Dr. Richard Jackson, Chair of the School of Health at UCLA, and former head of the National Center for Environmental Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), says that how we shape our environment impacts our health. Naked Coral tree - photo by Jan Johnsen He notes that our built environment in part, contributes to our current epidemics of asthma, obesity, diabetes, and depression. But unfortunately, he says, we are not working to prevent these problems but instead are “looking at the end of the pipeline,” the medical effects. from a great website for parenting kids “We are now medicalizing the problems people are experiencing with their environment. We are no longer creating wellbeing.” For example, when ground-level heat goes up, ozone levels (from cars) also rise. Ozone is a leading contributor to asthma, a chronic disease that disproportionally impacts inner-city areas. “Any place where we can cool the air, we can improve health.” s
