The Connecticut State Museum of Natural History, part of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at UConn, presents “Do You Live In A Food Desert? How Many Calories Can $1 Get You?,” a lecture by Dr. Debarchana (Debs) Ghosh, from UConn’s Geography Department, and Heather Smith Pease, from UConn Cooperative Extension. The lecture will be held in the Connecticut State Museum of Natural History on the UConn Storrs Campus, Saturday, December 7 at 1 pm.
Food deserts are places where the access and availability of affordable fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and other healthy foods are frequently inadequate. Often common in economically challenged sections of cities, the difficulties in obtaining nutritious food and the availability of unhealthy processed food can negatively impact people’s health.
Join Dr. Debarchana (Debs) Ghosh from UConn’s Department of Geography, and Heather Smith Pease from UConn’s Cooperative Extension, and learn how the availability (or non-availability) of quality food choices in neighborhoods affects diet and health behaviors. Together, with students from the Job Corps Academy of Hartford and UConn, they captured different food environments through photography. UConn students in Dr. Ghosh’s Health and Medical Geography course also surveyed grocery stores in their own neighborhoods. The objective was to directly engage students and community members in research projects in order to understand what people were eating, where they bought it, and how often they shop for healthy groceries.
This program is open to adults and children ages 8 and above. Children must be accompanied by an adult. The program is free and advanced registration is not required. To contact the Museum, visit http://www.cac.uconn.edu/mnhcurrentcalendar.html or call 860-486-4460.
Presented by the Connecticut State Museum of Natural History, UConn’s Department of Geography, and UConn Cooperative Extension.
For more information, contact: Natural History Museum at 860.486.4460