Register now for the Health & Sustainability Conference, Sept. 15, at Ithaca College. The speakers and exhibits are lined up. The issues are pressing, and the facts about our beleaguered health care systems are mounting. OBESITY: The American obesity rate* is linked not only to increased disease and mortality, but to economic stresses as our workforce becomes less fit and more expensive to care for. A recent report* urges "new, grand-scale changes" in the fight against poor nutrition and inactive lifestyles. CLIMATE CHANGE: The consequences of climate change* have jumped onto the international agenda, and many Americans are experiencing first-hand the effects of more powerful and destructive storms. TOXINS IN OUR BODIES: A 2005 Centers for Disease Control study found 148 toxic chemicals "in the bodies of 'Americans of all ages.'" The standards in the U.S. are more lax than those in many other industrialized nations, leading to concerns about protection against disease-causing agents in our daily environments. We hope you will be able to join us on September 15 and share your ideas about how to address these issues. Our goal for the conference is to start a regional conversation between health care practitioners, elected officials, and local citizens about how to design our communities, workplaces, schools, and homes in ways that support our health. It is so clear that we need to enlist a broader community effort to shift away from the harmful patterns of how we treat our environment, design our working and living spaces, and ignore our bodies’ needs. The Health & Sustainability Conference has assembled an impressive roster of speakers from across the country to help our region’s leaders and concerned citizens better understand the grave challenges ahead and to look at new solutions to supplement our best efforts. All that's missing is you! For more information on the conference, and to register to attend, go to the Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce website, _www.tompkinschamber.org_ () , or call 607-273-7080. The Health and Sustainability Conference was organized by Sustainable Tompkins and is sponsored by the Ithaca College School of Health Sciences and Human Performance. Supporters include the Park Foundation, Tompkins County Solid Waste Management Division, NYSERDA, Excellus BlueCross BlueShield, Tompkins-Cortland Community College Department of Nursing, HOLT Architects, Taitem Engineering and Cayuga Medical Center. ---------------------- * More then 30 percent of adults* and 25 million children in our country are obese or overweight. Centers for Disease Control, 2006 * Trust for America’s Health, August 2007 * According to current NASA research, the U.S. will be increasingly exposed to the most devastating tornados and hurricanes we have ever known, and even thunderstorms, hail, heat waves, and torrential rains are growing stronger.
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