California governor visits Seattle for rally against ballot measure that aims to undo climate efforts

California governor visits Seattle for rally against ballot measure that aims to undo climate efforts

by Lisa Stiffler on October 21, 2024

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee hosted California Gov. Gavin Newsom in Seattle this past weekend in an effort to get out the vote in opposition to Initiative 2117.

The ballot measure would eliminate a program requiring Washington’s largest polluters to pay for greenhouse gas emission permits, and would forbid leaders from creating similar efforts in the future.

The cap-and-invest carbon market was created by the state’s Climate Commitment Act and has raised billions of dollars that pay for climate programs including initiatives in communities and tribes hardest hit by the impacts of climate change, state transportation infrastructure projects, and support for job creation and climate tech companies working on decarbonization. Read More

Honoring Nihon Hidankyo: A Call for Nuclear Disarmament

October 22, 2024

For Immediate Release:

By Dr. Joseph Berkson, Nuclear Weapons Abolition Program Co-Chair and Dr. Ken Lans, WPSR Board President

The honoring of a grassroots organization of atomic-bomb survivors with the Nobel Peace Prize is a profound moment that can provide inspiration for citizen action against the civilization-ending threat of nuclear weapons. For decades, the group Nihon Hidankyo—comprised of survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki—has dedicated itself to preserving the painful memories of that tragic history. 

Nihon Hidankyo’s recognition is a reminder of the existential risks that most of us prefer to push aside. The survivors, or hibakusha, have lived through the unimaginable and have spent their lives advocating for a simple yet monumental goal: the total abolition of nuclear weapons.

Since our founding at the height of the cold war in 1979, Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility (WPSR) has advocated for scaling back and eventually eliminating these weapons of total destruction. As health professionals in a state with the Hanford Nuclear Reservation and Naval Base Kitsap, with its fleet of nuclear submarines, we have an intimate understanding of the health consequences that the mining, production, storage and use of nuclear weapons can impose. Knowing the unimaginable scale of death and lingering suffering even a single bomb would bring, we’re driven in our educational efforts, actions and advocacy by a desire to prevent something for which there is no cure.

Who can bring about the needed change in how we think about and handle this present peril? UN Secretary-General António Guterres framed it clearly: “It is time for world leaders to be as clear-eyed as the hibakusha, and see nuclear weapons for what they are: devices of death that offer no safety, protection, or security. The only way to eliminate the threat of nuclear weapons is to eliminate them altogether.”

But leaders are more likely to act when they are pushed. The easing of Cold War tensions in the 1980s and 1990s followed large-scale public activism and demonstrations, like the massive 1982 march in New York City that included a speech by a Hiroshima survivor. 

In 2021, the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons entered into force after being ratified by 50 countries. Today, 94 countries have signed the treaty, and 73 have ratified it. However, the major nuclear powers all remain missing, which leads to asking if this is an impractical desire by nations without nuclear arsenals to influence those that possess them?

Some also argue that complete disarmament is unrealistic. But is the only alternative continuing down the current path of nuclear escalation? The U.S. is now planning to spend $1.7 trillion to upgrade its nuclear arsenal — at a time when critical domestic needs, like healthcare and education, are underfunded.

Within Congress, some call for a reevaluation of our nuclear strategy. In Newsweek, U.S. Rep. Adam Smith, D-Bellevue, has urged reconsideration of our reliance on land-based nuclear missiles. His closing words were powerful: “A world without nuclear weapons is a goal we should continue to strive for because a nuclear war cannot be won and therefore must never be fought. Until that can be achieved, we must have the moral fortitude to make decisions that get us closer to that goal, not push us to the brink of a catastrophic nuclear holocaust.”

This is not an abstract issue for experts or diplomats to debate in isolation. It’s a matter of life and death, and citizens can play an active role. We can pressure our elected representatives to rethink nuclear policies. Advocacy groups like WPSR, in collaboration with the Washington Against Nuclear Weapons (WANW) coalition, are already working to lobby members of Congress. You can join this effort—whether individually or through your own organization. Together, we can amplify the call for a safer, nuclear-free world.

In honoring Nihon Hidankyo, let’s not just reflect on the past. Let’s also take concrete steps toward a future where no one else will suffer from the horrors of nuclear warfare.

Housing for All: What Works and How We Get There

October 22, 2024

For Immediate Release:

WPSR's Economic Inequity & Health Task Force invites you to a free, virtual event on November 19th at 6pm: Housing for All: What works and how we get there. Housing is essential for health and wellbeing and every one of us deserves to be housed. So how do we make systemic changes to ensure everyone has safe, stable, affordable housing? Join us to hear about efforts that have made a difference and upcoming opportunities to advocate for statewide housing policies.

REGISTER: https://www.wpsr.org/housingforall

Governors Inslee and Newsom Join WPSR to Oppose Ballot Initiatives

October 22, 2024

For Immediate Release:

WPSR hosts California Governor Gavin Newsom, Washington Governor Jay Inslee, local elected officials, and health care professionals representing WPSR's Task Forces. This diverse group of local and national leaders came together to rally community members behind efforts to protect and promote funding that addresses the climate crisis, preserves education, and provides long-term healthcare for Washingtonians

Initiative 2117: A Risk to Our Health

July 22, 2024

For Immediate Release:

Physicians Release Report on Health Risks of Initiative 2117 - Call for NO Vote to Protect Public Health

Seattle, WA — Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility (WPSR), a statewide advocacy organization composed of healthcare professionals, is urging residents to vote NO on Initiative 2117, a proposal that threatens the health and well-being of Washington communities by repealing the Climate Commitment Act (CCA).

Their latest report, I-2117: A Risk to Our Health, details the significant health impacts that Initiative 2117 poses to Washingtonians, especially to children and overburdened communities. 

“Repealing the CCA would reverse significant public health advancements, particularly for our most overburdened communities,” stated Dr. Mark Vossler, one of the white paper's lead authors.

Key health benefits at risk include:

• Improved Air Quality: Investments have significantly reduced the risk of respiratory conditions like asthma, especially in children

• Cardiovascular Health: Lower air pollution levels, which will lessen heart attack and stroke incidents

• Mental Health: Enhanced urban green spaces promote physical activity and mental well-being

• Heat Protection: Urban forestry projects mitigate extreme heat risks

The CCA, enacted in 2021, has been instrumental in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and reinvesting in overburdened communities. The CCA mandates that 35-40% of its revenue benefits overburdened populations, with at least 10% directed to Tribal projects. Repealing these measures would exacerbate health disparities in economically disadvantaged and minority communities.

“Healthcare professionals witness firsthand the devastating effects of pollution and climate change on public health,” emphasized WPSR Executive Director Max Savishinsky. “A vote against Initiative 2117 is a vote for a healthier, more equitable future for all Washingtonians.”

WPSR calls on all residents to protect public health by voting NO on Initiative 2117.

Download the report here | Report One-Pager

For more information, please visit www.wpsr.org/wpsrvoteno2024

WA Healthy State Building Codes Threatened by Lawsuit

May 24, 2023

For Immediate Release:

WA Building Codes Council Acts to Keep New Construction Codes on Track for Clean and Efficient Heating and Cooling

Move comes as gas industry marshals its national playbook locally in Wash. with lawsuit aimed at unwinding state action for healthy homes and buildings 

Washington’s State Building Code Council (SBCC) took action today to keep its recently updated construction codes for new homes and buildings on track to continue to drive the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy for space and water heating. The council’s action comes on the heels of a new gas industry lawsuit, just filed earlier this week, aiming to block updated the construction codes approved last year that were supported by thousands of Washingtonians. 

SBCC members voted to start a process to make several minor changes to both the commercial and residential codes to safeguard the policies from legal challenges. The gas industry’s suit, filed on behalf of plaintiffs including Northwest Natural and Avista, appears to be an attempt to leverage the recent 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision which found that a policy to restrict gas infrastructure by Berkeley, California, was preempted by federal law.  

“The SBCC is taking no chances and adding extra insulation to the new construction codes in the face of underhanded and deeply self-interested tactics by the gas industry to use the 9th circuit's over-reaching decision to undo any and all state and local actions to ensure new buildings are climate-friendly,” noted Dylan Plummer, senior campaign representative with the Sierra Club. “The gas industry’s lawsuit is an insult to Washingtonians who overwhelmingly want action on climate change.” 

The lawsuit on Berkeley’s ordinance was financially backed by SoCalGas, the largest gas utility in the country. An industry analyst has called the 9th Circuit ruling a “playbook” opportunity for the gas industry to “storm the walls” of local policies. 

