MY NO NAME (right now) BLOG:

December 17, 2018

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GET DRESSED. Forty-three huge companies in the fashion industry have committed to addressing climate change – Adidas, Gap, Hugo Boss, etc. Their new charter was announced the day after Vanity Fair hosted its inaugural climate change ball. If celebrities would start wearing climate sensitive gear, I’d be inspired to check out who they’re wearing. Where can you start buying sustainable fashion? One recommendation I’ll make today is to just stop using your dryer so your clothes can last a lot longer. But, if you need something, you could check out recommendations from Treehugger.  

ENERGY. Two utilities in the US have admitted that junking their coal plants and moving to renewables is the way to go.  This is a surprising announcement, but it shows how other utilities could act. It’s happening at the same time we see that offshore wind is here to stay in New England when four different companies bid a total of over $400 million to build new wind farm facilities off the coast of Massachusetts. This is a key turnaround after the Cape Wind debacle.

MONEY. Investors managing  $32 trillion are saying we have to act on climate. What do we regular consumers do about this? ETF trends has an answer that is not new exactly, but a nice list of five things I highly recommend that you would be smart to consider when managing your investments in light of climate change: 1) adopt a long-term horizon, 2) assess non-traditional risks, 3) engage with new data, 4) look at some of the new Environment/Social/Governance tools available, and 5) be active in making your investments. This is a good way of taking control into your own hands when you see these headlines.  

FAMILY. Let’s talk about climate change over the holidays! That’ll be fun, for sure. Climate scientist, Kathryn Hayhoe, released a new TED talk this week where she said job number one is to just talk about the climate. The Guardian is offering five ways to talk about climate change: 1) facts, 2) personal story-telling, 3) sense of urgency, 4) don’t repeat false claims while attempting to refute them, and 5) just listen. I’d say these are all good approaches, but you might also lead with something other than climate if you’re going to raise it in mixed company, as it were. Say, talk about your energy bill has gone up and how you brought it down by switching to renewable sources, for example. Or, mention how your almond milk price when up so much because of the California drought you had to switch to oat milk, or water. :/

ART. Art Basel in Miami just ended this year. The locals are making projects that tell their story of Miami. From swirling images of water from the arctic ice sheets to outdoor installations. I particularly like Anastasia Samoylova’s project that juxtaposes photographs of Miami’s tourism self-promotion with climate change threats. A picture is worth a thousand words.

RECENT TALKS

Annual Science Writers Meeting

Climate Litigation: Lessons Learned.

October 15, 2018

Viceroy Lamage, Beverly Hills
Public Health: A Crisis at Home
April 25, 2018

National Academies Science & Entertainment Exchange Director's Retreat
From under the Ice Sheets: Emergent Health Threats from Climate Change
May 19-20, 2018

Boston University
Climate Media: Notes from the Field
April 20, 2018

Columbia University School of Public Health
Protecting the Public's Health from Climate Change: Communication and Litigation for Action, April 11, 2018

Conference on Global Health
Cities Responding to Climate Change
March 15, 2018

National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine
Climate Communication Initiative 
March 8, 2018

Milken Institute Global Conference in London
From Acid Rain to Asset Rain: The Case for Climate Technology
December 2, 2017

New York University
Climate Litigation and Public Health at NYU Global College of Public Health
September 13, 2017

George Washington University
The Critical Role of Climate Litigation and Opportunities for Public Health
September, 11 2017

TALKS & EVENTS: Selected Highlights

Science in Climate Change Litigation
Society of the Social Studies of Science Annual Meeting, Boston, September 2017

Climate Change Litigation
American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, Montreal Canada, August 2017

Climate Change in the Court System: A New Role for Public Health
Yale School of Public Health, March 2017
Preliminary findings were reported from our National Science Foundation-funded study focusing on the role of health in climate change litigation. 

Climate Change on the Screen
New York University, March 2017
A part of NYU's Green Screen program featuring excerpts from Dr. McCormick's recent films.

Screening at National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
50th Fest. Durham, NC. 

Climate Change and Health
Fuller Symposium. World Wildlife Fund, Washington, DC. 

A Socio-Medical Approach to Managing Urban Heat Keynote
American Institute of Architects, New York. New York, NY. Urban Climate Action and the Importance of Communication.

Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health Annual Meeting
Crystal City, VA.

The Health Implications of Climate Change
Robert Wood Johnson Culture of Health Inaugural Meeting. Baltimore, MD.