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The gap between rich and poor in the US has widened markedly during the last 20 years. Middle class working families are rapidly slipping into poverty, and the poor increasingly see problems of health (over 30% obesity rates, with concomitant diabetes, cardio-vascular disease, etc.) and social health (unemployment, violence, and crime) devastating their neighborhood. These problems cluster in the poorest neighborhoods, diminishing opportunities for individuals to lift themselves out of the vicious cycle. Aspects of the physical environment accelerated these problems. Absence of healthy food, unwalkable streets, poor public transit, neglected main streets, lack of safe streets, squares and parks, and absence of accessible employment opportunities and satisfactory schools demonstrate a long-standing negligence on the part of planners and elected officials to maintaining fundamental conditions to assure health, well-being, and minimal economic and educational standards. A number of significant reports have recently been published proposing policies and strategies for addressing this problem.

Designing Healthy Communities is an inspiring and essential book for all who care about how to improve conditions for ourselves and for our children in our communities. Dick Jackson, a world renowned public health expert, speaks directly to the reader with clarity and passion, and provides numerous examples of how each of us can contribute to solving the crisis. “The United States is confronting a ‘perfect storm’”, Jackson announces, “where three powerful threats are converging to create near-catastrophic conditions. The first threat is social: an aging population and a hurricane of chronic diseases. The second threat is environmental… including resource depletion and global heating. And the third is economic, particularly the struggles of middle-class and working people in a stagnant and staggered economy.” The book is heartfelt, calling for courage and integrity to solve these amazing challenges and to discover remarkable opportunities in the process.

Westland, MI takes seriously the fun value of mud baths. In July every year Wayne County Parks and Recreation Department mixes 200 tons of topsoil and 20,000 gallons of water to create a giant lake of mud for children to play in at the “Mud Day” festival. They are following in the footsteps of spa resorts that for centuries have offered mud baths as a therapeutic treatment, and of children who have always loved to mess around in the earth. But now, this wickedly messy, and deliciously calming activity has been shown by scientific studies to offer some important health benefits.

What were they thinking? They portray a girl in a car gloating while the embarrassed biker tries not to be identified? This ad, run in student newspapers and fliers across the country, infuriated and disgusted students, faculty and university staff. GM thought they were being very cute, but apparently they did not anticipate the angry backlash from bikers, walkers and all those who remember GM’s sleazy history.