May 1, 2018
Lately I’ve been pondering the notion of urgency – specifically how the issues of our sector don’t always inspire the level of advocacy we would like to see in the eyes of the broader public, our elected officials or community groups. Our communities face many challenges, and our ability to prioritize needs and potential solutions is a puzzle with no easy answers. Of course, on the one hand, it’s all important. But we have finite resources to deal with many issues, many that have deep histories and complex dynamics.
Many of you know that The Intertwine Alliance has been gathering individuals and groups to explore the nexus between health and nature. A plethora of recent research confirms what many of us knew intuitively for so long – that there are clear and defined health benefits for those who can access nature on a regular basis. As we learn more about the healthcare world's dynamics and listen in on conversations, we’ve come to understand that local health leaders are looking for answers to our community challenges in some different places – and are focusing more and more on social determinants of health (SDOH). SDOH are factors that impact an individual’s health outside of their genetic makeup. Things like access to good jobs, fresh food, transportation and even environmental conditions in their neighborhoods have become much more widely accepted as factors that impact an individual’s overall health. Health leaders are now claiming that your “zip code is a stronger indicator of health than your genetic code.”
This kind of thinking begins to shift the focus of how we best deal with our health challenges, especially for people in neighborhoods with a range of disparities. I bring this up because when we combine our understanding of all the health benefits that nature in our neighborhoods deliver to improve individual health, we see how a discussion about investments in our urban/suburban natural assets rises to a new level of priority. Our health-nature conversations have begun to resonate with healthcare leaders and with other groups we’ve never been able to fully connect with before. All of a sudden, planting trees, taking care of riparian areas, preserving habitat, and developing trails and public nature-filled open spaces is not just about science or recreating – it’s about an investment in healthy and resilient communities.
Without changing the work that our partners are doing to help nature thrive throughout the region, we can now confidently claim that this work is also improving our communities’ health. The urgency around our diminishing natural footprint and the funding needed to support a thriving green infrastructure now might have a few more advocates.
Sincerely,
David Cohen
Interim Executive Director