"Washington's State Energy Strategy found that electrification is the lowest-cost pathway to achieving our statutory climate targets, and accordingly, the Washington Legislature directed the State Building Code Council to pass codes that achieve the goal of building zero fossil-fuel greenhouse gas emission homes and buildings by the year 2031,” said Deepa Sivarajan, Washington Local Policy Manager for Climate Solutions. “Upholding the intent of Washington's clean codes is crucial to ensuring that new buildings in Washington aren't digging us deeper into a fossil fuel future, as well as reducing air pollution and increasing resilience by preferring electric heat pumps that offer both heating and cooling." 

The SBCC is moving the codes to a performance standard approach, which uses an efficiency benchmark that is based on the top-flight cost-effective performance on the market. Heat pumps, which provide both AC and heat in the same unit, run up to three times more efficiently than gas furnaces, and will save Washingtonians $1,000 a year according to the Department of Commerce. 

“Heat pumps are already the go-to in new construction today for performance, efficiency, lower energy bills and clean air, and updating building codes accordingly is common sense,” said Rachel Koller, Managing Director with Shift Zero. “Nearly 5,000 people submitted public comments or testified in support of the updated building codes. It’s only May and we’ve already had days of record-breaking heat. Washingtonians want to transition to clean, electric heating and cooling in their homes.”

Jonny Kocher, Manager at RMI stated, “Most new homes in Washington are already being built with heat pumps for space heating because it's the most cost-effective and climate-friendly solution. Even with minor revisions by the SBCC to reduce legal risk, the next code will push the market for clean electric heating and cooling even further. RMI is confident that an all-electric future for new homes and buildings in Washington is here to stay and that Washingtonians will benefit from the clean air, energy savings, and fewer climate-warming emissions that building electrification delivers.”

The industry representatives participating in the lawsuit have attempted to fight the transition away from polluting gas in buildings for years. Northwest Natural has previously sued Oregon over its climate change policies, and has been preparing to run a $4 million ballot measure campaign in the small city of Eugene, OR over that community’s commitment to all-electric new construction. The New York Times reported this year that Northwest Natural hired a mercenary toxicologist in an attempt to downplay the health risks of gas stoves. Last year, current and former Oregon lawmakers and 32 organizations submitted a petition to the Oregon Department of Justice calling for an investigation into NW Natural for false advertising and advertising to children. The Spokane Home Builders Association previously attempted to run a ballot measure in Spokane that would have preemptively prevented any requirement to move to more efficient, electric new buildings, before the measure was thrown out in court.

The SBCC’s action today will prompt a couple-month process for the changes to the residential and commercial building codes to be proposed and go through public comment. Code updates could then go into effect after the SBCC votes, likely this fall.
Contacts: Tiffany Cain, tiffany@resource-media.org; Stephanie Noren, stephanie.noren@climatesolutions.org; Sage Welch, sage@sunstonestrategies.org

Read more in this Politico article on the legal threat to the WA SBCC codes.

March 2023 Legislative Update

In this post: The WA Legislative session is (still!) in full swing and WPSR is working tirelessly to advance legislation that will make our state a safer, more just, and healthier place for all. We are bringing the health voice to bear on important bills that make our upside-down tax system more fair, address our housing and climate crises, and mitigate the threat of nuclear disaster. Read on about what we are up to, and please: join us in our work to address the gravest threats to health!

Economic Inequity & Health

We are working hard to create a more equitable tax code and a state where everyone has a safe, affordable home:

• The Working Families Tax Credit (WFTC) went into effect this year! Over 100,000 people have claimed the credit and over $25m has been sent to working families throughout WA. Now, we are pushing to make the credit more accessible.

• The Wealth Tax has a second hearing today! Sign in PRO here by 3pm to support the wealth tax and help make our tax code more equitable. Polling shows broad support among Washington voters for a state wealth tax.

• Unfortunately a bill to create a Guaranteed Basic Income (GBI) pilot has stalled, but made it further in the legislative process than it did last year, which is promising!

• WPSR is also supporting the Estate Tax and the Affordable Homes Act, which is a real estate excise tax (REET) that would fund housing efforts. 

• We have been advocating for tenants' rights by supporting Rent Stabilization and a 6-Month Notice of Excessive Rent Increases. Unfortunately, neither bill passed the House, but we will continue to advocate for rent fairness and support these bills next year.

• The Covenant Homeownership Account - supporting first time homebuyers affected by Washington's history of discriminatory housing practices - has passed the House and is currently in the Senate awaiting a hearing.

Climate & Health

We have made historic strides in climate action in the past year, but our work continues! With funds coming in from the newly implemented Climate Commitment Act, our legislators must invest in climate through funding healthy homes and clean transportation. Specifically, our legislators must:

• Invest in and expand the Weatherization Plus Health program, which is instrumental in creating energy efficiency in our buildings and for improving our health through necessary home upgrades;

• Create a High-Efficiency Heating and Cooling Program to help low and middle-income families in Washington make necessary upgrades to their homes such as funding of heat pump installations;

• Fund the electrification of our medium and heavy duty vehicles, including trucks, vans and school buses

Now is crunch time for budget negotiations, and our legislators need to hear from you! Send a letter to your legislators, telling them to invest wisely in climate in this year's budget. 

Nuclear Weapons Abolition

Many of our nuclear abolition priorities have now been introduced into Congress, but a majority of Washington's Congressional Delegation remain silent. We need your help reaching out to your representatives and senators in Congress to sponsor these important pieces of legislation:

• H.R. 77 Embracing the Goals and Provisions of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

• H.R. 669 Restricting the First Use of Nuclear Weapons

• H.R. 1134 People Over Pentagon Act 

With New START - the last remaining Nuclear Arms Control Treaty in jeopardy, we must urge a return to diplomacy focused on securing and reducing nuclear arsenals. And, with the ongoing specter of a nuclear accident or exchange in Europe,  and the increasing toll on human life in Ukraine, we must also push on Congress to negotiate an end to the conflict. You can help by signing our petition for an Immediate Transition Away From Nuclear Weapons. 

Needless to say, we are taking on many critical issues that impact the wellbeing of Washingtonians and people everywhere.  And given the magnitude of the challenges, we simply can't do it alone. Please, join us as an advocate, and as a supporting member and be a part of our work to make the world a safer, just, and healthier place for all.

Health Professionals Urge FERC to Deny a Controversial Plan to Expand a Fracked Gas Pipeline

Press Release: Health Professionals Urge FERC to Deny a Controversial Plan to Expand a Fracked Gas Pipeline

• More than 500 physicians, nurses, and other public health officials signed onto a petition calling on FERC to deny TC Energy's proposed fracked gas pipeline expansion

• Pipeline passes through rural, low-income and Indigenous communities in Oregon, Washington and Idaho

WHAT

More than 500 physicians, nurses and community members signed onto a letter urging the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to deny a proposed bid to expand shipments of fracked gas through an aging Northwest pipeline. 

As soon as mid-March, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, could vote on whether to approve a bid from the Canadian-owned natural gas company TC Energy, the owner of the infamous Keystone Pipeline, to expand the amount of fracked gas exported through the aging Gas Transmission Northwest (GTN) pipeline. The pipeline runs through communities across Idaho, Washington and Oregon, including low-income neighborhoods and lands important to indigenous communities.

Physicians and other medical professionals, including members of Physicians for Social Responsibility, are joining other community members in sounding the alarm about the impact the pipeline’s expansion could have on local communities. More than 500 people have signed onto the letter.

WHY

Pipelines and expansion projects are frequently approved at higher rates in rural, Indigenous and low-income communities, which force these communities to bear the health disparities such projects are associated with: air, water and noise pollution. 

Should TC Energy’s bid be approved, the proposed expansion would include the construction of expanded or new compressors which vent methane and other volatile organic compounds like formaldehyde, particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide. All of these air pollutants have serious health impacts, including increased risks of stroke, cancer, asthma and low birth weight and premature babies. 

QUOTES

“We are in a climate crisis, where we are already experiencing the devastating effects of rising temperatures, the direct result of burning fossil fuels, including so-called “natural gas” i.e., methane,” said Ann Turner MD, a member of Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility. “As medical practitioners, we see the impact the climate crisis has on people each and every day. And we have a responsibility to sound the alarm. We urge FERC to prioritize the health of our most vulnerable communities over profit.” 

“States in the Northwest have made great strides in reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and creating healthier communities,” said Dr. Mark Vossler, board member at Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility. “I urge FERC to consider the human health impact of the proposed pipeline expansion and respect the leadership of local, state and Tribal governments in addressing the climate crisis. FERC should deny the permit for this  pipeline expansion proposal which is both unnecessary to meet our energy needs and harmful to people in our communities.”

