Dr. Eric Chivian: Proving the Health Benefits of Conservation

Attendees of this year’s Massachusetts Land Conservation Conference are in for a treat—they will listen to environmental medicine superstar Dr. Eric Chivian kick off the event as the plenary speaker. The Conference, to take place in Worcester on March 22, is an annual training and networking event for land conservation professionals and enthusiasts.

Over the past few decades, Dr. Chivian has been inspiring medical and environmental professionals, as well as policy makers, economists, religious groups, and others, to recognize the implications of biodiversity loss on human health and well-being through his research, writing, teaching, and organizing.

Dr. Chivian is the founder and former director of Harvard Medical School's Center for Health and the Global Environment, the first center at a medical school in the United States focusing on the human health dimensions of global environmental change.  His work has been published in countless studies and books, including the Oxford University Press book he edited and wrote with Dr. Aaron Bernstein called “Sustaining Life: How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity,” published in 2008. 

Dr. Chivian is a Nobel Laureate, and in 2008, Time Magazine named him, along with Rev. Richard Cizik, Former Vice President for Governmental Affairs of the National Association of Evangelicals, as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World for their work in organizing scientists and Evangelicals to join together in efforts to protect the global environment.

Now as the reality of climate change is setting in, Dr. Chivian’s work and messages are more important than ever before.  As Dr. Chivian has been promoting recognition of the link between the health of the environment and the health of humans, land conservation professionals and enthusiasts have also been promoting good health through conservation of our open spaces and natural areas.  At this year’s Massachusetts Land Conservation Conference we’ll have the chance to hear from Dr. Chivian just how critically important our work now is, not just for the earth’s ecosystems—for its people too.

We hope you’ll join us and the rest of the Massachusetts land trust community at the Conference on Saturday, March 22!