Events

Michael E. Ketterer, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Northern Arizona University

https://interland3.donorperfect.net/weblink/WebLink.aspx?name=E331391&id=139

This webinar will review and discuss the results from a recent study performed by Wayne State University, of the naturally occurring radioisotopes found in the environment near oil/gas extraction installations in Pennsylvania. The WSU study focused on naturally occurring radioisotopes such as 226 Ra, 228 Ra, 210 Po and 210 Pb, which are present in brines, salt deposits and geologic reservoirs that serve as oil/gas reservoirs. When oil and gas are extracted by “fracking” and related processes, these radioisotopes are liberated and can be dispersed into the surface environment, resulting in water, air and soil contamination.

The presentation will evaluate the findings of the Wayne State study, and compare these results to background radioisotope concentrations present in unaffected areas vs. areas of Pennsylvania known to have been impacted by oil/gas radioisotopes. Also discussed will be other environmental hazards associated with oil/gas extraction, such as the contamination of surface and shallow groundwater via materials used in fracking fluids, and the venting of large quantities of volatile organic compounds into the air at wellheads.

The presentation will be pitched at a technical level suited to an interested lay audience, and will include ample time for Q+A.

A discussion of radioisotopes and other contaminants released into the environment from Pennsylvania oil/gas extraction activities


This half-day, virtual conference will focus on organizational and individual roles in preserving the health of fenceline and frontline communities while fighting climate change and the industries that harm them. We will bring together community leaders to share actionable strategies for sustainability and empowerment; research on air quality and childhood leukemia in proximity to fuel infrastructure; and close with an Indigenous-led discussion about resisting the harms of climate change from a global perspective. The goal is to cultivate solutions based strategies to preserve and improve the health of our communities.

https://www.psrpa.org/event-details/shifting-paradigms-a-grassroots-response-to-industry-and-climate

​12:05 PM: The State of the Commonwealth

​12:20 PM: Preparing for what’s next: Communities and Resilience

1:25 PM: Unconventional Oil and Gas Development, Drinking Water, and Children's Health in the Appalachian Basin - Nicole Deziel, PhD, MHS

​2:30 PM: Improving our Understanding of Hazardous Air Pollutant Exposure and Risk in Fenceline Communities - Peter Decarlo, PhD

3:30 PM: Global Guidance on Climate Change

Shifting Paradigms: A Grassroots Response to Industry and Climate (PSR PA)

Everyone has heard about global warming, but few understand how environmental feedback loops amplify the warming even further. With captivating illustrations and interviews with leading climate scientists, this 5-part science documentary and panel discussion series explores how human activity is setting off Earth’s own warming loops that are pushing the climate to a point of no return—from the melting ice and snow in the Arctic to the atmospheric jet stream to the thawing of permafrost—and what we can do to stop them.

Join Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania for five intriguing panel discussions over the next six months as we delve into the 

Watch the short films prior to the discussions here: 

Attend one or all of these sessions on the dates shared below. Please note that all sessions will take place from 6 - 7 PM Eastern.

Permafrost, an icy expanse of frozen ground covering one-quarter of the Northern Hemisphere, is thawing. As it does, microscopic animals are waking up and feeding on the previously frozen carbon stored in plant and animal remains, releasing heat-trapping gasses as a byproduct. These gasses warm the atmosphere further, melting more permafrost in a dangerous feedback loop. With permafrost containing twice as much carbon as the atmosphere, its thaw could release 150 billion tons of carbon by the end of the century.

Robert Max Holmes, PhD (President and CEO, Woodwell Climate Research Center)

Lisa Winter - Environmental Scientist, Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Council

Steph Lee, MD, MPH, FAAP - Pediatrician and Preventive Medicine Specialist / Spokesperson for American Academy of Pediatrics 

Global warming is altering Earth’s weather patterns dramatically. A warmer atmosphere absorbs more water vapor, which in turn traps more heat and warms the planet further in an accelerating feedback loop. Climate change is also disrupting the jet stream, triggering a feedback loop that brings warm air northward, and causes weather patterns to stall in place for longer.

Jennifer Francis, PhD (Acting Deputy Director and Senior Scientist, Woodwell Climate Research Center) 

Deepti Singh, PhD (Assistant Professor, School of the Environment at Washington State University Vancouver)

The reflectivity of snow and ice at the poles, known as the albedo effect, is one of Earth’s most important cooling mechanisms. But global warming has reduced this reflectivity drastically, setting off a dangerous warming loop: as more Arctic ice and snow melt, the albedo effect decreases, warming the Arctic further, and melting more ice and snow. The volume of Arctic ice has already shrunk 75% In the past 40 years, and scientists predict that the Arctic Ocean will be completely ice-free during the summer months by the end of the century.

