Chapter Events

Note: This program will be presented on Zoom. Advance registration is required. Please click the "Register" button at the bottom of this page to register for this program. At the request of the presenter this program will not be recorded.

Full Title "The Nature Fix: Your Brain on Nature - Why Being Outside Makes Us Feel Happier, Healthier, and More Creative"

Florence Williams, a nationally acclaimed journalist and author, will present the latest evidence on the science behind why nature is good for us, from cognition to mental health. She incorporates reporting and research from around the world, from Japan to Scotland to Singapore to Utah, for insights into how being nature changes our brains and physiologies. What constitutes exposure to nature? What is the dose for optimal benefit and how are doctors and patients medicalizing time in parks? What she learned holds many lessons for interacting with the natural world in good times and bad.

Presenter Bio:

Florence Williams is a journalist, author, and podcaster. Her latest book, Heartbreak, called “show-stopping” and “courageous” by Publisher’s Weekly, just won the 2023 PEN/America award for literary science writing. Her first book, BREASTS: A Natural and Unnatural History received the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in science and technology and the 2013 Audie in general nonfiction. Her book The Nature Fix was an Audible bestseller and was named a top summer read by J.P. Morgan. She is a contributing editor at Outside Magazine and a freelance writer for the New York Times, National and numerous other publications. She is also the writer and host of two Gracie-Award-winning Audible Original series, Breasts Unbound and The Three-Day Effect, as well as numerous epidsodes for Outside Magazine’s podcast. Her public speaking includes keynotes at Google, the Smithsonian, the Seattle Zoo, the Aspen Ideas Festival and many other corporate, academic and nonprofit venues. A fellow at the Center for Humans and Nature and a visiting scholar at George Washington University, Florence’s work focuses on the environment, health and science.