SEAC Deep Dive into Heat and Health
August finds SEAC taking a deep dive into heat and health and how the medical community and San Diego County Health Department are preparing for this extreme climate change event. Heat deaths are the number one weather related death in the United States- even more than flood, hurricane or earthquake deaths.
Our July SEAC meeting hosted Dr. Mary Lou Lindegren and Dr. Vi Nguyen (both LWVSD members) who presented on the upcoming, first in the nation H3 Summit (Heat and Human Health) to be held at UCSD on August 12th. The focus of the H3 summit is the connection of physicians with the climate crisis. We are the first to coordinate this type of summit- geared towards physicians- in the country. The SEAC Environmental Justice Committee has been instrumental in connecting people together for the Summit and has worked in particular with different agencies within the County Health Department to organize a break-out session on the County of San Diego Excessive Heat Response Plan. To attend the H3 Summit visit
here:
We have established many collaborations in planning the H3 Summit and SEAC is committed to continuing this work. In planning the break out session we have met Health Department leaders, Aging and Independent Services workers, Partner Relay staff and the Emergency Response Team. These offices are responsible for the county heat plan and Cool Zones.
SEAC will take this information and county plan forward to next level with the LWVSD on September 18th, when we will host a Hot Topic! Heat and Human Health Event. Our panelists will include:
- Dr Wilma Wooten, Director of Public Health Services for the County of San Diego
- The Partner Relay Team who gets emergency messages out to the community
- Kristin VanderMolen of the Desert Research Institute, a community-driven researcher on climate impacts and adaptation
- Kristin Guirguis of Scripps Institute of Oceanography, a climate and extreme weather researcher
Subsequently, we will present Kristin VanderMolen’s curriculum on excessive heat and public communication strategies geared to educate the communities who are most at risk; what they can do and what their resources are. We will share this curriculum with the League after the fall panel so that members will have information to take to their churches or community groups. Heat effects everything- drought, energy consumption, food supply and health.
Upcoming Deep Dive into the Tijuana River Sewage Crisis
On August 15th at 1:00 pm our SEAC speaker will be Sarah Davidson, manager of Surfrider’s Clean Border Water Now program. Sarah works collaboratively at local, state and federal levels to address the binational health crisis caused by toxic water pollution along the U.S.- Mexico border region. This talk will follow our Tijuana River Valley tour and predate our Tijuana River Valley Sewage Crisis League-wide event in November.
The Tijuana River is the most polluted watershed in the U.S. and is polluting beaches from Imperial Beach to Coronado, Mexican beaches to the south and the Tijuana River Estuary. As of June 2023, Imperial Beach California has had over 500 consecutive days of beach closures.
Blue Angels Miramar Air Show Committee
A subcommittee is forming to investigate the issue of pollution from the Blue Angels at the Miramar Air Show (see June Voter article). If you are interested in being part of this group, please let me know.
The Sustainability and Environmental Action Committee welcomes new members and input! Join us the third Tuesday of each month at 1:00pm. For questions, concerns or to be a co-chair, email ruths@lwvsandiego.org.