Today’s blog post features an interview with Dr. Susan Racine, a former primary care physician, longtime climate advocate, and Co-Chair of Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility. In this conversation, Dr. Racine highlights the intersections between public health and environmental activism, the dangers of fracked gas, and the vital roles that medical professionals play in the Make Polluters Pay campaign for a climate superfund in Massachusetts.

– Olivier Bradley, Communications Fellow

Name: Dr. Susan Racine

Town: Boston

Node / Working Group(s) / Other Civic Involvements: Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility (GBPSR), Mothers Out Front

About how long have you been involved? I’ve been on the mailing list of 350 Mass since around 2018 and involved with Make Polluters Pay for the past year.

Olivier: Who are you? What's your story? Why and how did you get involved in this work?

Dr. Racine: I grew up on the coast of North Carolina, where I found a deep love for nature. When I entered the medical field as a primary care physician, that concern for the environment evolved into a worry about climate change and environmental degradation. I already was an active member of the Sierra Club—I got all their emails and signed all their petitions and everything, and I knew about climate change when Al Gore’s movie came out—and I went to Earth Day celebrations, but things became personal when a high-pressure pipeline and metering and regulating station was proposed to run directly across the street from an active blasting quarry in my community. My neighbors, some friends from church, were already reporting that their houses shook from the blasts; adding a high-pressure gas line to that equation seemed like an incredibly dangerous proposition. So because of my neighbors and because of my concern for the environment I started attending community meetings with the company representatives. They offered ‘reassuring’ words that these pipes could withstand 20 times the amount of force that these blasts were going to create, but I knew that infrastructure ages and foundations crack. Seeing the community's resistance—groups like Stop the Pipeline and Resist the Pipeline—inspired me to get more involved. I did standouts at the local grocery stores with those groups, getting people to sign a petition against the pipeline.

One morning, I met a representative from Mothers Out Front who was talking about healthcare professionals against the pipeline. I was like, “Wait a minute. I'm a healthcare professional. I'm one of those. Tell me more!” And she goes, “We're meeting on Sunday afternoons in Jamaica Plain and we're trying to come up with op-eds and whatnot to oppose this pipeline.” So that's why I got involved with healthcare professionals against fracked gas, because I was against fracked gas, too. The more I’ve learned, the more I realize what a terrible energy system we have going on in this country. For instance, at least ~75% of the ‘natural gas’ we use in New England is actually fracked. I learned about the poisoned wells in Pennsylvania—contaminated with carcinogens, heavy metals, and radioactivity—and realized those same hazardous chemicals are carried through pipes directly into our homes. When we turn on our gas stoves, we are combusting those toxins in our living spaces. But anyways—we had meeting after meeting after meeting and petitions. The mayor never got involved. Karina—you know, Al Gore's daughter—actually jumped in one of the trenches—we did a lot of protests at the pipeline, and a lot of people would jump into the trenches to prevent the people from working. A lot of people got arrested, but they got off and got probation or whatever. I was busy in my primary care practice, so I never had a chance to do the evening training for non-violent direct action. So I lack a bit of street cred.

Olivier: There will be other chances!

Dr. Racine: Yes, unfortunately. I also learned that the person who was in charge of giving approval to the pipeline was married to someone who worked for the pipeline as a consultant.

Olivier: Hmm, interesting. Sounds like a bit of a conflict of interest . . .

Dr. Racine: Yeah. It opened my eyes to how corrupt the whole process is. We continued to advocate against pipeline expansion—knowing how bad they are from the environment, learning more about how potent methane is as a greenhouse gas and about how it's just leaking profusely . . . our pipeline infrastructure is basically a sieve. So, ratepayers are paying for gas that's going up to the air and warming the climate. And . . . there have been many occasions to be an advocate, seeing the effects of climate change starting way back, and certainly heightening . . .  exclamation point at hurricane Katrina, exclamation point at Al Gore’s movie [An Inconvenient Truth], which has yet to be acted upon. Then, Hurricane Sandy killed a member of my family—a tree fell on him and killed him.

Olivier: I'm sorry.

Dr. Racine: Yeah. And Hurricane Katrina created basically a climate refugee, who has now become a friend, who's in my church. So I was able to see the trauma that she's been through. It’s been like 25 years and she still will not talk about it. So I see that, and then knowing all the endocrine disruptors, et cetera, et cetera, and the carcinogens, and I see the cancer rates, especially in low income communities, especially in communities of color. I connect the dots, and . . . that's how I'm in PSR Greater Boston.

Olivier: What does your work with Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) Greater Boston look like today?

Dr. Racine: Since retiring from my practice, I’ve taken on a leadership role as Co-Chair. PSR has two main pillars: the prevention of nuclear war—a longstanding mission we’ve held since the 1960s—and climate change. So we’re divided, but united. Both are threats to the existence of humankind.

