Included in this edition:
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Join us in 10 Days! Texas PSR Student Leaders Present: Emerging Research on Health, Climate, and Community
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Join us for a free virtual event, Thursday, November 20, at 7pm CT, featuring Texas PSR student board members and chapter leaders presenting original research into mitigating the impacts of climate change, measuring environmental pollution, and assessing the effectiveness of environmental justice tours and community service as a form of medical student education. Register here!
Projects featured:
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Sanjna Bhatia, 4th year medical student, UT Southwestern Medical School will present statistical findings from a needs assessment exploring community understanding of heat-related illness and access to working cooling technologies gathered at the Dallas Health Fair in 2025.
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Simon Birk and Jake Bartz, 3rd year and 2nd year medical students at McGovern Medical School, UT Health Houston, will present research into the existence and prevalence of airborne microplastics at high altitudes from novel data collected on an expedition to central Mexico.
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Alan Nagarajan, 3rd year medical student, Baylor College of Medicine and Audrey Schulze, 3rd year medical student, Sealy School of Medicine, UT Medical Branch will present research into the effectiveness of hands on environmental health education for students and healthcare workers, provided through a Port Arthur environmental justice trip and community health fair in August 2024.
*CME credit is available for those interested.*
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Continued Clean Energy Investments can Contain Electricity Prices and Increase Reliability in TX
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As Texans struggle with energy costs, some utilities want to raise rates even higher. With more distributed solar and battery systems, Texas can improve reliability AND lower power bills.
Texas’s abundant, nation-leading solar, wind, and battery resources are helping to contain cost increases and meet booming electricity demand. As a widely reported U.S. Energy Information Administration report last month — headlined "ERCOT increasingly meets rising demand with solar, wind, and batteries" — detailed:
“In the first nine months of 2025, electricity demand in ERCOT, which manages about 90% of the state's load, reached a record high compared with the same period in previous years. Over those same months, ERCOT had the fastest electricity demand growth among U.S. electricity grids between 2024 and 2025. ... Since 2023, wind and solar generation, especially utility-scale solar, have been the fastest-growing sources of electricity in ERCOT and are increasingly meeting rising demand.”
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Call for Data Center Moratorium
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Tell EPA: We Need Greenhouse Gas Reporting!
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EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program is an important source of data collection used to cut pollution and minimize wasted energy. However, EPA is now trying to end the program which could let polluters do their dirty work unchecked. Submit your comment in opposition today!
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Save the Date: Reflecting on New Netflix Film
"A House of Dynamite"
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The film does not show the nuclear explosion or the aftermath; however, it is clear that the policy of nuclear deterrence did not prevent the attack and that, for the victims, a medical response would not be possible.
Thinking and talking about nuclear war is never easy. Texans Ending Nuclear Dangers, Texas PSR, and the New Mexico Hub of Back from the Brink have come together to bring you a space to discuss the film, and how we move forward. Save the Date for the evening of Tuesday, December 9! More details via email to come.
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Texans Ending Nuclear Dangers (TEND)
Next meeting, Thursday, November 20, 3pm CT, online
To learn more about joining TEND, please contact Executive Director Marj Plumb at director@texaspsr.org
Join the discussion or just listen! The TEND Committee members are health professionals, advocates, community members, researchers, and others working state-wide to influence public awareness, civic engagement, and national policy toward a nuclear-weapons-free world.
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Environmental Health Committee (EHC)
Next meeting Wednesday, November 12, 5pm CT, online.
Join Us! We are currently seeking health professionals across disciplines — physicians, nurses, public health experts, and others — to join the EHC and help shape its priorities and actions. Are you committed to addressing the health impacts of environmental threats across Texas? Fill out this form — we’d love to hear from you!
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We do so much with so little, imagine what we could do
with just a little bit more!
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OR to mail your contribution to us, please send a check to our mailing address: Texas PSR, 3571 Far West Blvd. #3428 Austin, TX 78731
As a registered non-profit under section 501(c)(3) of the IRS code, all donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
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