POLICY

We enact policy that changes the environment for sustainable impact.

POLICY CHANGE IS A DRIVING FORCE OF TRANSFORMATION.

Optimizing the built environment and food and alcohol policies is a high-impact, cost-effective strategy to reduce chronic disease and raise well-being. While much of a healthy lifestyle is a result of personal choice, healthy changes on a policy level have a broad impact that influences personal choice across the community.

With this approach, individuals can see tangible transformation taking place in their lives: from the buildings they work in, to the streets and paths they navigate, to the foods available for them to buy and eat.

Blue Zones Project also addresses alcohol policy. We work with sponsors and partners to define community priorities and champion changes that support those goals, within retail policies and in public spaces.

Progress becomes apparent in the community surroundings—at the individual and neighborhood level—ultimately creating a healthier culture in your city, which further grows support and enhances results.

For Certified Campuses, Blue Zones Project works with campus leadership to ensure food policies, benefits, and well-being programming are aligned to improve health and well-being

Policy Change Across Three Sectors:

Built Environment

Food Systems

Alcohol

BUILT ENVIRONMENT

Our built and natural environments have a direct impact on our health. The built environment encompasses
the human-made spaces where we live, work, learn, and play, which includes our streets, intersections,
buildings, homes, and sidewalks. How well our built and natural environments are integrated is an essential
predictor of natural movement, socializing, and downshifting in any community. Routine daily movement
and social connection are central tenets of Blue Zones principles for a healthy, engaged lifestyle, outlined
throughout this report. The recommendations in this Summit report were co-identified with local community
partners and are aligned with the four Blue Zones Built Environment goals:

Goal 1: Promote Natural Movement

Goal 2: Encourage Social Gathering Areas

Goal 3: Advance Complete Neighborhoods

Goal 4: Increase Housing Options

FOOD SYSTEMS

Only 20% of our health is related to genetics. Another 10% is determined by our access to healthcare, while at least 70% can be managed through behaviors and the design of our community’s environment. The types of foods that are available in the places people spend most of their time are the most critical determinant of whether they will face diet-related chronic diseases. Policy and systems changes, as well as shifts to community infrastructure, are proven ways to move the dial on health outcomes.

For Blue Zones communities, food policy offers an evidence-based means to make changes in their anchor institutions (such as schools, hospitals, parks, etc.) and/or in their local units of government. These policy changes are designed to ensure that residents have reliable access to affordable, healthy food in the places they spend their time. There are five distinct Blue Zones goals for food systems that are interrelated; advancing work in one of them often reinforces the others:

Goal 1: Build Food Skills

Goal 2: Make Healthy Food Accessible and Affordable for Everyone

Goal 3: Increase Healthy Food Environments

Goal 4: Grow Long-Term Community Health

Goal 5: Grow the Local Food Supply

ALCOHOL

Worldwide, alcohol consumption contributes to approximately three million deaths every year and to the disabilities and poor health of millions of people. It is estimated that 77% of the cost of excessive alcohol consumption in the U.S. is due to binge drinking, and most binge drinkers are not alcohol dependent. Excessive alcohol consumption can lead to injuries caused by motor vehicle crashes, homicide, suicide, intimate partner violence, high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer, and numerous other conditions.,

Blue Zones’ overall goal is to promote longevity, health, and well-being within Petaluma by prioritizing community-wide interventions that contribute to increased life expectancy and improved quality of life. As part of this goal, Blue Zones emphasizes the importance of effective alcohol policies that discourage excessive and underage drinking and promote healthier behaviors.