From the Networker’s New Editor

Warm greetings to SEHN’s wonderful readership. I’m writing to tell you all that I’ve accepted the invitation to serve as new editor of the Networker. Carolyn Raffensperger, who has been editing our newsletter since its inception in the late 1990s, will be able to devote more time to her many other SEHN commitments. She won’t be far, and you will continue to hear her familiar voice in these pages! I’ll be working with the amazingly talented Mo Banks, who has designed this past year’s Networkers, continuing to explore new design and platform possibilities that will make the newsletter as readable and shareable as possible.

I bring 15 years of experience editing a quarterly research newsletter, The Ribbon, from Cornell University’s Breast Cancer and Environmental Risk Factors program, 1996-2010, overseeing each edition from conceptualization through production. I reviewed research conferences, presented our own work, conducted interviews, wrote original contributions, recruited guest authors, and periodically evaluated our reach and impact. (Look out for a Networker readership survey in the near future!) Our research and outreach program worked closely with community educators and breast cancer activists—their work, perspectives, research needs, and policy change demands were also highlighted. The Ribbon is archived on eCommons at Cornell.

I love newsletters (really!) and hope the Networker will continue to bring you close to the concerns, commitments, accomplishments, and aspirations of SEHN’s staff, board, and the programs and coalitions in which SEHN plays a role. In the coming months we will bring you more news of the vibrant coalition work on carbon capture and storage that SEHN began out of urgent necessity one year ago, the reach and impact of the eighth edition fracking science Compendium⁠—one example of how we compile science and make it accessible—published in late April 2022, and many other ways in which SEHN staff and board members are using science and law to prevent, elucidate, and help repair environmental and climate injustices. We strive to ensure that we understand and respond to frontline community needs and that these communities feel our support and can easily access the knowledge and tools we gather and generate. We hope to report on many successes in doing so. I will try to ensure that SEHN’s vision⁠—“Fulfilling our responsibility to govern ourselves and our communities wisely, to create and sustain a just and healthy world now and for future generations”⁠—will continue to shine through these pages. Your feedback is welcome!

Carmi Orenstein, MPH
CHPNY Program Director, SEHN
Email: carmi@sehn.org