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December E-News |
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A Season of Gratitude and Giving The recent federal election results present significant challenges to critical climate policies and efforts to mitigate extreme heat and related health hazards. Your tax-deductible gift is essential to sustaining our work in 2025, empowering us to train and mobilize health professionals to advocate for climate action and nuclear safety, provide environmental health education through webinars and academic courses, and invest in the next generation of health leaders through student chapters and internships. Together, we can continue making a difference. Help us reach our $15,000 goal by the end of the year and strengthen our ability to meet the challenges ahead. |
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Included in this edition:
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Support Still Needed for OSHA Heat Safety Standard Sign-On Opportunity for Texas Health Professionals |
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Are you a physician, nurse, physician assistant, nurse practitioner, respiratory therapist, occupational health specialist, public health practitioner, and other health professional?
There is still time to sign a letter supporting OSHA’s proposed Heat Injury and Illness Prevention rule for outdoor and indoor work settings. With extreme heat events on the rise, this proposed standard is crucial to protecting workers across high-risk industries in Texas, including agriculture, construction, and manufacturing. By joining this effort, health professionals can help advocate for safer, healthier working conditions and bring firsthand experience to this critical public health issue.
Texas PSR’s sign-on letter includes essential recommendations, such as monitoring heat illness at lower thresholds, implementing a buddy system, and supporting small employers with compliance resources. We encourage all Texas health professionals who are committed to worker health and safety to add their voices to this important call for action and stand with colleagues in advocating for a robust OSHA heat standard.
Read More about OSHA's Heat Injury and Illness Prevention proposal and view the fact sheet here.
If you would like to sign onto our letter, please add your name here by 12/29/2024. |
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Fall Partnership with UT Austin Students |
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This fall, Texas PSR worked with the University of Texas Austin's Impact Corps which pairs UT Austin graduate and undergraduate student teams with community organizations for a semester engagement. Students help partners address a challenge or meet a new need, while learning new skills and gaining practical experience. Impact Corps is a program of The Impact Factory, a hub for social innovation and community service at UT Austin.
The team paired with Texas PSR researched and reviewed online training platforms, resources, and evaluation data to create the foundation for a NEW online environmental health course so more medical students will have access in the future! |
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Event Recap: Artificial Intelligence Impact on Climate Change |
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Last month, Texas PSR presented a webinar about AI's rapid development which is bringing with it new challenges and exacerbating existing ones. If you weren't able to join us, find the recording information below for an in depth exploration of how AI is affecting climate change, an overview of how AI affects other risks including nuclear conflict, and learn about the current state of regulation and AI safety advocacy! Click here to watch the recording.
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Welcome Texas PSR's Student Chapter at UT Medical Branch |
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Texas PSR is excited to welcome our new Medical Student Chapter! Medical Students For a Sustainable Future (MS4SF) Supporting the next generation of health professionals aligns with our mission to promote health and protect the environment. By empowering students to lead and advocate on issues like climate change, nuclear disarmament, and public health, we help cultivate the skills and passion needed for meaningful change. Our student chapters are vital hubs for education, advocacy, and community engagement, amplifying the voices of future health leaders. We look forward to working with these dedicated students as they grow into influential advocates in their fields.
Below is a note from our newest student chapter officers: Medical Students For a Sustainable Future (MS4SF) at The University of Texas Medical Branch is proud to announce its new role as a student chapter representing Texas Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR). Since becoming an official organization at UTMB in 2022, we have been dedicated to fostering awareness and creating impactful change around the effects of climate change and pollution on public health. Living in Galveston, we are particularly attuned to the challenges posed by climate-related disasters and have witnessed firsthand the long-term impact of climate change on our community.
Our chapter works on a range of initiatives within UTMB and across the Galveston community. We have hosted volunteer days at Galveston’s Own Farmers Market, conducted research with the Sealy Center of Environmental Health and Medicine, and recently developed a 4-week elective for 3rd and 4th-year students focused on climate and health. We’re excited to launch this elective in early 2025 and look forward to seeing the first cohort’s engagement with this crucial topic. In the coming months, we’ll continue to offer events that allow our members to connect with the Galveston area and deepen their understanding of the environmental impacts on health. We are grateful to have Texas PSR alongside us in these efforts and for their invaluable support.
Interested in starting a student chapter at your health professional school? Email our Executive Director, Marj Plumb DrPH, at Director@texaspsr.org. |
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NEW Edition of Austin Environmental Directory |
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Texas PSR is a proud, continued, member of the Austin Environmental Directory. The Austin Environmental Directory is a sourcebook of environmental organizations, issues, products, and services in the Central Texas area. It has been published in print since 1995 and online since 2003 and has been newly updated this year. You can find printed versions around Austin, which are distributed for free, and also online, at https://environmentaldirectory.info/
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Apply to the NIHHIS Center for Collaborative Heat Monitoring |
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The Center for Collaborative Heat Monitoring has opened applications for communities across the U.S. to monitor and evaluate factors influencing local heat risk. Selected communities will receive $10,000 and technical support to collect heat distribution data through community-led campaigns. The campaigns can help inform local cooling solutions, decision-making, advocacy, and education on heat resilience.
The application window for this opportunity is open now and closes on January 17, 2025 at 11:59 PM ET. The center will prioritize applications from communities that have experienced historical patterns of discrimination, underinvestment and disenfranchisement and have limited resources to conduct heat monitoring on their own. Rural communities, tribal nations, U.S. territories and communities that have not previously undergone heat mapping are especially encouraged to apply. Learn more in the full press release. |
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NEJM Call for Climate & Health Images |
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For “Earth Month” (April 2025), the New England Journal of Medicine Images in Clinical Medicine section will place a spotlight on images displaying the clinical health impacts of the climate crisis. They invite image submissions that capture clinical manifestations of climate change. Examples might include – but are not limited to – radiographic images of the effects of smoke inhalation from wildfire exposure, images related to climate-sensitive vector- or water-borne diseases, or images showing the pathophysiologic effects of extreme heat exposure. For more information, please visit: https://www.nejm.org/event-info
How to Submit: 1. Follow the standard Images in Clinical Medicine submission process. 2. As part of the submission process, please select the “Climate and Health Images” when prompted about special series selection. Images may be submitted through 1/1/2025 and will be screened on a rolling basis. |
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Give to Texas PSR |
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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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