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“Obesity: What’s Needed to Encourage a Culture of Fitness?”
Online Forum Brings Together Leading Experts To Discuss Access, Lifestyle and Psychological Factors of this Worldwide Growing Health Crisis
NEW YORK, NY – July 29, 2008 – America is facing an obesity epidemic. One third of the country’s children are overweight and, statistically, 70% of them will become overweight adults. Even though obesity has many causes, sedentary lifestyles remain a critical factor: TV, videogames, the Internet, dwindling green space, neutered playgrounds, and an ultra-safety-conscious culture are all culprits in moving us toward unhealthful habits.
This week, leading experts in health and fitness, sports, pediatric medicine, research, and health policy address the growing crisis of obesity in a three-day forum on NewTalk.org. NewTalk is the interactive website where renowned experts discuss important topics not adequately addressed in the national debate and citizens are encouraged to participate.
“Obesity: What’s Needed to Encourage a Culture of Fitness?” begins Tuesday, July 29 at 9 a.m., and runs through Thursday, July 31 at 5 p.m. Members of the general public can visit www.newtalk.org to view the discussion as it unfolds or to join the conversation alongside the experts.
Discussion participants, who will take part from locations across the country, include:
- Stuart L. Brown, M.D., President, National Institute for Play;
- Charlene R. Burgeson, Executive Director, National Association for Sport and Physical Education;
- William H. Dietz, M.D., Director, Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity, CDC;
- Sheila Franklin, Director, National Coalition for Promoting Physical Activity;
- Joe L. Frost (Moderator), Parker Centennial Professor Emeritus, University of Texas;
- Joxel Garcia, M.D., Assistant Secretary for Public Health and Science, U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services
- Darell Hammond, CEO & Co-Founder, KaBOOM!;
- James O. Hill, M.D., Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine, University of Colorado at Denver;
- Kevin Jeffrey, Deputy Commissioner for Public Programs, NYC Parks and Recreation Dept.
- Lee M. Kaplan, M.D., Director, Massachusetts General Hospital Obesity Research Center;
- Richard Louv, Author, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder, and Chair of the Children and Nature Network;
- Hara Estroff Marano, Editor-at-Large, Psychology Today;
- Elliot Pellman, MD, Medical Advisor to the National Football League;
- Dwayne Proctor, Childhood Obesity Team, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation;
- Lynne Vaughan, Senior Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer, YMCA; and
- Jean Wiecha, Senior Research Scientist, Harvard School of Public Health.
(Participants’ photos and full biographies are available at www.newtalk.org).
“Obesity is a major health issue that is contributing to runaway health care costs,” said Philip K. Howard, Founder of NewTalk. “With the help of these renowned experts, NewTalk will seek to arrive at a diet of recommendations to help get Americans back into playing shape.”
Launched in June 2008, NewTalk (www.newtalk.org) offers a new kind of conversation: one that acknowledges reality, uncovers common ground, and finds a responsible way forward. It takes advantage of the Internet, letting each discussion unfold over several days with notable participants contributing from across the country. Recent NewTalk discussions have included renowned American leaders such as mayors Michael Bloomberg (New York) and Shirley Franklin (Atlanta); former presidential candidates and U.S. Senators Bill Bradley and Bob Kerrey; Edith Jones, Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit; Mark McClellan, former Administrator of Medicare and Medicaid, and a host of other high-profile thinkers with a wide range of expertise.
Upcoming forum topics will include:
- “Do We Need a Basic Rewrite of ‘No Child Left Behind’?”
- “Would ‘Loser Pays’ Litigation Eliminate Frivolous Lawsuits and Defenses?”
Among the recently completed discussions now archived on NewTalk include:
- “Can We Afford Our Entitlement Promises? How Close is the Cliff?”
- “Is Nuclear Power Essential to Addressing Climate Change and Energy Independence?”
- “What is the Role of the Courts in Making Social Policy?”
- “Chronic Care: Do We Need an Entirely New Model of Delivery?”
- “Is it Possible to Fix Government?”
NewTalk was created and is supported by the non-profit organization Common Good (www.commongood.org) in recognition of the need to improve the quality of public discourse on a broad range of topics.
CONTACTS:
John Michael Kennedy
Goodman Media International
jmkennedy@goodmanmedia.com
212-576-2700 x243
Jessie duPont
Goodman Media International
jdupont@goodmanmedia.com
212-576-2700 x232
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