedule because of the holiday season. The meeting will be longer to accommodate for a workshop as we outline or goals and priority for the coming year. We won't run through an agenda as we usually do, instead use (roughly) the following format:
1. Review our mission statement and discuss our vision.
2. Give feedback on our current committee ideas. Thinking about committees as the vehicles to achieve our goals, which committees are we missing? Which can be combined? We'll discuss this in breakout rooms.
3. Lastly, we'll divide into breakout rooms based on our interests in different committees. There, we will decide the priorities and next steps for our respective committees.
Please come with the capacity to take notes and an idea as to what committee you might be interested it! More information in the "engage" section.
Thank you to those who have donated! There's so much more work to do, and we encourage anyone who is in the position to do so to consider a donation. This money will be used to apply for 501c3 status, pay our administrative director, and start a website independent of the Consortium page. We've included a rough outline of our budget and fundraising goals, as well as instructions as to how to donate in the "Empower" section below.
The Great Lakes Region Webinar planning committee met again last week and developed a rough outline for the topics of the January-May series on Climate and Health. Dr. Jonathon Patz and Dr. Lisa Del Buono will be the featured speakers at the first installment, covering advocacy and lobbying. Other topics will include agriculture, pipelines, environmental justice and water quality. More info to come!
The purpose of this newsletter is to keep us on the same page between meetings and serve as a resource for this community. If there is anything you would like to include (upcoming events, a riveting climate health article, or something to add to the announcements), please do not hesitate to reach out to Lauren or submit suggestions to this google form.
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Member Spotlight: Lauren Church
Lauren Church joined MiCCA in August as our Administrative Director. Lauren is a college student, taking time off during her senior year due to the pandemic. She studies Biology with a minor in Global Health and hopes to go to graduate school for environmental health or conservation and public health. She's very grateful to work with MiCCA and learn from health professionals who are passionate about the human perspective of climate change. Lauren loves her home state of Michigan and has enjoyed spending her time off hiking, kayaking, reading, and hanging out with her family (especially her dog)! Thanks, Lauren, for starting our Monthly Newsletter and helping with logistics!
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Educate
Biden's Climate Plan: What you should know
Main Points:
- Aiming for a fossil-fuel neutrality by 2050 and a carbon-free energy sector by 2035
- Centers environmental justice, emphasizing a "just transition" and deliverables including investing 40% spending in "historically disadvantaged communities" as well as establishing a Environmental and Climate Justice Division at the Justice Department
- Will conserve 30% of America's land and waters by 2030 and protecting the Arctic Refuge
- Cites the creation of 1.5 million jobs as central to his plan by pushing for energy efficient retrofits of government buildings, investing in technology, and clean energy and transportation infrastructure
- Compared to Green New Deal:
- The Green New Deal is a resolution, Biden's climate plan offers deliverables and first steps
- Biden's plan is less aggressive in its targets and narrower as well (eg. doesn't encompass Medicare for all)
- The approximated cost of the Green New Deal is $10 trillion, while Biden's comes closer to 2 trillion dollars
- How will he pass policy? Biden's climate plan is woven into all parts of his policy: jobs, foreign policy, and infrastructure. Because COVID and healthcare will be a priority, Biden may struggle to push climate policy otherwise. This is similar to what happened in the Obama administration
Criticism:
- Proponents of the Green New Deal argue that Biden's plan isn't aggressive enough, for example, Biden calls for carbon neutral energy by 2035 while the Green New Deal pushes for 100% emission free energy in 10 years
- Similarly, some groups argue that Biden isn't doing enough to keep oil in the ground, criticizing his reliance on carbon-capture
- Biden's plan does not ban fracking for natural gas, likely an effort to keep Pennsylvania voters
- Members of the group republicEN would like to see a border tax implemented for imports from countries with no carbon tax
- Does not mention carbon fee and dividend policy explicitly in his plan, although he supported it earlier in the race. This could be a response to the COVID economy and a focus on recovery
Sources and more articles:
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Empower
Here's the link to the draft of our budget and fundraising goals for the year. So far we've raised $3,100 out of a goal of $19,340 dollars. If you're in the position to do so, please consider donating in one of the following ways:
- By check, addressed to MiCCA and mailed to Julie Quinn, 10404 S. Western Hills Drive, Traverse City, MI, 49684.