"Idahoans dread FERC approval of the GTN Xpress expansion project, which would force greater fracked gas volumes and hazardous emissions through the aging GTN pipeline. This expansion project would further threaten and harm the health and safety of rural communities, environments, and recreation economies for decades," said Helen Yost of Wild Idaho Rising Tide. "This proposed expansion does not support the best interests of concerned Northwesterners living and working near compressor stations and the pipeline route."

ORGANIZATIONS

• Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility 

• Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility 

• San Francisco Physicians for Social Responsibility 

• Wild Idaho Rising Tide 

ADDITIONAL DETAILS AND CONTACT

To coordinate interviews: Contact Byron Kimball, Byron@gomixte.com, 619-732-0789 ext. 297

Link to use in your story:

• Campaign video

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About Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility

Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility works to protect human life from the gravest threats to health and survival. Learn more. 

About Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility

Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility engages the community to create a healthy, peaceful, just and sustainable world. Learn more. 

About San Francisco Bay Physicians for Social Responsibility

San Francisco Bay Physicians for Social Responsibility works to protect human life from the gravest threats to health and survival. Learn more. 

About Wild Idaho Rising Tide

Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) confronts the root causes of climate change, water degradation, and air pollution, by asserting direct actions and promoting locally organized solutions, in solidarity with frontline communities of resistance and an international, volunteer, grassroots network of activists. Learn more. 

Climate Change is Making Us Sick in Washington

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
Contact: Max Savishinsky, WPSR                                                
Phone: 206.547.2630
Email: Max@WPSR.org

Impacts and Solutions are Focus of WPSR's Climate/Health 2022 Report

Seattle, July 14, 2022 - Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility released its  2022 Climate and Health Report, detailing the harms of climate change to human health. The report enumerates the opportunities for improving the quality of life for millions of Washingtonians through climate action, including actionable steps that individuals, businesses, and policy-makers can take. 

Climate change and human health are inextricably linked, and the worsening effects of climate change are already having real, documented impacts on the health of Washington communities. The report finds that the 2020 wildfire smoke in Western Washington led to as many as 179 excess deaths from respiratory illnesses. From wildfire smoke to extreme weather events, Washington residents, especially low-income and BIPOC Washingtonians, are facing increasing rates of asthma, heat related illness, and threats from infectious diseases, among countless other health concerns.

“The longer we wait to act, the more the earth will warm, the more the climate will be disrupted, and the more dire and widespread the impacts and harms on people will become,” writes Ken Lans, a founding member of WPSR and a member of the Climate and Health Task Force.

This report serves as a guide for tackling climate-related health factors in our policies, in our healthcare providers’  offices, and in our homes. Download the 2022 Climate and Health Report.

Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility (WPSR) is a health professional-led advocacy organization working to create a healthy, just, peaceful and sustainable world. For over 40 years, WPSR has taken on the gravest threats to human health and survival, including advocating for nuclear abolition, economic equality, and climate justice.

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For more information, contact Max Savishinsky at Max@WPSR.org

WPSR Calls for Peace in Ukraine

As health professionals and people concerned with peace, we must call for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine.

WPSR joins PSR National and members of our Washington Against Nuclear Weapons Coalition in strongly condemning Russia’s attacks on Ukraine. Intentionally taking lives - whether military or civilian - is unconscionable. We must not give in to violence and war at a time in history when we must work cooperatively to end a global pandemic and focus our resources and attention on meeting the challenges of a climate crisis, exploding inequality, and other threats to health and wellbeing.

We call on all parties to protect and respect Ukraine and its people, sovereignty, and territorial integrity. We call on Russia to immediately withdraw from Ukraine, and engage in a ceasefire. We call on our own government to earnestly work for immediate and long-term diplomatic solutions that will provide for true security, both at home and abroad.

We are deeply concerned about the myriad, heightened risks of nuclear harm that this conflict could trigger, whether by accident, or on purpose. No country has the right to imperil Europe and the world with nuclear weapons. Today, more than ever, it is clear that we must work together for true security, and finally and permanently eliminate the threat of nuclear weapons.

If you are a member of an organization in Washington state and believe that our nations should reduce and eventually eliminate our reliance on nuclear weapons to ensure security, please join us by signing this letter to President Biden to issue a Nuclear Posture Review that prioritizes restraint, safeguards, and health and wellbeing of our country, rather than profits for nuclear weapons industries.

You can also take individual action by signing this medical alert through the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War.

Together, we must act to restore peace and prevent the harms that cannot be cured.

Congress must seize this moment...

In early August, 60 healthcare and public health organizations from around the nation signed a letter to Congress, insisting that their infrastructure bill and budget reconciliation bill (both in progress on Capitol Hill as of our writing this) include specific and robust investments in solutions to the climate crisis.

Join the below-listed organizations in taking action against the climate crisis with a donation to WPSR’s Climate & Health Task Force HERE.

Dear Members of Congress:

As health organizations, we represent physicians, nurses, mental health professionals, public health and health care professionals, health scientists and researchers, patients and advocates all dedicated to promoting health and saving lives. Climate change is a health emergency. Addressing it by transitioning the nation to clean, renewable electricity and clean transportation will avoid the worst health impacts of climate change and achieve immediate improvements in air quality and health at the same time. Congress’ current work on legislation to invest in infrastructure and other priorities must yield a package of climate change measures that meet the urgency of this moment by achieving a roughly 50% reduction in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

Air pollution and climate change are impacting the health of millions of Americans now, and those impacts will only get worse without action. Emissions from fossil fuel or other combustion-based operations are worsening air quality, which is especially harmful for children, seniors, pregnant people, people with respiratory illnesses and people who work or play outside. These same emissions are also driving climate change and with it, sweeping and dramatic health harms. More intense and frequent wildfires, strong storms and persistent extreme heat are already causing physical and mental harm.

As a result of numerous current and legacy racist policies and practices, people of color are disproportionately more likely to have multiple pre-existing health conditions, to face social disadvantages and environmental risks that make them more vulnerable to climate change. Communities of color are also three times more likely than white communities to live in areas experiencing the worst air pollution.

Congress must seize this moment to make major investments in climate and health solutions. By cleaning up the nation’s electricity and transportation, you can not only slash greenhouse gas emissions but also improve health by cleaning up other dangerous air pollution.

As you debate investments in infrastructure and consider the American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan, our organizations ask you to approve legislation to:

• Invest in clean, non-combustion renewable energy. A clean electricity standard that achieves 100% renewable electricity by 2035 and rapid reductions in natural gas and coal use are necessary to drive a nationwide transition to pollution-free sources like wind, solar, geothermal and tidal. To protect health equity, clean energy legislation should not include offset credits that would allow for increased pollution in communities already experiencing poor air quality.

• Establish long-term clean energy tax incentives. Paired with a clean electricity standard, ten-year tax incentives for clean electricity, energy storage, transmission will help drive innovation and deployment of pollution-free energy.

• Rapidly transition to zero-emission vehicles, buses and ports. Include historic investments in electric vehicles and buses and the necessary charging infrastructure. Specifically, please include $40 billion in electric vehicle manufacturing, $40 billion over the next decade in charging infrastructure, and at least $20 billion to help transform the nation’s diesel school bus fleet to electric, zero-emission buses. As part of a transition to a pollution-free transportation sector, include investments to electrify the nation’s ports, which have some of the poorest air quality in the country.

• Commit to environmental justice by ensuring 40% of investments in clean air go to frontline communities. Any efforts to reduce air and climate pollutants should not worsen existing inequities and should direct benefits to the communities that have been disproportionately burdened by air pollution and climate change.

Investing in infrastructure is an opportunity to protect health from climate change – particularly for underserved communities – that Congress and the nation can't afford to miss. The below organizations urge swift and bold investments towards a healthier future.

