Listen in on conversations about environmental health science, co-presented by two Commonweal programs: The New School and the Collaborative for Health and Environment. Find out more: tns.commonweal.org and healthandenvironment.org. And you can find all of The New School's podcasts on Apple podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music.

Collaborative for Health and Environment

~ Co-presented by The New School at Commonweal and the Collaborative for Health and Environment ~

The harm to human health from chemical exposures is now recognized as a global crisis on par with climate change and biodiversity loss. Effectively addressing this challenge means adopting new approaches that recognize the complexity of systems with multi-disciplinary approaches, prioritize precaution and prevention, and address disproportionate impacts and environmental injustices. Join Host Steve Heilig for a conversation with Dr. Linda Birnbaum and Dr. Ami Zota, two innovative leaders in efforts to promote environmental health and justice in the United States.

Dr. Linda Birnbaum
Linda is the former Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the National Toxicology Program. She was granted Scientist Emeritus Status at NIH when she retired and is also a Scholar in Residence at the Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University. As NIEHS director, Dr. Birnbaum oversaw research grants and shared the results of cutting edge environmental health research with the public and policy makers. She also met with communities to better understand environmental health concerns and disparities. Throughout her career, Dr. Birnbaum has been particularly effective at bringing forward the mounting scientific evidence of harm of exposures to certain chemicals that are now ubiquitous in our products and environment. Her discussion of the current science has helped to shift our understanding of exposures to include the dangers of chronic low dose exposures and the long term effects of early lifetime exposures.

Dr. Ami Zota
Ami is a population health scientist with expertise in environmental health, environmental justice, and maternal and reproductive health. Her research focuses on understanding social and structural determinants of environmental exposures and their consequent impacts to women's health outcomes across the life course. Her long-term goal is to help secure environmental justice and health equity among systematically marginalized populations by advancing scientific inquiry, training next generation leaders, increasing public engagement with science, and supporting community-led solutions for structural change. Dr. Zota is the founding director of the Agents of Change in Environmental Justice program which seeks to foster more diverse, equitable and inclusive leaders in environmental and climate justice, training early career scientists from systematically marginalized backgrounds in science communication, storytelling, community engagement, and policy translation. Dr. Zota received CHE’s “20 Pioneers Under 40 in Environmental Public Health” award in 2018.

Host Steve Heilig
Steve is a longtime senior research associate with Commonweal, a co-founder  of the Commonweal Collaborative for Health and Environment, a host of dialogues for the New School, and in other programs originating at or founded at Commonweal. Trained at five University of California campuses in public health, medical ethics, addiction medicine, economics, environmental sciences, and other disciplines, his other work includes positions at the San Francisco Medical Society, California Pacific Medical Center, and as co-editor of the Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics. He has served on many nonprofit boards and appointed commissions, and is a trained hospice worker. He is a widely published essayist and book and music critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, Huffington Post, and many other publications.

Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our YouTube and Soundcloud channels for more great podcasts.

New School Conversations

2023:02.10 Linda Birnbaum & Ami Zota - What’s Next in Environmental Health

Science, Storytelling and a New War on Cancer / Kristina Marusic, Nsedu Obot Witherspoon, Sandra Steingraber and Host Kristin Schafer

If we can stop cancer before it begins, why don’t we?

This question motivated a deep-dive inquiry into cancer prevention for award-winning journalist Kristina Marusic. Her exploration uncovered an often invisible community of creative, talented individuals who dedicate their careers to identifying and challenging environmental drivers of cancer. In this CHE Café conversation, Kristina will share highlights from her book, A New War on Cancer: The Unlikely Heroes Revolutionizing Prevention. She’ll then be joined by Children’s Environmental Health Network Executive Director Nsedu Obot Witherspoon and renowned biologist, author, activist, and cancer survivor, Dr. Sandra Steingraber. The group will explore the power of storytelling as a tool for communicating complex scientific issues, and reaching people in ways that motivate action for change.

