NH Climate Health Action Talk
December, 2024
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NH Healthy Climate’s 2024 Annual Meeting
Working Group Updates
Climate Health Bookworms
Our Planet, Our Health Convention
Bimonthly Challenge
Thank you to our corporate sponsors!
NH Healthy Climate’s 2024 Annual Meeting
On November 18th, NH Healthy Climate volunteers, members and affiliates gathered to celebrate the third year of our grassroots organization. We discussed our accomplishments and challenges of 2024 and since inception in 2021.
The event featured presentations from Advisory Board members, Robert McLellan, MD, MPH on “Climate Informed Pediatric Care”, and Matthew Cahillane, MPH on “Weather, Climate and Health Impacts: Evidence for priority setting”. We then heard from staff members Emily Thompson, on 2024 Accomplishments, as well as Maria Finnegan, on the progress of CHICKs (find updates below). The meeting concluded with remarks from Joan Widmer, Executive Director and Treasurer, MS, MSBA, RN, and Board of Directors member Tom Sherman, MD, with an update on our 2024 Annual Fundraising Campaign.
In response to the hottest year on record, NH Healthy Climate set an ambitious fundraising goal to address the urgent need for climate action in New Hampshire. Our 2024 Annual Fundraiser, the largest source of our yearly funding, aims to raise $35,000. Since launching in late September, we’ve raised approximately $25,000, thanks to the incredible generosity of our supporters and Board. However, we still need to raise an additional $10,000 by the end of the month to meet our goal. These funds are critical for sustaining our operations staff, administrative services, and the essential day-to-day functions that drive NH Healthy Climate’s mission.
Your support can make a difference. If you haven’t yet contributed, please consider donating today to show the strong foundation of support for climate and health action in New Hampshire. Now, more than ever, your help is vital to sustaining the movement we’ve built. We can't do this without you. Donate now and help us reach our goal!
Working Group Updates
Behavioral Health Working Group:
Attend upcoming webinar on January 7th with Dr. Bob Feder, chair of our Behavioral Health Working Group, who will present: “Greenspace and (Mental) Health: What’s the Evidence?”.
The next Behavioral Health Working Group meeting will be on Monday, December 16th at 6:00 PM. Email Emily for the link.
CHICKs/Children’s Health Working Group:
Last month, the CHICKs program had the thrilling experience of being filmed for the docuseries “50 States of Sustainability” which airs on PBS nationwide. Each episode of the series focuses on a different innovative climate and/or sustainability program or company, and the CHICKs program was chosen to represent New Hampshire! Stay tuned this spring to watch our Adventures in Climate and Health curriculum being taught at Boys & Girls Clubs by Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine medical students.
Also, Read the Partner Spotlight of NH Healthy Climate’s Children’s Environmental Health Day efforts featured in the Children’s Environmental Health Network newsletter.
Climate Justice Working Group:
Congratulations to Semra Aytur, co-chair of our Climate Justice Working Group, whose team at UNH recently received an important National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to design Equitable Nature-based Climate Solutions (ENACTS) in marginalized communities. Manchester, NH will be a main site, and the project will run for four years. Learn more here.
The next Environmental Justice roundtable meeting will be on Wednesday, December 18th at 5:30 PM. Email Emily for the link.
Communication & Education Working Group:
This year, the Speakers Bureau gave 50 Climate and Health presentations to a variety of audiences around the state including to nursing, PA, and undergraduate students, the Seacoast Public Health network, NH Association of Conservation Commissions and more. There were also 25 Letters to the Editor/Op-Ed pieces on climate and health published in media outlets around the state.
The next Communication & Education Working Group meeting will be on Wednesday, December 18th at 5 PM. Email Emily for the link.
Policy & Advocacy Working Group:
The Policy & Advocacy Working Group is working to support our state level affiliates as we plan priorities for 2025, track New Hampshire legislation that will affect climate and health, and organize testimony using the healthcare voice. The next Policy & Advocacy Working Group meeting will be on Tuesday, December 17th at 6:00 PM. Email Emily for the link.
Join the Climate Health Bookworms on Monday, January 27th from 7:00 - 8:00 PM, where we will discuss “What if we get it right?” by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson. Learn more about the book here.
Register Now! Our Planet, Our Health: 2025 Climate Action Convention
On March 2-4, 2025, leading climate and health organizations are coming together to host the largest event on planetary health/climate and health to date in Washington, DC. By joining forces, we can catalyze faster action to create a sustainable, healthier, and more just world.
Attendees will gain insights into cutting-edge research on the links between ecological drivers and health outcomes, explore strategies for building resilience and equity in the face of climate challenges, and learn how to be an effective voice for policy change.
Bimonthly Challenge
The Holiday Season is upon us and I am trying to get a jump on gift giving and wrapping this year. I have lots of newspaper and brown paper bags saved up to use for wrapping and I purchased some colored twine to tie up the packages with. I like the way it looks and my grandkids will have fun drawing Christmas related pictures on the outside of the packages. I am trying to shop locally also at art shops, books stores, coffee shops etc. I get my steps and shopping done at the same time! And I bring my own bags to cut down on bagging waste. My husband and I also like to give theatre tickets and similar gifts that do not have potential for being discarded or thrown out.
In trying to improve upon my sustainable approach to holiday shopping I came across a great story by the National Environmental Education Foundation called “Give a Gift to The Planet by Reducing Holiday Waste”. The blog mentioned a lot of sobering facts. Did you know that online shopping may generate up to 4.8 times more packaging than in store? Also, online purchases are more likely to be returned then in store purchases and many of the returns will end up being thrown out by the company due to difficulties with repackaging. Most of this waste just ends up in landfills producing microplastic and greenhouse gas pollutants. A study referenced on the NEEF website estimated that shipping returns are responsible for about 16 million metric tons of carbon dioxide each year. That is approximately the equivalent of 100 million reindeer - Holy Santa! Most wrapping and gift bags are not recyclable due to plastic and glitter coating and will end up in the landfills along side of the discarded and returned purchases.
The NEEF site also features a 2008 study by the US Department of Energy that found that seasonal holiday lighting accounts for 6.6 billion kilowatt hours of electricity consumed in the US. That is 0.2 percent of the total US annual consumption of electricity and is more then the entire yearly consumption of energy by many small countries such as Ethiopia, Nepal, and Cambodia. In addition to just being wasteful of energy resources, if the electricity used for holiday lighting is being generated by petroleum based sources, then the contribution to green house gasses and subsequent global warming is substantial.
So here is my Holiday Chat Challenge.
Shop locally and bring your own reusable bags for carrying your purchases.
Purchases tickets for plays, movies, educational programs and other interesting activities to give as gifts. Keep the activities local to make them even more sustainable.
Give fair trade coffees and teas. These purchases can be made locally and give you something to wrap and hand to someone along with the tickets to a play that wrapped together will provide a pleasing package under the tree.
Give newspaper and brown bags a try as gift wrap tied up by colorful twine and a few cleverly placed pieces of tiny pine and winter berries as decoration.
Consider replacing large light displays with simple electric candles burning in your windows in a nod to the old fashioned tradition of burning lighted candles in windows during the holidays. You can decrease the overall consumption of energy resources and reduce your electric bill.
Give gifts that will inspire others to be sustainable. Some great ideas a friend suggested to me for sustainable gifts include beeswax cloth to wrap sandwiches, reusable bamboo utensils for lunch boxes, reusable paper towels and cloth gift bags.
Have a healthy, fun and sustainable holiday season!!
Darla Thyng
Busy shopping locally and as always, rethinking, refusing, reusing and recycling.
Thank you to our corporate sponsors!
