Michigan Clinicians for Climate Action (MiCCA) is a diverse and inclusive coalition of Michigan health professionals working to shine a light on the human face of the climate crisis with an emphasis on those communities which have been disproportionately impacted by fossil fuel pollution and extraction. Through education and advocacy, our vision is to “cultivate a climate in which the health of ALL Michigan residents is both valued and can thrive”.
Founded during the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the generous support and guidance of our parent organization, the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health, we have grown our membership and broadened our impact across the state. Over the years, we have not only provided monthly educational meetings for our members, but we have also given large numbers of lectures and webinars to the general public, professional students, peers, and policy-makers. We have written press releases, opinion pieces, given podcasts, and been featured in state and even national media outlets.
Our reach is broad and we are proud to have added our trusted voices to weigh in on policy issues that improve health and equity through addressing the climate crisis on both the state and national levels. We have given testimony and supported strong EPA regulations, met with Members of Congress to educate them about the need for policies to address the climate crisis in order to protect health, and been active on the state level, including hosting a “Climate Clinic” at the capitol and meeting with state policymakers both at the capitol and in the district.
In addition, we have collaborated with other organizations, most notably Healthy Climate Wisconsin and the MSCCH, to be the lead authors on several national sign-on letters including:
- Letter to the Army Corps of Engineers on proposed Enbridge Line 5 tunnel – 231 individual signatures; 30 health organizations representing thousands of health professionals across the country (10/14/2023)
- Letter Requesting the Re-Opening of the HHS Pledge Healthy Climate Wisconsin was lead and MiCCA co-lead. 41 organizations signed on. (2/28/2023)
- Health Professionals letter to the United States Senate Committee on Agriculture.
- Signed Catholic Hospital Association Letter (authored by MiCCA, led by MSCCH)
- Signed American Hospital Association Letter (authored by MiCCA, led by MSCCH)
- Signed Children’s Hospital Association Letter (authored by MiCCA, led by MSCCH)
- Partnering with other air quality and health organizations in Michigan to author an Amicus Brief to support the Great Lakes Environmental Law Clinic and Sierra Club’s efforts to move Detroit back into nonattainment for ozone after discounting “exceptional event days” related to wildfires in Canada.
In the past year, we have been proud to work with a broad coalition of environmental, justice, and energy organizations within the state to support the passage of a package of clean energy legislation that makes Michigan poised to lead the nation on clean energy. Our volunteers made phone calls and emailed their state legislators, testified in Committee, sent a list of testimonials from health providers across the state describing how climate disasters impact their patients’ health and sent a letter to the governor and legislators calling for a rapid and just transition to clean energy.
In the end, while we celebrated this package as a solid first step, we are also keenly aware that much more needs to be done to protect the health of overburdened and under-resourced communities in Michigan. Going forward, we look forward to working in solidarity with frontline organizations to advance community and rooftop solar, improve energy efficiency, support water rights, and encourage the passage of policies that take cumulative impacts into account.
Recognizing that we have much to learn, we have had the privilege to work with a Climate Corp VISTA hire, Jada Robinson, who has served as our Health Equity Coordinator. Over the course of the year, she has developed our Climate Health Story Listening Tour in which we are collecting first-hand accounts of health impacts affecting frontline community members and the practitioners who serve them.
Our other primary campaign, launched this fall, is the Michigan Clinicians Lead on Climate Smart Healthcare, led by Lauren Church, MiCCA’s Policy and Development Director. Our goal is to support the development and growth of clinician-led advocacy groups within various hospital systems to encourage their C-suite to implement efforts to decarbonize and improve resilience with input from their local communities.
As we have done in previous election years, in 2024 we look forward to encouraging our volunteers and the broader community to exercise their right to vote as a social determinant of health, providing tools to check that they are registered and ways to secure a ballot and connecting the dots between climate change, health, and equity.