Sincerely,

Allergy & Asthma Network

Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments

American Heart Association

American Lung Association

American Psychological Association

American Public Health Association

American Thoracic Society

Arkansas Public Health Association

Association of Public Health Nurses

Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health

Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America

Children's Environmental Health Network

Climate Psychiatry Alliance

Colorado Public Health Association

Delaware Academy of Medicine/Delaware Public Health Association

Florida Public Health Association

Georgia Clinicians for Climate Action

Georgia Society for Public Health Education

Health by Design

Health Care Without Harm

Illinois Association of School Nurses

Illinois Public Health Association

Indiana Public Health Association

Interfaith Public Health Network

Kansas Public Health Association

Maine Public Health Association

Medical Society Consortium on Climate & Health

Medical Students for a Sustainable Future

Michigan Public Health Association

Missouri Public Health Association

Mothers & Others For Clean Air

National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women's Health

National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners

National Association of School Nurses

National Environmental Health Association

NC Public Health Association

Nevada Public Health Association

New Hampshire Public Health Association

New Jersey Association of Public Health Nurse Administrators

New Jersey Public Health Association

New Jersey Society for Public Health Education (NJSOPHE)

New York State Public Health Association

North Dakota Public Health Association

Oregon Public Health Association

Pennsylvania Public Health Association

Philippine Nurses Association of America

Physicians for Social Responsibility

Physicians for Social Responsibility/Florida

Preventive Cardiovascular Nurses Association

PSR Colorado

Public Health Institute

Respiratory Health Association

San Francisco Bay Physicians for Social Responsibility

Society for Public Health Education

Tennessee Public Health Association

Utah Public Health Association

Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility

Washington State Public Health Association

Wisconsin Health Professionals for Climate Action

Wisconsin Public Health Association

A Debt of Gratitude

Written by Tara Villalba, August 2021

On Tuesday August 3, days before the 76th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, representatives from Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility and the Washington Against Nuclear Weapons Coalition (WANW) joined Seattle Indivisible, Seattle Anti-War Coalition, 350 Seattle, and Washington Poor People’s Campaign for a demonstration at Seattle’s Henry M. Jackson Federal Building.

Together we called on Washington state’s Congressional Delegation to cut the Pentagon’s bloated budget and divest from nuclear weapons development.

The issue of demilitarization is deeply personal and a central pillar of my work and life. I am a single mom to three young people and I live and work on the beautiful traditional territories of the Lummi Nation, in what is now known as Bellingham.

I owe Lummi Nation a debt for their primary relationship with their place and for protecting it for generations. I’m bound and governed by the treaty they signed with the US government, that allows me and my kids to live here.

I also owe the Lummi people an obligation to protect their homelands so they can continue to live and practice their life ways. My grandmother taught me that this is what it means to be human. To be human is to make and maintain, and when necessary, to repair mutual relationships. 

I grew up on an island across the Pacific. My grandmother and the saltwater both taught me about keeping balance in an always-moving ocean. If I wanted to move through the ocean, she and I needed to have a mutual relationship.

I was taught that the ocean makes all life possible. We now know that 50-80% of the oxygen production on Earth comes from the oceans and that the ocean sequesters exponentially more carbon than the land does.

In Tagalog, we have the concept of “utang na loob”. This roughly translates as “debt of gratitude”. It’s not a debt we can pay back with money. But it can be paid in kind. I’m alive because people before me and the planet today extended mercy, generosity, and hospitality, allowing me to make my home and instilling within me the obligation to pay that debt forward.

One my responsibilities as a human is to reciprocate that generosity. Our main defense against isolation, destruction and ultimately, death, is to extend a generous welcome and mutual support to each other. Utang na loob reminds us that we are each other’s best defense from harm and each other’s source of security.

At eight years old, my dad taught me about nuclear weapons by telling me about Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I couldn’t understand how any country could invent anything that would deliberately kill so many people and poison the planet. It was the ultimate act of avarice. 

I grew up under a dictator supported by the United States. I grew up under what’s called low intensity conflict where military forces were trained, funded, and armed by the United States to wage war against their own people using abductions, torture, and extra-judicial killings. They especially targeted poor people. My own dad was disappeared when I was 13. He was held and tortured for eight days before my mother found him.

The United States’ military industrial complex makes it unlikely to make and maintain mutual relationships. Faced with constant war and attacks, the war machine forces us into dominant and defensive postures.

The war machine threatened to take my father’s life away, and further threatens other families across the world and particularly across the global south. The war machine then empowers those with the bombs (particularly in the global north) and allows them to force their ways, agenda, and will on others.

State violence makes life harsher and makes us less mutually human with each other. Nuclear weapons are the ultimate threat of state violence, the most horrible manifestation of our cruelest ambitions and imaginations.

Most may think that the "deterrent" nature of nuclear weapons means we will never use them. However, even if we hadn’t instantly killed over 130,000 by detonating atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there would still be hundreds of thousands of lives lost to nuclear weapons research, production, testing, and to negligent and shortsighted radioactive waste disposal.

In the meantime, the US military remains the single biggest institutional emitter of greenhouse gases, and their carbon footprint doesn’t even factor into the calculations for US emissions. The military is not being held accountable for their enormous share in causing the present and future climate catastrophe. Instead the first and most severe costs will be the burden of the nations they have helped to impoverish. Like the Marshall Islands, and my home islands of the Philippines. 

I have a responsibility to the generations after me to fix the deadly messes that people far away from our islands made generations before I was even born. I have inherited a legacy of violence, cruelty, and the increasing likelihood of an unlivable future. So have each of you.

Our children and grandchildren are forced to live with a polluted, heated up mostly unlivable planet… but the generation after them… our children’s grandchildren might see things get better.

If we act on the recommendations of the IPCC report published on August 9 and make the big changes we need to make now, then we can build a mutual relationship with our planet and a joyful, healthy, and vibrant future.

When we resist the existence and modernization of nuclear weapons and invest in immediate solutions to the climate crisis we can find the balance with our oceans, lands, and each other needed to simply live.

Within 20 miles of Seattle, a couple of thousand nuclear warheads are actively deployed at Naval Base Kitsap. Nuclear-armed submarines patrol the Salish Sea, endangering all our lives and spending millions of dollars that could go to shoreline & salmon habitat restoration, the construction of more solar panels, and a just transition for workers in the fossil fuel and weapons industries into green & livable jobs.

We can’t wait. We must be the generation that finishes this fight and dismantles all nuclear weapons so our children, their children, and their grandchildren can practice the welcome and generosity our ancestors intended for each of us. 

Please join Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility and Washington Against Nuclear Weapons with a donation today and as an advocate for a livable future.

Together, we can bring about an end to the extractive economy and state violence that ruined so much of the present moment and that threatens every moment yet to come.

Thank you for partnering with me and our friends and colleagues at WPSR in this work.

A letter from Dr. Joseph Berkson: WPSR Board Member and Co-Chair of the Nuclear Weapons Abolition Task Force

My name is Dr. Joe Berkson, and it is my esteemed honor to serve both on the Board of Directors of WPSR and as Co-Chair of WPSR's Nuclear Weapons Abolition Task Force. I wanted to take some of your time today to discuss where we've been as a Task Force these last few months and how we hope to draw on the work of those who have come before to build the best possible future for us all.

Seeking inspiration from my predecessor as Co-Chair of the Nuclear Weapons Abolition Task Force Dr. Bruce Amundson, I reviewed an essay he wrote in 2019: 

“As an organization of health professionals, here is what we see: the most urgent threats to the safety of the planet and to human health today are an overheating planet, nuclear war, epidemics, poverty, and destructive levels of inequality. None of these threats can even remotely be addressed by military means.”

Within months of his having written that we were plunged into the worst global pandemic in more than a century. Bruce’s concerns with our resource-hogging military budget and the impact of this on our ability to protect human health were characteristically prescient. 

I wonder how we might have fared through 2020 and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic if we had invested in our public health infrastructure with even a fraction of the effectiveness with which our government supports our military spending. 

I stepped into the role of Co-Chair of the Nuclear Weapons Abolition Task Force in summer 2019 and have since been consistently inspired by Bruce’s clear-eyed commitment to human health and his forward-thinking work as an activist. None of the threats of which Bruce spoke will be addressed by military means. We cannot bomb our way out of the climate crisis, economic inequity, or any pandemic. To that end, we have kept very busy pushing for a future free from the threat of nuclear warfare. 

Early this year, we all took a huge step towards that very goal: WPSR and the other 50+ member organizations of the Washington Against Nuclear Weapons (WANW) Coalition were delighted on January 22 when the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) went into force after 50 countries ratified the treaty. 

As of my writing this, 54 countries, including some major economies like Ireland, Mexico, and South Africa, have ratified the TPNW which bans the use, possession, development, deployment, and transfer of nuclear weapons under international law. Although no nuclear weapons-possessing states have signed the treaty, nations that are party to the treaty have been given a mechanism to pressure nuclear-armed nations. 

