Policy Action
ACTION
WATER
“The petrochemical industry and the pollution it creates disproportionately harms people of color and low-income communities. Every year, the United States alone burns or buries in landfill 32 million tons of plastic, impacting the health, wealth, and well-being of frontline and fenceline communities.
In fact, the U.S. produces the most plastic waste per capita of any country, and exports much of this waste to the Global South. An astounding 91% of plastic is never recycled.
350 million metric tons of plastic are produced globally each year, and 15 million metric tons wind up as plastic waste in the world’s oceans.”
ACTION
CLIMATE CHANGE
- Tell Governor Newsom the time is now for real and accelerated climate policies. The Climate Center provides a direct link to send your message to the Governor.
- Nurses are partnering with The Climate Center and endorsing the Rapid Decarbonization strategies in the Climate Safe California Campaign. To endorse, go to The Climate Center’s Climate-Safe California Endorsement.
ACTION
FARMWORKERS
FARM
WORKERS
Nurses and others in the Western States (CA, OR, and WA) are working on standardizing a heat and smoke exposure occupational health policy. We will keep you apprised when we need you to sign onto a letter or call your elected official. In the meantime, you can read more about this issue in a series created by the Union of Concerned Scientists, Too Hot to Work.
ACTION
Air Quality & Wildfires
- Tell Governor Newsom the time is now for real and accelerated climate policies. The Climate Center provides a direct link to send your message to the Governor.
- Nurses are partnering with The Climate Center and endorsing the Rapid Decarbonization strategies in the Climate Safe California Campaign. To endorse, go here.
ACTION
exposures
PESTICIDES: Californians want the “right to know” when hazardous pesticides are being sprayed in their neighborhoods, including near their children’s schools. Sign a petition sponsored by our partners from Californians for Pesticide Reform that will go to the California Department of Pesticide Regulations demanding our right to know when dangerous pesticides are going to be sprayed in our neighborhoods.
ACTION
FOOD & AGRICULTURE
Support local and sustainable agriculture by purchasing food at your local Farmers’ Market. Many California Farmers’ Markets are now open year-round. To find a Certified Farmers’ Market near you, go to this Certified Farmer’ Market List.
As part of the School Meals for All Coalition, we are grateful that beginning during the school year 2022/2023, California became the first state in the nation to provide free breakfast and lunch to all K–12 students, regardless of income level. Now we’re building on that historic achievement by supporting the AB-408 bond bill that will provide vital investments for school food infrastructure, staff training, and more freshly prepared California-grown school meals. Learn how to support this bill by visiting the California Climate and Agriculture Network.
CNEHJ is also a member of the Food & Farming Resilience Coalition which is advocating for state and policy funding to support a resilient and equitable food and farming system in California. This past June, AB 408 was passed by the CA Assembly and will help to reduce climate emissions, protect farmworkers, stimulate economic growth, and increase equity across the food and farming system.
ACTION
GREENING YOUR HOSPITAL
Call your environmental services or sustainability director and ask if your workplace has a GREEN TEAM and join it! And join the monthly CNEHJ Greening Hospital Team meetings. Find the next meeting on our calendar.
Sign the Healthy Foods in Health Care Pledge.
ACTION
FOSSIL FUELS
- Sign the petition telling Governor Newsom to stand up to big oil in California and to stop issuing new permits to drill oil.
- Take Action to support the “Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act.”
