Building H
@buildingh.bsky.social
A research and advocacy group working to build health into everyday life, by design - www.buildingh.org. Co-founded by @thgoetz.bsky.social and @stephenjdowns.bsky.social. Part of @publichealthinst.bsky.social.
Today, we’re unveiling our new work on measuring corporate health impacts in economic terms – estimating the societal costs associated with individual companies…
Steve Downs@stephenjdowns.bsky.social · yesterdayWe all know fast food isn’t great for us. And watching TV isn’t super healthy. Those health impacts add up – and they have a societal cost. But we rarely measure it – and certainly not at the company level. But a new paper shows that we can journals.sagepub.com/eprint/TAMZN...
Nice write-up of our new paper from Stanford Health Policy: healthpolicy.fsi.stanford.edu/news/what-do...
What Do Your Favorite Brands Actually Cost Society?
Is it possible to measure the impact that food and entertainment have on our health? Researchers believe they've found the formula.
healthpolicy.fsi.stanford.edu
Today, we’re unveiling our new work on measuring corporate health impacts in economic terms – estimating the societal costs associated with individual companies…
Steve Downs@stephenjdowns.bsky.social · yesterdayWe all know fast food isn’t great for us. And watching TV isn’t super healthy. Those health impacts add up – and they have a societal cost. But we rarely measure it – and certainly not at the company level. But a new paper shows that we can journals.sagepub.com/eprint/TAMZN...
"Its attempts to upsell Charpentier on extra Snickers for her Blizzard were perfectly polite."
WIRED@wired.com · 2d agoYour next drive-thru order might be taken by a bot. And you might not even notice. www.wired.com/story/ai-con...
From SNAP cuts to USDA grant cancellations, rapid changes to federal policy have had a deep impact on food and farming. Here’s our key coverage to date. ⬇️
The Most Impactful Food Policy Stories of 2026 (So Far)
From loosened regulations to cuts in SNAP and USDA, rapid changes to federal policy have had a deep impact on food and farming.
civileats.com
The fight against “food deserts” assumes that better options lead to better diets. The evidence is thin. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
The Myth of the Food Desert
The fight against “food deserts” assumes that better options lead to better diets. The evidence is thin.
newyorker.com
Senators are pushing for stronger labeling requirements on foods, including a warning label for ultra-processed foods and those containing non-nutritive sweeteners.
Congress Moves Forward on Two Food Labeling Bills
Legislation pushing an overhaul of the U.S. food labeling requirements and putting warning labels on ultra-processed foods have been introduced or advanced in the Senate this month.
civileats.com
Active modes are quiet modes. Car dependency is loud. David Rojas-Rueda: “Transportation noise causes a quantifiable and unevenly distributed health burden in the United States that remains invisible to federal health surveillance.”
Inflammation is a driver of age-related diseases (inflammaging) and this new NYT magazine article gets deep into the progress that is being made to track and block it gift link www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Inflammation Keeps Us Alive. It's Also Making Us Sick. (Gift Article)
The discovery that chronic inflammation is a cause of myriad illnesses could be this century's biggest medical breakthrough.
nytimes.com
This. Great piece arguing that our failure, not just to price in societal costs that businesses generate, but to not even try, is unacceptable. Product impact on health is a classic example.
Hamilton Nolan@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social · last wk.It is kind of amazing that we have settled on a version of capitalism that leads us into a trash can due to a decision not to price in the public costs of private profits. www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/enshittifi...
“We are seeing a strong body of evidence that the food you’re eating is going to influence how your mind is working.” -Ashley Gearhardt, PhD, Professor of Psychology, University of Michigan Tune in LIVE www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JcV... #FoodTank
A popular story from our newsletter last week was this report, from Ben Steverman, in @bloomberg.com, on the "fun shortage" -- the increasing decline of facilities to support recreational, social interaction: www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
The Fun Shortage Is Real, and It’s Making America Miserable
With fewer places to relax and socialize, and steeper prices for entry, having fun is quantifiably harder than it used to be.
bloomberg.com
For decades, people have talked about the toxic food environment and how it’s stacked against most people. For decades, little’s changed policy-wise, even in this #maha moment. I increasingly think there’s only one way out. That way is litigation. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/27/o...
Opinion | Want a Better Food System? Use the Anti-Tobacco Playbook. (Gift Article)
A teenager’s lawsuit against the food industry shows us the path to a better food system.
nytimes.com
The most popular story from our newsletter last week was this piece, from Bryan Walsh at @vox.com, on the dramatic gains public for teenagers over the past few decades. And what we might have lost ... www.vox.com/future-perfe...