The TPNW also allows party states to pressure arms manufacturers like Boeing. If, for example, Boeing wants to do business with the Irish government, the TPNW puts an onus on Boeing’s leaders to demonstrate that they are not engaging in prohibited activities.
Boeing's Memphis Belle IV, a central tool in the United States' invasion and occupations of Iraq

Eventually, assuming all parties hold to the letter of the TPNW, Boeing and its peers (Honeywell, Lockheed Martin, etc.) will either need to divorce themselves from any work supportive of nuclear weapons or from being able to do business in at least 54 nations. 

I should note that WPSR has accepted donations from Boeing as recently as this summer but these gifts are part of an Employee Gift Match program. It is stated WPSR policy to not accept any direct donations from arms manufacturers or those who enable the manufacture of nuclear weapons.

We strongly urge all Boeing employees and shareholders to leverage their position in the company to direct Boeing away from its work in nuclear weapons development.

Other strategies for pressuring the nine nuclear nations into the TPNW may emerge this August with the 5-year Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. The purpose of this conference is to gather nuclear nations and work for disarmament. It was after the failure of this conference in 2010 that the movement for the Treaty on the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons started in earnest. This resulted in the TPNW being passed in a UN vote by 122 countries and so we are optimistic that there can be progress at this summer’s conference. 

Moving from global to domestic matters: we have been pushing back on proposals by the federal government to increase spending on our nuclear weapons infrastructure. The Biden Administration’s recently released a disappointing budget, that would increase spending on nuclear weapons, including so-called Advanced Nuclear Weapons, and fully replace the current arsenal.

There are, as we expected, inflated projections of the cost to replace the current U.S. nuclear stockpile. The budget includes money for a new Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD), new weapons to replace current Minuteman III ICBMs, $5 billion for a new nuclear missile submarine, as well as money for a new Long Range StandOff (LRSO) cruise missile.

WPSR and WANW Coalition continue to engage Members of Congress (MoCs) on national security policy and defense spending. Because of the support of WPSR Members, we are able to bring the health voice to this debate. Military spending is a matter of grave concern to public health. In allocating $715 billion to fund the Pentagon, the Biden Administration has to not spend $715 billion on pandemic preparedness, vaccine equity, healthcare subsidies, and student loan forgiveness for the next generation of healthcare professionals.

We are working to halt funding for new (or “modernized”) nuclear weapons and to eliminate funding for the Ground-Based Strategic Defense. We think the strategy of advancing a policy of “No First Use” (introduced by Rep. Smith and co-sponsored by Rep. Larsen) is a good opening to begin the negotiating process to eliminate the ICBM leg of the nuclear triad. We are working to build our audience and corps of activists in every corner of the state and to educate the public on the evolving and increasingly concerning the relationship between investment in “military means” and health outcomes.

In Congress, we are tracking several recently introduced bills of interest in addition to the “No First Use” Act. We are focusing on lobbying MoCs to support the “Invest in Cures Before Missiles” (ICBM) Act and the Nuclear-Sea Launched Cruise Missile (N-SLCM) Ban.

Beyond bills, we worked with a lobbyist and the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) this spring to engage Representatives Jayapal, Smith, & Kilmer, and Senator Murray to urge support for the resumption of the “Iran Nuclear Deal” or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The work of building a healthy and safe future is no small thing and we, at WPSR, are so grateful to have such a robust cohort of partners in the Washington Against Nuclear Weapons Coalition.

WANW is managed, in part, by WPSR but is a mighty coalition representing dozens of organizations from various backgrounds and communities across the state including faith groups, student groups, and others. At WANW, we have recently set up Teams on Advocacy, Education, Media, and Undoing Systemic Violence.

WANW is managed, in part, by WPSR but is a mighty coalition representing dozens of organizations from various backgrounds and communities across the state including faith groups, student groups, and others. At WANW, we have recently set up Teams on Advocacy, Education, Media, and Undoing Systemic Violence.

WANW’s Advocacy team is leading the Coalition in its opposition to Nuclear-Sea Launched Cruise Missile (N-SLCM) funding. They have been enthusiastic in using WPSR’s new advocacy resources, which include new tools to (with just one click) connect concerned citizens and activists to their MoCs (more on that below).

There are many lingering questions about the identity of the WANW. With new tools available and more muscular operations, how should WPSR and WANW interact? Is one beholden to the other? How should we think about collaborative projects, funding, and those areas in which our priorities may diverge? Does the WANW Coalition, now with over 50 organizations, need to be its own incorporated organization? These and many other questions about WANW’s identity and its relationship with its partner organizations linger and are encouraging to me. As Dr. Amundson worked with an eye to the next opportunity or question, WANW is doing its business with an eye on the moment and on the future. This seems to be a sign of maturation and that WANW has a long, productive, and sustainable future ahead of it.

I mentioned our new advocacy tool kit: in 2020 we rolled over all communications, fundraising, and advocacy assets to a new system called “EveryAction”. This amazing tool allows us to build and distribute “One Click” actions (like petitions, direct engagement, etc.) to our Members. We now have the ability to mobilize hundreds of WPSR supporters and get thousands of messages to policymakers and others. This tool and the growing operational muscle of WPSR and WANW will help us to “show up” in a more impactful way as we engage with our MoCs. 

In the short term, the Nuclear Weapons AbolitionTask Force is working on an event to explore common ground with those in the climate crisis movement (time and date to be announced shortly). I see many opportunities for our work to intersect and for our cohorts to join forces for mutual benefit. 

I want to end with a matter very close to my heart.

This spring, we had a major staff change. Carly Brook, our long-time Nuclear Weapons Abolition Program Organizer left WPSR after two years of exceptional service to pursue a Master’s Degree in Public Health.

WPSR owes Carly a tremendous debt of gratitude for their amazing work as an activist, advocate, and organizer. Their commitment to intersectionality, nuclear justice, anti-racism, and to frontline communities is an inspiration.

Following this, we were fortunate to hire Tara Villalba for the position. Tara comes to WPSR with a breadth of experience as an organizer at Bellingham Tenant Union and as a consultant at Western Washington University.

In her first three months with us, she has added tremendous value to our work both internally and in the community. She also is helping to ensure that we never lose sight of the issue of nuclear justice and of justice for frontline communities immediately impacted by nuclear weapons development, testing, and use. 

To borrow a turn of phrase from an organization I admire greatly, we have to think “beyond the bomb”. Yes, we need immediate denuclearization and for all nuclear weapons to be dismantled. We also need to address the health concerns and issues of justice related to those communities who have borne the brunt of nuclear-related work for nearly a century including folks in the TriCities, Indigenous communities near to New Mexico’s Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Marshallese diaspora in Arkansas, south King County & Eastern Washington, the people of the Spokane Tribe impacted by the Midnite Mine, and so many others. There is no true path to a future free from nuclear warfare without nuclear justice and nuclear justice is a matter of racial justice.

I am honored to call both Carly and Tara friends and trust that as Tara works from the foundation laid by Carly, we will do tremendous work!

For over 40 years WPSR has been at the forefront of the fight for a world free from the threat of nuclear warfare. I follow in the footsteps of Bruce and so many of our members whose passions and legacies are an inspiration. I am further inspired by the work of Carly and now of Tara and my colleagues on the WPSR Board and in the WANW Coalition. For over 40 years we have been doing the work and while it may look different in many ways and be focused on different heads of the hydra, it is towards the same end: peace.

Together, I am certain that we can rise to meet the challenges of our time. As we “emerge”, as it were, from under the blanket of a pandemic, we can build a better world. We must. We can build a better WPSR that works in more earnest service of its community and I am so excited to partner with you on this.

To that end, I need your help. There is a place in this work for you no matter who you are and no matter your level of expertise.

If you seek what we have sought for over 40 years: get involved today Join WPSR as a Member with a donation today and follow WPSR across social media.

Help us to build a WPSR that will be an inspiration to those who follow. We cannot wait to build the future and present that we need. Now is the moment to gather, pool our resources, and be the best versions of ourselves and better.

Thank you,
Dr. Joseph Berkson
WPSR Board Member
Co-Chair WPSR's Nuclear Weapons Task Force

#FrackOffPSE

From Nick Manning, Climate & Health Program Organizer

On 4/30, Indigenous leaders and “kayaktivists” gathered on South Lake Union in front of the lakeside home of the Puget Sound Energy CEO.

Demonstrators held a vigil in solidarity with the Puyallup Water Warriors and all those gathered in opposition to PSE’s Liquefied Natural Gas facility on the Tacoma Tideflats (the permits for which are being disputed in court by WPSR and a coalition of organizations).