~Co-presented by The New School at Commonweal and the Collaborative for Heath and the Environment~

Kristina Marusic is an author and journalist who covers issues related to environmental health and justice for Environmental Health News. A New War on Cancer: The Unlikely Heroes Revolutionizing Prevention is her first book. Marusic is the co-founder of the Pittsburgh chapter of the National Association of LGBTQ Journalists (a.k.a. NLGJA), and previously worked as a freelance journalist covering LGBT equality, feminism, social and environmental justice, activism, and politics with bylines at CNN, Slate, Vice, Women's Health, the Washington Post, MTV News, The Advocate, Logo TV's NewNowNext, and Bustle, among others. She believes true, well-told stories have the power to change the world for good.

Sandra Steingraber, PhD, a senior scientist with the Science and Environmental Health Network, is the author of a trilogy of award-winning books on environmental health: Living Downstream_ : An Ecologist’s Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment (adapted as a documentary film in 2010); Having Faith: An Ecologist’s Journey to Motherhood_; and_ Raising Elijah: Protecting Our Children in an Age of Environmental Crisis_. The 2018 documentary film Unfractured tells the story of New York State’s fracking ban, featuring Steingraber as its subject.

Nsedu Obot Witherspoon, MPH, is the executive director for the Children's Environmental Health Network  (CEHN) and a key spokesperson for children’s vulnerabilities and the need for their protection. She holds leadership roles in many spaces, including the External Science Board for the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes at NIH, the Health/Science initiative of the Cancer Free Economy Network and the National Environmental Health Partnership Council. Nsedu is also member of the Board for Pesticide Action Network North America and the Environmental Integrity Project, and serves on the Maryland Children’s Environmental Health Advisory Council. Nsedu is a proud mom to four children.

#environmentalhealth #publichealth #environmentalhealthnews #waroncancer #newschoolcommonweal #commonweal

Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.

2023:06.13 Kristina Marusic: Science, Storytelling and a New War on Cancer

Join Host Michael Lerner in a conversation with Gary Cohen, founder of Healthcare without Harm. They will trace the evolution of the modern health and environmental justice movement over the years, starting in 1996, when Gary founded the organization after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency identified medical waste incineration as the leading source of dioxin, one of the most potent carcinogens. You can hear a past conversation with Gary here, one of the first conversations at The New School.

Gary Cohen
Gary is a co-founder and president of Health Care Without Harm (http://noharm.org ), the international campaign for environmentally responsible healthcare. HCWH is working to prevent disease and illness in society by assisting the healthcare sector to understand the links between a healthy environment and healthy people and helping hospitals become more environmentally sustainable as well as anchors in their communities for resilience, equity and community wellness. He is president of Practice Greenhealth, a U.S. membership affiliate of HCWH with over 1300 hospital members. He is also the co-founder of Greenhealth Exchange, a sustainable purchasing cooperative in the U.S. healthcare sector. Gary is a member of the International Advisory Board of the Sambhavna Clinic in Bhopal, India, which provides free medical care to the survivors of the Union Carbide gas disaster in Bhopal. Gary was awarded the MacArthur "Genius:" award in 2015, and the Champion for Change for Climate Change and Public Health by the White House in 2013. He was also awarded the Skoll Global Award for Social Entrepreneurship in 2006 and the Frank Hatch Award for Enlightened Public Service Award in 2007.

Host Michael Lerner
Michael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal. His principal work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, CancerChoices.org, the Omega Resilience Projects, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He was the recipient of a MacArthur Prize Fellowship for contributions to public health in 1983 and is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies (MIT Press).

Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.