- Using the Venmo app at the handle @MiCCA-Michigan and the message “MiCCA Donation” and your name. The email address associated with this account is mic4ca@gmail.com
- Via PayPal at this link.
Thanks again to everyone who has already donated and to the Consortium for getting us started with a grant!  |
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Engage
Please review the list of committee ideas below, and further explanations linked here. During our December meeting we will finalize these committees and outline the year's goal and priorities.
Committee Possibilities
- Climate Education (for health professionals, medical and nursing students, general public and policy makers )
- Policy and Advocacy* (at all levels, policy examples: food justice, active transportation, and carbon fee and dividend )
- Chapter development (fundraising, recruitment and welcome committee, building coalitions, etc.)
- Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (environmental justice coalition building and within-organization culture and initiatives)
- Michigan Healthcare Decarbonization, Mitigation and Preparedness (clinician empowerment: greening their offices, patient education, and collecting narratives)
- Other Projects (divestment, pipelines...)
Please come prepared to take notes and with an idea of which committee you might be interested it!
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Friday Notes Summary
See last weeks full agenda in the rolling notes.
1. Moved the meeting, and will likely send a poll to establish the best day and time going forward.
2. Donations and 501c3 status
- There was some discussion as to the cost of becoming a 501c3 and the benefits of having a fiscal sponsor instead.
- If you have thoughts on this conversation please email Lauren!
3. Shoutout to some of the big pushes by our members:
- Julie Quinn finished the bylaws!
- Andrea Ketchum plans to start a Twitter account that will serve as a bibliography for climate education, curating a feed of some of the most recent climate and health publications put forth by researchers and universities.
- Jerry presented to MAFP who agreed to join MSCCH. Thanks and congrats!
- Larry Junck & Lisa Del Buono presented to an MSMS public health committee about MiCCA.
4. Ongoing efforts:
- Great Lakes Webinar Planning: moving right along! More info in the announcement's section of this newsletter and to come. Please let us know if you have input or are interested in attending the planning meetings.
- U of M med school climate curriculum: Nan continues to collaborate with med student Emily .... Lisa will be leading an action-oriented workshop on climate advocacy and is looking for volunteers and mentors to help.
5. Framing our next meeting:
- As we begin to apply for grants, it has been brought to our attention that we don’t have an explicit set of actionable goals that we can work to deliver on. We’d like to brainstorm with the group what those could be, and maybe shape our committees around those goals.
- Question to think about: I had magic powers and could wish for anything, what would I wish? Let’s identify our biggest dreams for climate advocacy and then work backwards from there to make it happen.
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Breaking News!
(As of yesterday)
Thank you to Governor Whitmer and all the advocates who have fought for the health of Michiganders and the health of our Lakes.
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Upcoming Dates & Events
- Every Thursday, 7:30 PM EST
The Consortium continues its book club meetings reading Ibram X. Kendi's "How to Be an Antiracist".
- October 20th- December 8th
“The Health Emergency of Our Changing Climate Part 2: Evolving Public Health Strategies in the 21st Century”. Register here.
- Thursdays in November-December, 12:30 PM GMT.
Waking Up to the Planetary Health Emergency Conference: Hosted by the College of Medicine and Health at the University of Exeter. Register here.
- November 18th, 3:00 - 4:30 PM EST
Florida Clinicians for Climate Action, Climate Health Now and MSCCH webinar on Media Training for Climate Health Professionals. Register here
Near Term to Net Zero: A New Approach to Setting Carbon Prices with Dr. Alexander Barron. Register here.
- December 3rd, 5:30 PM PST / 8:30 PM EST
Webinar on Climate Change and Dermatology - Lecture Series #1. Hosted by the Association of Professors of Dermatology. Register here.
- December 7th, 1:00- 4:00 PM EST.
Public hearing held by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District (Corps), to hear the public's views on the permit application by Enbridge Energy to construct a pipeline tunnel under the Straits of Mackinac. More information here.
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I’m for truth, no matter who tells it. I'm for justice, no matter who it is for or against. I'm a human being, first and foremost, and as such I'm for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.
-Malcolm X
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