WPSR’s Climate & Health Program Organizer, Nick Manning was among the demonstrator:

“On one of the first warm days of the spring, I was excited to be invited to meet face-to-face with organizers at 350 Seattle and Sierra Club with whom I have worked for a year but never actually met. They told me they were going on a sunset walk around Lake Union and asked if I wanted to join because tonight was going to be particularly pretty.

It was one of those Seattle spring days that feels like the heart of summer. I was admittedly nervous and excited for a casual stroll with folks who I felt like I knew but whose faces I had never actually seen in person… who isn’t just a little nervous to finally be in the same physical space with someone you’ve only met from behind a screen and with whom you’ve formed a year-long digital friendship?

I went down to Eastlake and it was immediately apparent I had misunderstood the nature of this outing.

A small group had started to congregate by the water, and from the signs, drums, clothing I quickly decided to leave the beers I had brought in my car. This was not the time to rest, this was a time to be present and add my body to a grassroots rally.

I was looking out at a group of kayaks on Lake Union idling in front of a row of floating homes, easily identifiable as a group of Puyallup Tribal Members in traditional regalia. When we turned back to help hoist a giant banner it revealed the message "Respect the Puyallup, Keep LNG Facility Off".

What followed was a magical evening. As it turns out, the CEO of Puget Sound Energy lives right on Eastlake in a floating home (incidentally these are often valued at up to $5.7 million).

Organizers had found the CEO's address and hastily rallied members of the Puyallup tribe and activists up from Tacoma to peacefully demonstrate on kayaks outside their front door.

It was breathtaking.

As the sun slowly faded behind Queen Anne Hill, traditional flute music and singing could be heard like low fog over the surface of the water.

Everything else was silent.

When the light was low enough, the kayaks lit salmon-shaped paper lanterns and waved them around in the air, like tiny fish made of light swimming just above the surface. Neighbors came and sat on their decks in silent appreciation of the serenity.

No words were spoken, none had to be.

The flute music and low singing continued into the encroaching darkness until the lake felt like it had been engulfed in a shared dream. One that we only woke up from when the music stopped, and the kayaks carefully navigated out of the water.

What differentiates this demonstration from so many I have participated in is the silence, the wordlessness. No megaphones, no hot and heavy words to the crowd, nothing even calling Ms. Kipp out specifically.

Just a sign, and a beautiful moment of serenity. Which, if you think about it, almost says more than a speech could. PSE knows that the right thing to do is to honor the rights of the Puyallup people to the Tacoma Tideflats. PSE knows that their facility is likely to cause harm to public safety and our long-term climate goals. PSE knows how to do the right thing and to actually work in service of its community and planet. They just won’t do it… yet.

And while no words were spoken, the message was impossible to miss.”

- Nick Manning, WPSR

Want to take action?

Learn more about how PSE is fighting to preserve the status quo, PSE’s failed efforts to support families during the pandemic, their tobacco industry-style tactics in marketing to young people, and then act!

Send a message to PSE CEO Mary Kipp and demand that she halt the operationalization of the Tacoma LNG facility, consistent with the demands of the Puyallup Tribe of Indians and the Tacoma Human Rights Commission.

A letter from Mark Vossler, MD: WPSR's Board President

I am hopeful. This hope stems from changes for the better that we are seeing just recently in our state and in our country. This hope also stems from the growing influence of WPSR in making positive changes in policy for the benefit of human health. When I last wrote to you, we were in a time of chaos and uncertainty. Elected officials and agencies at nearly every level of government were failing to meet the most pressing health, social, and economic needs of our nation and Washington state. Since then, we bore witness to an all-out assault on the foundations of our very democracy: both rhetorical and literal.

The chaos has not subsided. The uncertainty remains. For example, it wasn’t until this month that the losing candidate in the Governor’s race withdrew his case against our voting system and excessive force by over-militarized police was on display again at the end of January in Tacoma.

This chaos and all our work happens against a backdrop of the threat of nuclear war, an accelerating climate crisis, decreasing life expectancy driven largely by economic inequity, an uncontrolled pandemic, white supremacy, and police violence.

It is easy to fall into the trap of despair. There are days that I find myself overwhelmed and I’m sure I’m not alone. But I am hopeful. We have turned a corner, with a new administration in the White House, a new Congress, and a state government taking seriously the issues that affect human health, coupled with higher levels of citizen engagement than I have seen in my lifetime.

With this change in government, we have a unique opportunity to advance the type of social and policy change required to improve the health of our state, nation, and world. The issues that WPSR is working on with your support & engagement are top of mind right now for both the general public and many of our elected officials.

Our Governor and state legislature named climate change, economic inequity, progressive revenue, and racial justice as priority issues for this session. Based on the bills submitted to date, they appear to be quite serious about this mission. We are delighted to know that WPSR’s top priority issues for state-level actions are what they are working on. This is no accident: WPSR, along with its partners have been working assiduously for years to make our policymakers aware that these issues are truly urgent for the health of Washingtonians and our communities, and - literally - for human survival on this one planet that we have.

At a federal level, President Biden’s advisors and cabinet picks, including John Kerry and Gina McCarthy, convey a seriousness about climate change and a more diplomatic approach to foreign policy. Additionally, he is taking public health seriously and empowering an aggressive, science-based COVID response. He specifically called out the problem of white supremacy in his inaugural address and seems keen on promoting racial justice and combating economic inequity. The United States is back in the WHO and the Paris Agreement. There is a serious willingness to address the climate crisis by executive order, and a slow but steadily growing awareness in Congress that this crisis is real.

After years of frustration, the movement to abolish nuclear weapons is also gaining momentum. The Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) has just entered into force, a treaty recognized in over 80 nations that bans any engagement with, development of, or use of nuclear weapons in any nation around the world. This puts the United States and other nuclear-armed nations in violation of international law and increases the pressure for us to make serious reductions in our arsenals.

The NewSTART treaty has been renewed with Russia after coming dangerously close to expiring. Yet the danger remains, and we cannot take our foot off the pedal while one person’s finger is on the button. As we have long advocated, no single person should have sole discretion to destroy life on this planet. With nuclear weapons on the policy agenda again, we must push for re-engagement with Iran, a no first use policy, redirecting absurd levels of nuclear spending to critical social needs, and ultimately on reducing our nuclear arsenal.

We have our dedicated core of health professionals and others working on our three task forces uniquely positions WPSR to make the cause of human health and survival a driving rationale for necessary social change. The depth and influence of our bench is what enables us to be present when our partners in advocacy need the health voice, positions us for frequent publication in the media, and equips us to have a meaningful impact on elected officials.

For our volunteers to be maximally effective we need staff to organize the effort. For the first time in our history, we have five full-time staff members, including an organizer for each of our programs and task forces. Our work is made possible in part by the generosity of our membership and donors. Thanks to your ongoing financial support, we find ourselves on solid ground and we are in a position to expand our advocacy efforts at a time when they are needed more than ever.

What's next for WPSR in 2021? For the next six months, expect WPSR to be focused on full-court-press advocacy in Olympia on legislation that will promote economic equality, environmental justice, and racial justice. Right now, there are important bills in the legislature that could establish a clean fuel standard, a building electrification standard, and an update of the growth management plan that includes a mandate to include environmental justice for low-income communities and BIPOC communities. We are also tenaciously advocating for a capital gains tax and an expanded Working Families Tax Credit. Following our victory stopping the world’s largest methanol refinery in Kalama, we will continue to oppose dangerous fossil gas projects such as the fracked gas plant in Tacoma in public testimony, in print, and in court.

On the heels of nuclear policy wins including the TPNW, New Start renewal, and securing Medicaid access for Marshallese victims of nuclear testing, we will continue to serve as the financial sponsor and operations lead of WANW, the Washington Against Nuclear Weapons coalition.

WANW is the largest coalition of its kind in the country, and we will continue adding member organizations in every Congressional district in our state to push elected officials to be proponents of nuclear abolition. Through the coalition and our task force, we will meet with each of our Members of Congress to advocate for reductions in the nuclear arsenal, a no first use policy, and an end to presidential sole authority. We will continue to be an ally to the many frontline communities who continue to suffer the brunt of the legacy of nuclear weapons production and testing, including the Spokane and Yakima Tribes, victims of radioactive pollution and radiation poisoning from uranium mining, weapons production, and waste storage right here in Washington. This also the large Pacific Northwest Marshallese population, whose health and native home have been irreparably harmed by US weapons testing.

We, at WPSR, are finding ourselves broadening our sphere of influence and our ability to effectively advocate for policies that address the social determinants of health. In order to continue this work, we will need your continued partnership as donors, contributors, and advocates.

I hope that you will all be able to join us at the Health Justice Gala on March 6 and make a generous contribution so we can continue to bring the health voice to bear on the gravest threats to human health and survival.

