NH CHAT - February 2026
February 2026
NHHealthyClimate.org
Promoting healthcare workers’ continued education on environmental health and sustainability is central to our mission.
Explore free continuing education and scholarship-supported skills training, both online and in the field in New Hampshire:
Code Blue Planet Earth: Nurses Driving Sustainability in Healthcare
Are there moments at work when you feel disheartened by the amount of waste that is created in caring for patients? Would you like to make a difference in waste management within the healthcare system where you work?
Learn how Michelle Bouchard (MPH, BSN, RNC-NIC, Clin IV) raises awareness about the link between environmental health and human health at her hospital, focusing on the urgency for nurses to "Do No Harm" to the environment while providing care for their patients.
Southern New Hampshire Area Health Education Center is an approved provider with distinction of nursing continuing professional development by the Northeast Multistate Division Education Unit, an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation. Contact hours Activity Number: 1620
The Southern NH Area Health Education Center is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians. Southern New Hampshire Area Health Education Center designates this live activity for a maximum of 1.0 AMA PRA category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. For other professionals: 1.0 professional hours of continuing education.
Forest Therapy Practitioner Training in New Hampshire
Forest Therapy Hub: New Hampshire 2026 | September 20-27, 2026
8-day In-person Immersive
FTHub Forest Therapy Practitioner Training
Forest Therapy Hub (FTHub) offers expertly crafted Forest Therapy Practitioner Training to nurture your growth and expand your knowledge, combining expert teaching and exclusive one-to-one events.
NH Healthy Climate is proud to provide scholarship support to four New Englanders who will participate. Our hope is to improve access to high-quality forest therapy around the region by assisting local professionals in achieving certification.
BRACE: A Public Health Model for Climate Action
Are you a public health or health professional seeking to drive equitable, transformative change in response to the climate crisis?
APHA’s Center for Climate, Health and Equity, in partnership with ecoAmerica, is proud to host a live training featuring the newly updated Building Resilience Against Climate Effects (BRACE) framework and implementation guide that aims to empower health professionals in advancing health equity and climate resilience.
In this two-hour training, you will be equipped with the tools to collaborate with partners and communities to identify climate and health threats, co-develop effective strategies and take meaningful climate action.
By the end of this training, you will be able to:
Understand what BRACE is and how you can implement it in your work.
Assess your organizational readiness in the context of climate change and health.
Build community partnerships to identify climate and health risks and co-develop solutions.
Implement mitigation and adaptation strategies that address the inequities of climate change impacts.
Local public health action is more critical than ever. Earn two FREE continuing education credits when you complete the course.
Dear friend,
Thank you for making NH Healthy Climate's 2025 Annual Fundraising Campaign a success. Thanks to supporters like you, we exceeded our fundraising goal by raising almost $51,000. This will serve to support roughly half of our anticipated 2026 operating expenses.
I want to share with you the tremendous impact that you helped us make in 2025. Our organization:
Hosted 15 webinars that have already been viewed over 1,000 times
Gave 35 Speaker’s Bureau presentations to nearly 800 folks
Hosted 8 Climate Cafes with over 95 participants
Boosted our social media presence across four platforms (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter/X), posting over 180 times
Was recognized as one of ten finalists for the national ecoAmerica Climate Leadership Awards
Launched the Environmental Health & Resilience for NH Students to prepare school nurses to discuss the health impact of climate change in their school environments
Revised our children’s climate and health lesson plans, incorporating feedback received after prior program implementations. The program now comprises 4 lesson plans designed for students grades K-8.
Launched two sign-on letters; a letter to the NH Congressional delegation sharing our concern with the Trump Administration’s dismantling of the Congressional mandate for a periodic National Climate Assessment, and a letter to regional EPA Administrator Mark Sanborn urging the EPA to reject the petition from the NH Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) to withdraw from the Ozone Transport Commission and end vehicle emissions testing
Recruited four NH mayors to recognize Children's Environmental Health Day
As you can see, we accomplished a great deal in 2025, and we have even more ambitious plans for 2026. Thank you for all you do to power our mission by giving your time and money.
Onward,
Joan Widmer
Executive Director & Treasurer
NH Healthy Climate
The Repeal of the Endangerment Finding
The repeal of the Endangerment Finding marks a profound step backward that contradicts decades of scientific evidence and the consensus of the medical and public health community. This decision weakens the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to address pollution, while shielding fossil fuel companies from accountability. Our patients, families, and communities will be left paying the cost. In clinics and hospitals, we are already seeing the consequences: more asthma attacks, heat-related illness, pregnancy complications, mental health crises, and disruptions to care. As health professionals, our duty is to prevent harm. We will continue to call out policies that do the opposite.
Bi-Monthly Challenge from Dr. Darla Thyng
Puff Puff.
The sound of my breath turning white and hanging in the air before me as I pass through it.
Crunch.
The sound of my feet with warm boots and microspikes in the fresh snow.
I am walking in the woods, as I do about 5 days a week. I did not know I was “forest bathing,” or using mindfulness. I have been walking quietly in the woods, taking in the sights, sounds, smells, and other sensations, for decades before these terms were widely-used. On a typical winter day, I try to walk as quietly as possible, but this is hard in the snow. A deep fresh snow is a “plumph”, a hard icy surface is a “click”, and a just right surface layer of dry snow is more of a “crunch.”
The sky today was azure blue with puffs of pillow like clouds. Yesterday, a deep slate gray of many shades slowly rotated overhead. The birds are not as plentiful as in the spring, but listening carefully, if the wind is not too strong, I will hear a caw of the crow or raven, a jingle-like sound or hawk-like cry of a Blue Jay, the conversation of some finches, a hoot of an owl, a call of a titmouse, and a friendly song of a chickadee talking to me from the trees and thickets. A gentle moan of long twirls of soft, chilling wind hits my face. I become aware again that wind has sound, texture, depth, and shape. I greet the trees, as I know this path so well that the trees are my friends now. In the spring, I will gently touch some of them when I pass and feel the bark, rough, smooth, and shaggy under my fingers or arm. Sometimes, I thank them for all that they do.
When I come upon the meadows, they are white but not barren with the branches of waiting shrub and tufts of dormant grasses and weeds still visible above the snow. Foot prints in the snow across the meadow of deer, coyote , rabbit, and squirrel are visible. The smell of winter and forest is in my nose. The smell of tree, dirt, fresh snow, and cold winter is all about me.
So, I know now this is called forest bathing, and I feel more relaxed just reflecting and writing about it. Here is my February CHAT Challenge:
Go outside for at least a few minutes every day and practice forest bathing if you are near a wooded area, or work on mindfulness if you are in a urban setting. Even in the city, though it is hard to hear the sounds of nature, you can still see the sky and the clouds and feel the wind.
Do not listen to music or talk on the phone while you are doing this. Listen past the sounds of traffic and people. Hear the wind and any brave bird that might be near.
Be present for these sacred few minutes.
Be aware of your tension melting away.
This seems simple, but let’s face it: coming up with time to do this is no easy task in our lives. Even a couple of days a week of practicing Forest Bathing will help lower your blood pressure and keep you grounded in our natural word and what is most important in our lives.
Darla Thyng
Busy walking, listening, feeling, smelling,
shivering, seeing, hearing, and sensing.