In our climate working group, we’ve found our niche as the health voice for various campaigns. We partner with organizations like the Better Future Project to support the Make Polluters Pay campaign and also we advocate against the private jet expansion at Hanscom Field and work with Clean Water Action to address environmental toxins like PFAs. Most recently, we’ve focused on the health effects of plastics, which are petrochemical products. If the plastics industry were a nation, it would be the fifth-largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world. Our goal is to ensure that the medical consequences of these industries stay at the center of the conversation.

Olivier: Oh my goodness.

Dr. Racine: I’ve actually heard from consultants who have worked with petrochemical companies. They told me that these companies recognize that the public—God willing—will eventually be outraged by the drastic effects of climate change and try to transition away from fossil fuels. To protect their reserves, the industry is pivoting . . . they want to use that petroleum to make us addicted to single-use plastics. Yep, to ensure they can keep extracting oil. It’s killing the planet.

Olivier: Wow. That’s terrible, but it checks out. To tie this back to the "Make Polluters Pay" campaign . . . why does the Climate Change Superfund Act matter to you personally and to the public health community?

Dr. Racine: It comes down to accountability. We know that companies like BP and Exxon have spent millions of dollars to cloud the science and confuse the public about the damage their products cause. They had the data decades ago and chose to hide it. It is deeply infuriating that the viability of life on Earth is being endangered by corporations prioritizing profits over survival. This is also a matter of profound environmental injustice. The impacts of climate change fall most severely on low-income communities, people of color, and the Global South—who are those who did the least to cause this crisis. If we had started a vigorous, effective response when these companies first discovered the truth, we would be in a very different position today. A climate change superfund would ensure that the industries responsible for this delay and destruction finally pay for the transition and protections we now desperately need.

Olivier: Yeah, and I mean, we still can [act]! . . . the barriers aren't technological; they’re political and social.

Dr. Racine: Exactly. They absolutely should pay. They are the ones who got us into this. Once they understood the science, the moment they realized the truth and began paying people to lie, it became a matter of basic justice. And climate change is incredibly expensive. And why should we, taxpayers, pay for the damages wrought by companies that are raking in billions and billions of dollars? To me, the appeal of the superfund is the fundamental environmental justice of it all.

Olivier: You should be a spokesperson for the campaign! Pivoting to sort of spreading the word about these kinds of campaigns—as a physician, what have you found to be the most effective way to engage people on these issues?

Dr. Racine: Well, while we haven't done any formal messaging studies or anything, I’ve found that people really sit up and take notice when you talk about the billions of dollars Massachusetts has already spent on climate-related infrastructure. But the real connection happens when you bring it down to the personal health level. When you mention the rising costs of healthcare, people start to connect the dots: "Oh, my daughter does have asthma," or "There are a lot of strokes in our neighborhood." Almost everyone has been touched by this now, whether it's through a personal diagnosis or a relative in Jamaica or California dealing with hurricanes or wildfires.

Olivier: I think you're right. I think everyone has been affected and it's just a question of whether it’s top of mind for people that these things that are happening, like someone’s daughter having asthma, are directly linked to fossil fuel companies, you know?

Dr. Racine: Yeah, and I think it's hard for people. Whenever anybody gets a new diagnosis or there's a new health issue, they just sort of feel like it comes out of the blue and there's not a lot of thought about . . . what caused it? What’s behind this? Because it's experienced individually. There's tons of talk about the cure for cancer—there’s very little talk about preventing cancer. And now we're gonna loosen regulations on radiation exposure . . .

Olivier: Yeah, and we already have pretty high baseline radiation exposure in New England, right? Because of, like, radon or something?

Susan: Yep.

Olivier: Lastly, you have anything that you want to impart onto our readership?

Dr. Racine: What strikes me right now is the pushback we’re seeing in the legislature. Just recently, some lawmakers, like the chairperson of the Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy Committee, suggested that Massachusetts should drop its 2030 climate goals because they claim it will be too expensive for ratepayers. 

Olivier: Yep, not true . . . on the contrary! Actually, I learned in one of my graduate classes last year that adding renewables in most cases actually decreases the cost of electricity—wind and solar have virtually no marginal cost to produce once they are built. That lowers energy costs up to a certain [pretty high] percent of penetration because it displaces dirtier, more expensive energy like low-efficiency natural gas and oil! It’s all rhetoric and no evidence or logic.

Dr. Racine: And, relying on ‘natural gas’ is far riskier—not only is it expensive, but when you actually account for methane leaks from production to distribution, it’s actually more warming for the atmosphere than coal. Anyway, I just want to say . . . we need the money from the superfund. We need the money, because we need to make the transition.

Olivier: Yeah, and it's also a fair way to get the money. 

Dr. Racine: Yeah, and it's an environmental justice issue because they have lied to us and convinced us to do otherwise. And to our detriment, because the whole planet's at risk.

Olivier: Thank you, Dr. Racine. It’s been a pleasure speaking with you. I learned so much!

Dr. Racine: Thank you, Olivier. The pleasure was mine.

Note: This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.