Public Health Week to Stress Healthier People, Healthier Climate
Lt. Gov. Barbara O’Brien to kick off public health week event at
Stapleton
March
28, 2008—Denver—On Monday, April 7, at 10:30 a.m., Lt.
Gov. Barbara
O’Brien will join officials from the Colorado Department of
Public
Health and Environment and local public health employees to
kick off
2008 National Public Health Week at one of the state’s
premier
walkable communities. This year’s theme is “Climate Change:
Our
Health in the Balance.” To help celebrate public health
week, April 7-13, Lt. Gov. O’Brien
will make opening remarks and hand out pedometers to
onlookers at
Stapleton’s new Central Park, located at Martin Luther King
Blvd. and
Central Park Ave.
“A walkable community such as Stapleton provides the
perfect
opportunity to promote the integration of healthy living and
a healthy
environment,” said Lt. Gov. O’Brien. “There is a direct
connection
between climate change and our health. During public health
week, we
want to bring attention to a healthier world. We want to see
people
making changes in their own lives to help lead to a
healthier climate.
We are prepared to travel, eat, live and work differently.
These changes
have the added benefit of making us healthier, too.”
Leading public health experts now say that climate change is
one of the
most serious public health threats facing the nation.
“The public health community has an important role to
play in making
the connection between the way we lead our lives, our impact
on the
planet and the planet’s impact on our health,” said Jim
Martin,
executive director of the Colorado Department of Public
Health and
Environment. “Policy makers and elected officials at the
local, state
and national level need to understand the importance of
having public
health at the table for discussions about climate change.
And the
American people need to know that they can make everyday
choices and
lead lifestyles that are healthy for them, their communities
and the
planet.” How You Can Help
Very often, what’s good for the climate is good for
people’s
health, too. That’s why some of the country’s top health and
climate
change experts have endorsed a series of recommendations for
a healthier
lifestyle, and a healthier climate. — Be Prepared. Inform
yourself about the health impacts of climate
change and regional climate change issues facing your
community and take
action to prepare for possible disasters. — Travel
Differently. Leave the vehicle at home and take public
transportation instead. Walk or bike. If you need to drive,
carpool. If
you can, telecommute.
— Eat Differently and Exercise. Buy food from a community
farmer’s
market where food hasn’t traveled across the country to get
to your
supermarket shelves. Eat more fruits and vegetables and less
meat. Do
some form of physical activity at least 30 minutes each day,
perhaps by
breaking the activity into 10-minute increments throughout
the day. — Green Your Work. Participate in your
community’s recycling
program. Use recycled paper if you don’t already, and even
if you do,
print less often and on both sides of the paper. Set your
computer to
energy-saver mode and buy eco-friendly office furniture.
— Green Your Home. Insulate your home so energy isn’t
literally
going out the windows. Reduce your use of wasteful products,
reuse or
recycle the products you do use and conserve water. Use
compact
fluorescent bulbs. About National Public Health Week
For more than a decade the American Public Health
Association h
as
organized National Public Health Week during the first full
week in
April.
Posters with this year’s public health week theme have
been printed
in English and Spanish and have been distributed to
communities
throughout the state. A copy of the poster is attached and
can be
duplicated. For more information, call Ellen Cohen at
303-692-2021. --30-- |