#commonweal #newschoolcommonweal #healthcarewithoutharm #healthcare #greenhealthcare #dioxin #toxics

2023:09.08 - Gary Cohen: The Evolution of the Modern Health and Environmental Justice Movement

~Co-presented with Commonweal’s Collaborative for Health and the Environment~

We’re now in the dangerous, uncharted territory climate scientists have been warning about for decades. Meanwhile, biologists and toxicologists are sounding the alarm about surpassing the “planetary boundary” for chemical pollution, beyond which both ecosystems and our health are endangered. We know climate change and chemical pollution are related in ways that can accelerate both crises, but does their interlinked nature also offer opportunities? Join Host Kristin Schafer with biologist and systems thinker Dr. Elizabeth Sawin and chemicals expert and clean production advocate Beverley Thorpe as they explore opportunities to prioritize solutions that concurrently address climate change and the global crisis of chemical contamination — while also improving public health, equity and economic vitality. 

Multisolving Institute a think-do tank that helps people implement solutions that protect the climate while improving, equity, health, biodiversity, economic vitality, and well-being. Beth writes and speaks about multisolving, climate change, and leadership in complex systems for both national and international audiences. Her work has been published widely, including in Non-Profit Quarterly, The Stanford Social Innovation Review, U.S. News, The Daily Climate, and System Dynamics Review.  In 2010, Beth co-founded Climate Interactive, which she co-directed until 2021. Since 2014, Beth has participated in the Council on the Uncertain Human Future, a continuing dialogue on issues of climate change and sustainability. She is a biologist with a PhD from MIT who has been analyzing complex systems related to climate change for 25 years. Beth trained in system dynamics and sustainability with Donella Meadows and worked at Sustainability Institute, the research institute founded by Meadows, for 13 years. Beth has two adult daughters and lives in rural Vermont where she and her husband grow as much of their own food as they can manage.

Beverley Thorpe
Beverley is Co-Founder of Clean Production Action, and has researched and promoted clean production strategies to advance a non-toxic economy internationally since 1986. She was the first clean production technical expert for Greenpeace International on chemical and waste issues. Bev’s work on alternatives to PVC, organohalogens and hazardous waste incineration helped drive momentum for safer substitution practices in company practices. As the NGO representative in the first United Nations Environment Programme for Cleaner Production, she promoted the value of public participation in industrial policies. Bev received her degree in Geography from Leicester University, UK and is an annual lecturer at Lund University in Sweden on chemicals policy and corporate practices. She is a past Director of Greenpeace International and a founding board member of the Story of Stuff in the US. She lives in Toronto, Canada.

Host Kristin Shafer
Kristin is director of Commonweal’s Collaborative for Health and the Environment, and three decades of experience in the field of environmental health and justice. After working as a Communications Specialist at EPA and with World Resources Institute in Washington, DC, she moved back to Northern California where she held various roles—including executive director—over her 25-year tenure at Pesticide Action Network (PAN) North America. Kristin holds a Masters in Social Change and Development from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. She lives with her husband in downtown San Jose where she loves to bike ride and garden, and currently serves as board co-chair for the community-building urban farm, Veggielution.

Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.

2024:01.25 - Elizabeth Sawin & Beverley Thorpe - Multisolving for Climate, Chemicals & Health

Each year, the gas and oil industry produces billions of tons of waste — much of it toxic and radioactive. The fracking boom has only worsened the problem. Where does this waste go? In this webinar, co-presented with the Collaborative for Health and Environment and the Science and Environmental Health Network (SEHN), Host Kristin Schafer will explore the topic with author Justin Nobel, Dr. Larysa Dyrszka, and James Brugh, a tribal member of Fort Berthold in western North Dakota.

To follow along with Dr. Dyrszka’s presentation you can download the slide deck here: https://www.healthandenvironment.org/assets/images/Larysa%20Dyrszka%20slides.pdf

Justin Nobel writes on science and environment for United States magazines, literary journals, and investigative sites. His investigation into the radioactivity brought to the surface in oil and gas production was published in 2020 with Rolling Stone Magazine, “America’s Radioactive Secret,” and awarded best long-form narrative by the National Association of Science Writers. Justin’s reports on this in his latest book, Petroleum-238: Big Oil’s Dangerous Secret and the Grassroots Fight to Stop It (Simon & Schuster 2024).

