Greetings Climate Vets,
​Long time no hear from? Fair point... I guess I’ve been on a bit of a “discouraged” run, without even realizing it. Some specific climate change-related projects that I work on, especially Energy Forever, have been making nice progress. But that soothes my short-term panic while in the back of my mind I know that the earth is still getting deeper and deeper in proverbial and literal hot water. True, many small efforts are much better than none at all, but deep down I feel like my little efforts are just that; especially when pitted against the Goliath that is our coalition government in Australia, the Trump demonstration in the US, and the whole fossil fuel industry. Sometimes I just want to beat my head against a wall. BUT that doesn’t make much of a blog post, does it? And I just didn't have an upbeat post in me. 
But, I am not alone; and one of the things Climate Vets can do is provide community to help us through times like this. So I guess it’s time to share.
Today, my wonderful co-worker at VOC handed me an article by Lesley Hughes in the Monthly magazine, and it just really encapsulates it beautifully. It’s well worth 10 minutes of your time to read it. Please let me know if this doesn’t work for you: https://www.pressreader.com/australia/the-monthly-australia/20180601/281522226756361
Talk to you soon! ~Angela

Hi Climate Vets,
In other exciting news...
Climate Vets has taken a big step and will have a display table in the exhibit hall at the upcoming ACVIM Annual Forum in Baltimore!
So, if you'll be at the meeting, please come by and say hello at "booth" 430!
See you soon!
~Angela 

Exciting news about one of the largest veterinary profession organizations, the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine.

After suggestions from member diplomates last year, the ACVIM has adopted responsible investing practices for its institutional investments.

This is still a way off from fossil fuel divestment, but it's a big step in the right direction!!

The most recent ACVIM "Message from the President" opens with the following:
"The Board of Regents, following the recommendation of the Finance, Investment and Audit Committee (FIAC), voted to invest our global equity portfolios in a socially responsible manner by proactively screening for Environmental, Social and Governance issues, i.e. ESG Investing. ESG Investing seeks to own a portfolio of companies that are best in class based on scoring for performance on environment, social, and governance issues. "

Nice work ACVIM!!

I hope you had a wonderful time at the March for Science a few weeks ago!
Hundreds of thousands of people gathered in more than 600 cities across the world, and it was a great feeling to be part of that. 
Here in Port Macquarie, we had nearly 60 people - pretty good considering the size of our town! Here's the coverage of our event:
http://www.portnews.com.au/story/4612269/get-marching-for-science/ 
 http://www.portnews.com.au/story/4612997/the-value-of-science/
https://www.facebook.com/events/194332031082322/?active_tab=discussion

Hi ClimateVets!
A reminder that the March for Science is taking place in cities around the world on Saturday April 22. This event is very concordant with my values as a veterinarian, maybe yours too. I'm helping to organize my city's satellite event.
Find your local satellite event and have a nice walk!
https://www.facebook.com/marchforscience/
https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=march%20for%20science%20australia
https://www.facebook.com/events/194332031082322/
https://www.marchforscience.com/
https://marchforscienceaustralia.org/​

On this coming Earth Day, April 22, 2017; scientists and supporters of science around the world will take to the streets and demand to be heard. The antiscience movement is a serious problem for climate change, but it's a problem in so many other ways too.

"The March for Science is an international movement, led by organizers distributed around the globe. This movement is taking place because of the simultaneous realization by thousands of  people who value science in their lives that staying silent is no longer an option. There are marches being planned across the United States and internationally."

I'm helping to organize a #marchforscience in Port Macquarie, NSW. I'd encourage other ClimateVets to see if there's a March on near you, and turn out if you can. If you haven't gone on a march or other protest before, I expect this will be a relatively easy, fun and non-scary one.
​
https://www.marchforscience.com/

Don't forget to turn off the lights to show the massive people power behind climate action this weekend! 
8:30 p.m. your local time on Saturday March 25
https://www.worldwildlife.org/pages/earth-hour

Gather your friends and loved ones for a candle-lit evening and talk about the earth..

Dear ClimateVets,

I hope you've all been well lately, especially considering the "climate". I know I've been quiet, and I'm sorry for that. I do have a couple of articles and suggested activities for you on the boil.

In the meantime, here's a small entry in the "What Can I Do"? column... pages 10 - 12 in:

https://issuu.com/engagemedia/docs/vet_practive_march_2017/1?e=2154905/45332836

More soon, really!

