Community Design on Health Expert Is Central Coast Bioneers Keynote Speaker

http://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/article/101312_community_design_on_health_expert_central_coast_bioneers/

By Stacey Hunt for the Central Coast Bioneers Conference

Dr. Richard Jackson noted for connecting health issues with environmental conditions

Dr. Richard Jackson, host of the PBS series Designing Healthy Communities, will deliver a keynote lecture at 7 p.m. Oct. 19 at the Monday Club as part of the Central Coast Bioneers Conference in San Luis Obispo.

Jackson is professor and chairman of Environmental Health Sciences at UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health. He is an editor of Making Healthy Places: Designing and Building for Health, Well-Being and Sustainability, a book that offers a comprehensive look at the human health implications of buildings, neighborhoods and cities.

A former pediatrician and director of the National Center for Environmental Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Jackson realized the connection between health issues, such as diabetes, asthma, depression and heart disease, and the toxic environmental conditions we have created through poor community design.

“If you wanted to find a way to make someone out of shape, overweight and depressed, you probably couldn’t do a much better job than creating an environment where more than half of the people in America cannot buy a carton of milk without getting in a car and riding somewhere,” Jackson said.

His talk will cover the innovative solutions being realized in communities around the United States that can serve as a model for the rest of the nation.

Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students and are available online at www.centralcoastbioneers.org or at AtMODsphere, 1119 Chorro St. in San Luis Obispo. Jackson’s book, Making Healthy Places, will be available for purchase at the conference bookstore and a book signing will follow the lecture.

The Central Coast Bioneers Conference for Monterey, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties is an annual three-day, solutions-focused gathering that brings together a diverse audience to create deep and positive change in their communities. The conference summons environmental, industry and social justice innovators all working to catalyze a movement to heal our world. This year’s conference is Oct. 19-21 at the Monday Club, 1815 Monterey St. in San Luis Obispo.

Click here for more information or to register.

— Stacey Hunt of Ecologistics Inc. represents the Central Coast Bioneers Conference.

http://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/article/101312_community_design_on_health_expert_central_coast_bioneers/