We invite you to be a part of this effort. Your time, talent, and financial support make the work of WPSR possible.

Thank you to everyone who supports our efforts with your time, talent, and financial support. I am deeply grateful for all that you do. You give me hope.

Mark Vossler, MD
Board President
mark@wpsr.org | 206 547 2630

Comment: UN nuclear weapons ban is a small step toward sanity

Published in the Everett Herald 01.31.21
By Dr. David C. Hall

It’s one small step for global sanity! Nuclear weapons have now joined chemical and biological weapons and land mines as internationally banned weapons.

On Jan. 22, the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons entered into force to cement a categorical ban on nuclear weapons for the 50 nations signing and ratifying the treaty, 75 years after the United States became the first and only nation to use nuclear weapons in wartime.

Despite this huge step for the safety and survivability of human civilization, supporters of this treaty face a mountain of opposition led by the United States.

Our country has waged an aggressive campaign to thwart this prohibition with its immense power and resources while maintaining an ever-present threat to use nuclear weapons whenever we say “All options are on the table.”

Up until now we have pressured potential signers and kept all NATO allies from signing. The other eight nuclear weapon states have also refused to sign. Austria, Ireland and Lichtenstein are the only European nations to sign. The other nuclear nations — Russia, China, Great Britain, France, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea — have boycotted the treaty process. Kazakhstan and South Africa are former nuclear weapon states to sign and ratify the TPNW. Brazil dismantled its nuclear weapons program and has signed but not yet ratified it.

None of the nuclear states or NATO countries are bound by this treaty. What this treaty does, however, is establish a first-ever international precedent for outlawing nuclear weapons. Hopefully this will pressure the nuclear weapon states and their allies to finally negotiate the elimination of these horrific weapons. The United States, Russia and China all agreed to do so when they signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1970. Nonetheless nuclear-armed arsenals keep getting faster, more accurate, more usable and more deadly despite fewer warheads.

Going forward, conventional war-fighting capabilities will need to be included in these negotiations. Nuclear weapons have helped less powerful countries fend off the conventional military and nuclear threats from their more powerful adversaries. North Korea will not give up its nuclear deterrents unless the overwhelming conventional war-fighting capabilities of China and United States are on the table. Negotiations to replace nuclear weapons will require credible safeguards for survival of less powerful countries.

This treaty is so important. Nuclear weapons violate international laws that protect innocent civilians and the environment. Even a small nuclear exchange could blacken the skies and starve billions of people.

The U.S. still has nuclear weapons on hair-trigger alert, hypersonic missiles are coming, nuclear command and control systems are vulnerable to cyber attacks, retaliatory responses are disseminated down the chain of command, and under current U.S. law the president of the United States has absolute power to order the launch of nuclear weapons even if he or she has only minutes to distinguish a real attack from a false alarm. Our military chain of command is built to follow the president’s orders or to launch if the president is incapacitated.

We have a new U.S. administration. President Trump had sole authority to start a nuclear war. Now is the time to seriously push to eliminate these ecologically devastating weapons of mass murder. Call President Biden to sign and our senators to ratify the TPNW. Nuclear weapons are repugnant to the values of decency, democracy and the sacredness of life.

Dr. David C. Hall is past president, of Physicians for Social Responsibility and Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility.

WPSR Statement in Opposition to SB 5244

Prepared by WPSR’s Climate Crisis Task Force

Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility (WPSR) is a 40-year-old, physician-led organization concerned with the social determinants of health representing approximately 1000 health professionals across the state of Washington. We are opposed to SB 5244 (a bill to encourage the production of advanced nuclear reactors, small modular reactors, and components).

The climate crisis gives us little time to act to reduce emissions by shifting our economy off of fossil fuels.  We at WPSR are highly concerned about the health impacts of climate change and air pollution and therefore applaud our legislators for the efforts to promote means of electricity generation that lower emissions and consequently reduce health risks.  This bill, unfortunately, fails on three counts: 1) It would worsen economic inequity 2) It is not a cost-effective means of reducing emissions. 3) It would harm indigenous communities who already suffer disproportionately from our current nuclear programs.

Our state has an extremely regressive tax system and currently faces a revenue shortfall.  Cutting taxes for big businesses in a pandemic-induced recession, thereby increasing economic inequality, further exacerbates this problem.  Since economic inequity is a driving cause of health disparities we oppose any further shifts of our tax burden away from the wealthy and on to low-income workers and consumers.

Solar and wind-generated electricity is now cheaper than coal and cost-competitive with gas generation even prior to consideration of the social costs of carbon and other pollutants.  At this point, the solutions to the climate crisis are more dependent on regulating and/or pricing carbon, promoting public transportation and fuel efficiency standards, and improving transmission than on subsidizing low-carbon generation. Additionally, there are simply not enough potential jobs to warrant subsidizing the construction of machinery that might never even be used. We favor taking a more cost-effective and rapidly applicable approach to emissions reduction.  Several bills under consideration — including the clean fuels standard, the building electrification bill, and the update to the growth management act — would be more rapidly effective at lower costs than this proposal.

Nuclear energy requires the mining of uranium and the storage of radioactive waste both of which cause disproportionate harm to indigenous communities. This bill contains no regulations of the waste, no provisions to protect vulnerable communities. As such it is completely unacceptable to us.  

This proposal is a special interest giveaway that would do little to improve the lives of Washingtonians while posing grave risks to some and would be woefully inadequate as a means of reducing emissions.  We will gladly support serious proposals that reduce greenhouse gasses while improving health and well being.  This bill fails on all counts and we ask that you oppose it.

Comment: All-electric homes would clear air we breathe

Published in the Everett Herald 01.17.21
By Mark Vossler, Jon Witte and Nancy Johnson

With each new year comes a clean slate; an opportunity to start again by resolving self-improvement, often focusing on our health.

Traditionally, after a season of indulgence, there are resolutions to “clean up our act” regarding diet and exercise. But did you know the gas stove you’ve used to bake those delights is more harmful to your health than the snickerdoodles you consumed?

Health is at the top of everyone’s mind during this challenging covid-19 pandemic. There has been a wide-ranging focus on public health as well as our own personal well-being. The response to this pandemic has been far-reaching and multi-faceted: scientific research, policy-making, education, communication, outreach to vulnerable communities. With vaccines FDA approved and starting to be administered we can begin to breathe a sigh of relief, but this endeavor will also take determined effort, effective organization, and commitment of resources both human and financial to vaccinate millions of Americans.

Playing out in parallel is the crisis of climate change, presenting challenges even greater than those we currently face with the covid-19 pandemic. A multi-faceted approach is needed here too.

The World Health Organization considers climate change to be the “greatest threat to global health in the 21st century.” It is responsible for the increase in wildfires and the visible, choking smoke that fills our local skies every summer. Climate change causes more frequent and severe heat waves; it warms our oceans creating conditions for more violent storms; it has been linked to the emergence of new infectious diseases including novel viruses such as covid-19. Additionally, the evidence is overwhelming that rapid climate change is human caused. The burning of dirty fossil fuels has resulted in a dangerous rise in levels of carbon dioxide and other air pollutants in our atmosphere. These pollutants not only exacerbate climate change, but pose direct and immediate negative impacts to human health. Years of research and clinical experience have shown that these pollutants are responsible for lung and heart disease, mental health stress, heat-related injury and other physical ailments.

While we see and feel the immediate effects of an acute deadly illness, we often overlook the more subtle effects that accumulate over time. Our fossil fuel use is a good example of this phenomenon. The very buildings we live and work in are the fastest-growing source of carbon pollution in Washington state. The stove in your kitchen and the heat in your home, if powered by gas or oil, creates invisible pollutants. Nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, fine particulate matter, ultra fine particles and formaldehyde are emitted into your “clean” indoor air making it anything but healthy. In fact the nitrogen dioxide levels indoors after one hour of cooking on a gas stove would be illegal if found outdoors. These pollutants are linked to multiple serious medical problems including acute and chronic lung diseases, cardiovascular disease and premature death, various neurologic conditions, lung and breast cancer, and type 2 diabetes. The incidence of asthma in children is 42 percent higher in homes that use gas stoves for cooking.

Efforts are underway to work toward all electric homes, schools, workplaces and commercial spaces. Gov. Jay Inslee recently announced wide-ranging climate priorities that include a state-wide effort to phase gas out of residential buildings, the first of its kind nationally. Cities and counties in Washington can join the movements of cities in other states like California to ensure new construction is all-electric. Some have already done this, including Bellingham, Seattle, Issaquah and Thurston County.