Larysa Dyrszka, MD, is a pediatrician and has been a United Nations representative to ECOSOC with the World Federation of Ukrainian Women’s Organizations, where her work was focused on children’s rights, particularly health.

James Brugh is a writer, husband and father, and tribal member of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in western North Dakota. He lives in the community of Four Bears and has advocated tirelessly for the protection of his family, the environment, and his community against rampant and relentless oil and gas development.

#commonweal #environmentalhealth #newschoolcommonweal #dirtyoil #radioactiveoilfields #toxicoilfield

2024:03.06 - Justin Nobel, Larysa Dyrszka & James Brugh - Petroleum 238

~Co-presented with Commonweal’s Collaborative for Health and the Environment and University of California San Francisco’s Science Action Network~

Scientific findings can inform stronger policies that protect public health — which sometimes negatively impacts profits of companies that produce health-harming chemicals and products.

Industry intimidation of researchers who explore the impact of exposure to chemicals and other substances on human health is a longstanding problem. When Dr. Herbert Needleman found his credibility under fire after publishing data linking children’s lead exposure to lower IQs in the early 1980s, he offered this advice to early career environmental health scientists:

“Do not avoid difficult areas of investigation. Take risks. If scientists exclusively choose the safe routes, avoid controversial research problems, and play only minor variations of someone else’s themes, they voluntarily turn themselves into technicians. Our craft will indeed be in peril.”

At a time when strong, independent science is more important than ever, corporations are ramping up attacks on scientists in the environmental health field. In this CHE Café conversation, Dr. Lisa Bero and Dr. Lariah Edwards will share their own stories of industry intimidation, and reflect on steps needed to protect researchers and maintain scientific integrity.

CHE Director Kristin Schafer will host the conversation.

Lisa Bero, PhD is a Chief Scientist at the Center for Bioethics and Humanities at Colorado University. She is a leader in evidence synthesis, meta-research and studying commercial determinants of health, focusing on tobacco control, pharmaceutical policy, and public health. She provides international leadership for multidisciplinary teams studying the quality, use and implementation of research for health and health policy. Dr. Bero has developed and validated qualitative and quantitative methods for assessing bias in the design, conduct and dissemination of research. She has pioneered the utilization of internal industry documents and transparency databases to understand corporate tactics and motives for influencing research evidence. She is internationally recognized for her work and serves on national and international guidelines committees such as US National Academies of Science Committees and the World Health Organization Essential Medicines.

Lariah Edwards, PhD is an Associate Research Scientist at the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at Columbia University’s School of Mailman School of Public Health. She is also an alumna Fellow and current Assistant Director of Agents of Change in Environmental Justice. Dr. Edwards’ research focuses on understanding the health effects of and addressing exposure disparities to hormone-altering chemicals commonly found in consumer and personal care products. As part of this work, she collaborates with WE ACT for Environmental Justice on its campaign that seeks to educate consumers about the dangers of toxic beauty products. Dr. Edwards also draws on her experience in the areas of chemical policy and regulatory applications and science communication, as she feels addressing exposure disparities requires a multidisciplinary approach.

2024:08.12 Lisa Bero and Lariah Edwards - Protecting Scientists from Industry Intimidation

The New School presents conversations, book signings, art, and lectures with thought and action leaders of our time. We are a learning community of 4,000 people in the Bay Area and around the world dedicated to learning what matters. 

TNS focuses on the emergent, seeking out the thought and action leaders who are bringing discussion, beauty, and change to the world. We present events and podcast them in many areas: arts and sciences, health and the environment, and inner life. We follow streams of inquiry, including our End-of-Life Conversations, and series on Resilience, Archetypal Psychology, and Healing Circles.