Joellen Russell, PhD (Thomas R. Brown Distinguished Chair of Integrative Science and Professor at the University of Arizona in the Department of Geosciences); 

Sarah Zhou Rosengard, PhD (Assistant Professor of Environmental Chemistry, School of the Art Institute of Chicago)

The world’s forests are responsible for removing a quarter of all human carbon emissions from the atmosphere and are essential for cooling the planet. But that fraction is shrinking as the three major forests of the world—tropical, boreal, and temperate—succumb to the effects of climate feedback loops. The resulting tree dieback threatens to tip forests from net carbon absorbers to net carbon emitters, heating rather than cooling the planet.

Michael Coe, PhD (Tropics Program Director and Senior Scientist, Woodwell Climate Research Center) 

Beverly Law, PhD (Professor Emeritus, College of Forestry, Oregon State University). 

Susan Masino, PhD (Vernon D. Roosa Professor of Applied Science

Climate Emergency Film Club

Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania (PSR PA)

 invites you to attend  Climate Change and Health: Indicators and Pathways on Friday, April 15, from 12 - 4:30 PM Eastern.

→ Join the Livestream via Halt the Harm Network here

The influences of weather and climate on human health are varied and increasingly alarming. Exposure to health hazards related to climate change has the capacity to affect all individuals physical and mental health and may do so by harming air, water, food and shelter on which they rely. The frequency, severity, duration, and location of weather and climate phenomena - like rising temperatures, heavy rains and droughts - are changing. This means that areas already experiencing health-threatening weather and climate phenomena are likely to experience worsening impacts.  In this regard, socially and economically disadvantaged communities face the greatest risks.

Climate Change and Health: Indicators and Pathways 

will focus on mental health and wellbeing, the built environment and populations of concern, and social and health inequities.

This virtual event is open to health professionals and the general public. 

, Founder, Visible Hands Collaborative; Lorna Rosenberg, Program Manager, Women for a Healthy Environment; 

, Director, Global Building Network, Penn State University.

Climate Change and the Burden on Mental Health 

Alice Thompson, Dr. Gary Belkin, Julie Grant.  Moderated by Katherine Crowe, PhD.  

2:10 to 2:20 PM - Intermission with Halt the Harm

Enhancing the Resilience of Low-Income Housing in the Post-Covid World

A range of disasters, including flood, hurricane, typhoons, violent storms, earthquakes, collapsed infrastructure, and pandemic, pose the greatest threat to the poor and most vulnerable in society as they are more likely to live in homes that are more vulnerable to the impact of these disasters. Reliance on ‘hard’ engineering and infrastructure solutions alone cannot solve this problem. This presentation will discuss on-going research work that is directed at developing a framework that integrates the roles of human, social and natural capital in reducing vulnerability and increasing resilience. The aim is to identify viable pathways for improved resilience for particularly vulnerable, low-income housing communities.

Climate Change and Health: Indicators and Pathways

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82185683942?pwd=YW1LUEFYVlNEb1JubFRmOUFvbnl5QT09

(We're using the same link for all sessions)

The False Promise of Unconventional Gas Development

 – Panel Discussion with Pouné and panelists (

2:20 PM – Forever Chemicals in Oil & Gas Extraction

3:25 PM – NORM and Measurements of Radioactivity and Effective Dose from Oil and Gas Activities in Southern Pennsylvania

, Wayne State University/PSR PA Research on Radioactive Emissions. 

Although the unconventional gas development (UGD) industry has consistently and falsely claimed to be a great creator of jobs promising regional prosperity, the quantity and quality of those jobs are not questioned enough. Thankfully, the Ohio River Valley Institute recently released a set of reports exposing how the UGD industry failed as a job creator in Appalachia, and how a real-life model of successful energy transition can bring the promised regional prosperity. 

Meanwhile, the inferiority of UGD industry jobs remains underexposed, despite the excellent investigative journalism covered in 

, and other recent reports. The danger in promoting UGD industry jobs as safe or healthy opportunities cannot be scrutinized enough because of the harm and danger these jobs pose for workers, their families and communities, and, ultimately, as the impact spreads, our climate.

Cradle to Grave: The Reverberating Health Hazards of Oil and Gas Industry

, will take focus from the point of the worker's often uninformed toxic exposure to PFAS chemicals and radioactivity, into exposure to their family, and throughout their community, and beyond.

We invite you to register for this event. You will receive the Zoom link to attend the conference after completing registration.

Tonyehn Verkitus

Events