Washington is blessed with some of the cleanest and cheapest electricity in the nation, making 100 percent fossil-free electricity attractive to builders, homeowners and investors. Clean energy jobs will flourish as we make the transition from fossil fuel-powered construction to electric building standards. All-electric homes are less expensive to build upfront and there is no expensive need to pay for connections to gas pipeline infrastructure. All-electric appliances are readily available and popular, often coming with rebates for highly efficient models.

A resolution to make this year is to encourage the Washington state Legislature and your local decision makers to aggressively transition to all-electric buildings. Included in Inslee’s environmental priorities for this year’s legislative session is HB 1084, the first legislation in the U.S. to address fuel switching state-wide. Additionally, municipal governments across the state are beginning to follow the examples set by Bellingham, Seattle and Olympia to mandate all-electric new buildings.

The benefits are many, yet despite landmark efforts to remove fossil fuels from our state’s energy grid in 2019 and to update our emissions reductions goals to match the latest climate science in 2020, we are not on track to meet those goals. Just as we hope to stick to our personal resolutions this New Year, we must resolve to renew our focus on reducing carbon emissions to promote a healthier environment in 2021 and every year going forward.

Dr. Mark Vossler is a cardiologist practicing in Kirkland and serves as the president of Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility.
Dr. Jonathan Witte is a retired rheumatologist from Everett. He is an active member of WPSR and other climate action groups.
Nancy Johnson is a retired registered nurse from Edmonds currently working on climate and environmental justice issues with WPSR, Sno-Isle Sierra Club and other organizations.

Doctors should address patient medical debt

By Daniel Low
Special to The Seattle Times

The year 2020 was an inspiring year to be a doctor. I saw colleagues tired, understaffed, fearing they might contract COVID-19 and nonetheless persevering to provide care to those most in need.

Alongside social justice leaders, doctors mobilized to collectively address enduring racial inequities in health care, with the American Medical Association proclaiming racism a threat to public health. Locally, doctors were in the streets, leading powerful marches through downtown Seattle against racialized police brutality.

We bore witness to doctors like Anthony Fauci espousing important public health messages, despite political pressure to do otherwise. My colleagues have made me proud to identify as a physician this year. But as we enter a new year, there is a glaring hole in doctors’ pursuit of medical justice — health economics. This year physicians and health care administrators must defend the economic well-being of our patients.

Even before COVID-19, nearly one in three Americans delayed medical care because of fears of medical costs. COVID-19 has only made this problem worse. As a family medicine doctor caring for patients in the hospital and in the clinic, I’m all too familiar with this conundrum. Last week, a patient, dreading medical debt, refused my recommendation to visit the emergency department when her usually high blood pressure was dangerously low, a serious signal that she needed medical attention. Another patient had the same cost-conscious rationale when explaining why he waited until the brink of intubation before going to the hospital, despite being short of breath with a known COVID-19 infection.

These anxieties are not unfounded. An estimated half million Americans file for bankruptcy each year because of medical bills, accounting for two-thirds of all bankruptcy filings. Even when not filing for bankruptcy, countless Americans face economic ruin when they return from visits to health care facilities with surprise medical bills charging thousands of dollars. The sinister “surprise medical bill” is so commonplace, it has inspired a national investigative news program — the National Public Radio / Kaiser Health “Bill of the Month.” Why do we allow this treachery?

Historically, it has been in large part because hospitals and doctors, who often benefit from the existing system, have fought against laws banning the practice. This may be why the American Medical Association lobbied Congress to alter language buried in the recently passed $900 billion relief package that would ban surprise medical bills.

While hospitals position themselves as beacons of community support, and doctors swear an oath to “do no harm,” these promises ring hollow when we continue advocating for health care practices that economically ruin those whom we serve. It isn’t enough that we are good at demonstrating acute compassion — comforting a sick child or protesting an immediate act of racial injustice — we need to improve our longitudinal empathy for the economic well-being of our patients. We need to put our money where our mouth is; failing to recognize our contribution to economic inequity threatens the integrity of our profession itself.

As doctors we must acknowledge the collective power we possess to change the economic structure of medicine. It is time we stop exclusively relying on the heroic philanthropy of folks like those at RIP Medical Debt, a brilliant nonprofit that has eradicated nearly $3 billion in medical debt via group debt purchasing. With medical debt continuing to balloon — it has risen another 7% since last year alone — philanthropy is insufficient. We need policy change. And this is one of the few areas with bipartisan support. If Republicans and Democrats were able to come together on the new legislation that bans out-of-network medical providers from charging beyond the in-network cost for services provided in emergency departments and some nonemergent settings, starting next year, then health care providers can and must play an active role, too. Our patients deserve honesty. We need to demand hospitals, clinics, insurance companies and administration provide cost transparency.

As we enter a new year, my dream for 2021 is for my profession to acknowledge the economic inequities that we help drive and to act justly for restitution. May 2021 be a year that not only limits the spread of COVID-19 but also limits the spread of medical debt.

Daniel Low is a family medicine physician at HealthPoint in Renton, member of the Board of the King County Medical Society, and member of WPSR’s Economic Inequity & Health Task Force

Celebrating a Historic Step Toward the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons

Written by Mona Lee

The following piece is to be published in the upcoming Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action newsletter.

            This is a historic time of celebration for Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action and other organizational members of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).  On October 24, 2020 Honduras became the 50th nation to ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (Note: is was passed in July).  With that, the treaty will enter into force on January 22, 2021. Ground Zero will celebrate this event during its annual Martin Luther King birthday weekend activities January 15-17.

            The passing of this Treaty marks a significant milestone in a long effort to abolish nuclear weapons. 75 years ago, in response to World War II and the horrific nuclear destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the United Nations was founded to develop cooperation among nations and prevent such a catastrophe from ever happening again.

Article VI of the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty nuclear weapon states to  "pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control.” Additionally, the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty signed in 1991 limited the number of warheads that could be deployed.  Even so, today nearly a dozen countries possess a total of  13,410 nuclear  warheads with Approximately 91 percent of all nuclear warheads owned by the U.S. and Russia.  These weapons are many times more powerful than the bombs that wiped out Hiroshima, killing and maiming thousands of innocent citizens.

            More recently, ICAN organized a series of three international anti-nuclear weapons conferences: one in Oslo, Norway in 2013; the second in Nayarit, Mexico in 2014; and another in Vienna, also in 2014. These meetings focused upon the horrific health effects of nuclear weapons testing upon downwinders: Utah residents down wind of the Nevada nuclear testing; the Marshall Islanders in the Pacific; and the villages of Kazakhstan down-wind of Soviet nuclear tests. Hundreds of bombs have been dropped, and their radiation has caused widespread cancers and untimely deaths of thousands of people in those parts of the world.

At the 2014 conference in Vienna, the Austrian government promised to develop a nuclear weapons ban treaty.  The result was the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons which was adopted in 2017.   Because of this accomplishment, ICAN was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in that year.  But it was not until October of this year that enough nations had  ratified the treaty. The  Ban Treaty will enter into force on January 22, 2021.

            So, what are we celebrating?  Not one of the dozen nuclear-armed countries that possess the thousands of nuclear weapons has signed onto the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.  Because they are not signatories to the Treaty, neither the US nor Russia, nor any of the other nuclear armed nations, can be called before the Hague Tribunal because they are in violation of international law.  However, according to Dr. Ira Helfand of the ICAN Steering Committee and many other experts, this Treaty will give the rest of the world a “powerful tool” to stigmatize the nuclear armed nations that own these weapons as well as the corporations that build them. We all have a role to play in doing the persuading.

Although Ground Zero has persisted in its resistance to nuclear weapons over the years, the general public has largely forgotten them since the end of the Cold War in the late 1980’s. However, recently there is growing awareness of nuclear weapons and the dangers they pose to humanity.  More people are waking up to the reality that the possibility of nuclear war is greater than it has ever been.  A wider grass roots campaign called “Back from the Brink” has been endorsed by many cities and several state legislatures.  They call for the US to lead a global effort to take such actions as:

●      Renouncing the option of using nuclear weapons first

●      Ending the sole, unchecked authority of any president to launch a nuclear attack

●      Taking the U.S. nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert

●      Cancelling the plan to replace its entire arsenal with enhanced weapons

●      Actively pursuing a verifiable agreement among nuclear-armed states to eliminate their nuclear weapons.

Therefore, while we are celebrating, we will take action to use the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons as leverage to pressure our government to come into compliance with international law and with its moral obligation to rid humanity of its gravest threat.