​~Angela

"The goal of One Health Day is to build the political will necessary for a sea change in how planetary health challenges are assessed and addressed. One Health Day will bring global attention to the need for One Health interactions and allow the world to ‘see them in action’.The One Health Day campaign is designed to engage as many individuals as possible from as many arenas as possible in One Health education and awareness events, and to generate an inspiring array of projects worldwide."

Thus inspired, I chose Global One Health Day as the official launch date for Climate Vets.

I've been thinking about Climate Vets for such a long time, and it's time to get it off the ground.

​Welcome!

​Veterinarians are charged with the protection of animal health and welfare, prevention and relief of animal suffering, and promotion of public health. Climate change threatens all these - so as a veterinarian, it hits me where I live.
The loss of 173 human lives in Victoria’s Black Saturday fires in February 2009 was terrible. What many people don’t know is that in addition, over 1,000,000 animals lost their lives in the fires according to RSPCA estimates, including nearly 12,000 helpless livestock.
Many of the surviving wild animals were badly burned during the fire or afterwards, trying to return to their still-smouldering homes. And even later, they would struggle to survive in the devastated habitat.
So what's the connection between stories like these and climate change?
The Black Saturday fires occurred at the peak of a record-smashing heatwave that sat over south-eastern Australia in early 2009 generating the conditions that made the fires so devastating. Climate change didn’t directly cause the fires, but it set the stage for them to be so catastrophic when they broke out.
In Tasmania we have just witnessed similarly extreme bushfires – which scientists have directly linked with climate change - destroying 80,000 hectares of ancient habitat in the Wilderness World Heritage Area, along with the forest animals that called it home.
More severe fires, longer fire seasons, and more frequent and extreme heatwaves and droughts are predicted with climate change. That’s exactly what’s happening, and our animal friends are paying the price.
There’s no corner of the world - mountains, grasslands or seas - where animals are unaffected by climate change. The changes and species impacted are simply too many to list.
Wildlife veterinarian Dr David Phalen, Associate Professor of Wildlife Health and Conservation at the University of Sydney, says, “There are many examples of wildlife being impacted by climate change. Large fires have destroyed habitat for already endangered populations of wildlife. We’re also seeing coral bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef… the lowest numbers in recorded history of waterbirds breeding in the Murray Darling basin due to low water flow… koalas in Gunnedah and mid central Queensland impacted by prolonged heat and drought, with 20% of the koala population in Gunnedah lost to heat exhaustion a few years ago… Lots more.”
Phalen and his graduate student Dr. Silvia Ban de Gouvea Pedrosa and colleague Dr. Karrie Rose, of The Australian Registry of Wildlife Health have recently identified an increase in coccidiosis, a potentially fatal infection in green sea turtles along Australia’s east coast, and have linked this to climate change and changing rainfall patterns.
But it’s not just wildlife bearing the brunt of climate change. Livestock and pets die in bushfires and severe storms too. When people evacuate during natural disasters, many are unable to take their pets and must simply hope for the best.
Imagine sitting in a cyclone shelter wondering not only if your home will be there to return to, but whether your pets will survive - and what they’re going through.
And like in people, even though it’s less dramatic, heat itself is actually a bigger killer in animals - every year many pets die from heat stroke.
More subtle threats to animal health and welfare overlap with threats to human health. The World Health Organization predicts an increase in infectious diseases as a likely major consequence of climate change. These include Lyme disease, Rift Valley fever, West Nile virus, Dengue fever, malaria, plague, parasites and cholera. Many of these are zoonoses – infections shared between people and domestic and wild animals.
“One Health” is a concept in veterinary and human medicine that recognizes the interconnectedness of human and animal health and the environment. This isn’t touchy-feely stuff – it’s very practical science about things like infectious diseases, and food production. Farmers and biologists know all about this. We all know it on some level, although most of us don’t usually make the connection in our daily lives.
At the recent Paris climate conference Australia committed to working toward keeping global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees. So we know what we need to do to achieve that and we know it’s economically and technologically feasible. We only need to choose together to make it a reality.
Climate change has many consequences, including a threat to the animals that as a veterinarian I’ve sworn to protect. From my perspective, there’s no problem more urgent or important; and no excuse for lagging a moment longer to take the strongest possible action to mitigate it.

(This piece was first published on onlineopinion.com in March 2016)