Florence Williams: Globe-trotting author and journalist for National Geographic will speak at Annual Nature Symposium
RIVERWOODS, IL - On Saturday, May 20th, editor, journalist, and award-winning author, Florence Williams, will deliver the keynote address at Brushwood Center at Ryerson Wood's 34th annual Smith Nature Symposium. Williams is an experienced writer, with countless published pieces in a veritable deluge of well-known and respected publications. Drawing from her research and personal experiences, her writing is as scientific as it is intimate and draws the reader in to the fascinating and current topic of the medicalization of nature .
Examining the long list of Williams' published pieces, there is an obvious focus on nature's connection to human health and wellbeing, including Williams' 2013 award-winning book, Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History. Breasts weaves the subject through the lenses of multiple scientific traditions--anthropology, biology, and medicine-an environmental "expose" of an important mammalian organ.
"Brushwood Center was looking for a speaker who could address the importance of why spending time in nature makes us feel better, inspires creativity, and can even help heal psychological wounds and physical ailments." Explains, Ellie Ranney-Mendoza, Brushwood Center Board chair. "Brushwood Center promotes the importance of nature for nurturing personal and community wellbeing, cultivating creativity, and inspiring learning." Continued Ranney-Mendoza, "This is why Williams is the ultimate keynote speaker for us for our annual Smith Nature Symposium and garden party benefit event.
Williams will be speaking on the international research and findings of her latest book, The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative. The Nature Fix, which uncovers the science behind nature's positive effects on the brain, delves into completely new research gathered from forest trails in Korea, islands in Finland, and groves of eucalyptus in California to reveal the science at the confluence of environment, mood, health, and creativity. Through multifaceted research and extensive fieldwork, Williams exposes the powers of the natural world to improve health, promote reflection and innovation, and ultimately, strengthen our relationships. She uses this research to further the discussion of how spending time in nature has profound mental and physical benefits and why some doctors have begun prescribing nature to patients instead of pills. As our modern lives shift dramatically indoors, these ideas-and the answers they yield-are more urgent than ever.
A visiting scholar at George Washington University and a fellow at the Center for Humans and Nature. Williams regularly features in many publications including: Outside Magazine, New York Times, New York Times Magazine, National Geographic, The New York Review of Books, Slate, Mother Jones, High Country News, O-Oprah, W., and Bicycling, among many others. Her work has received six magazine awards from the American Society of Journalists and Authors as well as Yale's John Hersey Prize.
34th Annual Smith Nature Symposium: Saturday, May 20, 5:30-9 PM
The Smith Nature Symposium is an annual benefit for Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods. Guests will enjoy a garden party, music by the Carl Noble Trio, and featured art exhibition, Endangered Beauty by Carol Freeman.This year, in addition to honoring Florence Williams as keynote speaker, Deborah Lahey, President and Chief Executive Officer, Chicago Academy of Sciences and Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, will be awarded the 2017 Brushwood Center Award for Distinguished Leadership in Nature.
Registration for Smith Nature Symposium: Saturday, May 20, 5:30-9 PM
Individual tickets for the Garden Party and Keynote are available for $225, Tickets for dessert and the Keynote only are $25. To register, call 224-633-2426 or visit www.BrushwoodCenter.org.