The forgotten success story of America’s teenagers
Today’s teens are much safer than 1990s teens. Why doesn’t anyone talk about it?
vox.com
Our latest newsletter is out and we look at our societal failure to translate greater resources and know-how to better population health outcomes, reflecting on two new papers. mailchi.mp/13b090cfe1f9...
Building H: Translation Error
mailchi.mp
We're excited to launch the latest in our series of speculative design projects, partnering with @hcde.uw.edu. The Value of a Commute (www.buildingh.org/commute) looks at the frequent misalignment between people's values and their commuting choices -- and how to intervene in a harmful loop.
The Value of a Commute — BUILDING H
buildingh.org
The US is the undisputed leader of the "morbidity gap," the difference in years between how long people live and how long they are healthy. The data argue for greater focus on living well instead of worrying about living longer. medium.com/@robertroybr... #aging #longevity #health
People Live Longer But Less Healthy as ‘Morbidity Gap’ Grows
Poor health isn’t confined just to “older people,” new research finds
medium.com
A closely watched social media addiction lawsuit that had been set to go to trial next week has been dropped after the plaintiff voluntarily dismissed his claims against Meta, leaving none of the major tech companies facing trial in the case.
Social media addiction lawsuit against Meta is dropped | TechCrunch
A closely watched social media addiction lawsuit that had been set to go to trial next week has been dropped after the plaintiff voluntarily dismissed his claims against Meta, leaving none of the major tech companies facing trial in the case.
techcrunch.com
It’s a new kind of forever home: For @fastcompany.com I looked at the rise in longevity architecture, a focus on enhancing the health of a home that seems to have an expensive, very literal definition of what a “machine for living“ is. www.fastcompany.com/91576716/wan...
Want to live forever? There’s a house for that
Over-optimization is coming to your home—if you can afford it.
fastcompany.com
New working paper from Ritikaa Khanna, @rourkeobrien.bsky.social, @astokespop.bsky.social, @atheendar.bsky.social, & me We apply a new lens to the great (non-Covid) debate of US mortality studies: What's up w the 2010s? It emphasizes that US longevity worsened against a background of increasing $$
The U.S. Mortality Crisis as a Preston Curve Reversal
Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...
nber.org
A recent study suggests that not getting enough sleep increases the risk of weight gain, and thus of conditions like heart disease and type 2 diabetes. www.wired.com/story/even-m...
Even Mild Sleep Deprivation May Lead to Weight Gain
A recent study suggests that not getting enough sleep increases the risk of weight gain, and thus of conditions like heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
wired.com
Positive finding with both potential climate and nutrition benefits
Bloomberg American Health Initiative@americanhealth.bsky.social · 2w agoDoes the “climate-friendly” label on the menu actually change human behavior patterns? In a new study Associate Professor Julia Wolfson and her colleagues analyze the impact of climate labels on fast food menus on the selections consumers made. /1
As parents look for alternatives to unrestricted smartphones, a growing number of companies are building phones designed specifically for kids, from feature-limited mobile devices to minimalist home phones.
Parents want safer phones for kids. These companies are answering the call. | TechCrunch
As parents look for alternatives to unrestricted smartphones, a growing number of companies are building phones designed specifically for kids, from feature-limited mobile devices to minimalist home phones.
techcrunch.com
"Latest GBD analysis estimates that low-level lead exposure contributes 3.5mil deaths annually—5.8% of all deaths worldwide—& nearly 30% of coronary heart disease mortality. Lead now ranks among the leading global risk factors for death & is 2nd leading environmental risk factor after air pollution"
Reframing the Coronary Heart Disease Epidemic—The Role of Lead Exposure
In the 1912 edition of The Principles and Practice of Medicine, William Osler described angina pectoris as serious but uncommon and observed that chronic lead intoxication played “an important role in...
jamanetwork.com
"Over the next decade, home buyers living in places with the highest risk of poor air quality will increasingly desire larger homes that make sheltering in place a bit easier for themselves and their families."
Daryl Fairweather ⛅@fairweatherphd.bsky.social · 3w agoI'm stuck at home with my air purifiers, waiting for the smoke to clear. Millions of Americans are doing the same thing. So I wrote an article for Forbes about how worsening air quality will change home buying preferences, looking at evidence from Beijing. www.forbes.com/sites/darylf...
As summer temperatures rise, the impacts of urban heat become impossible to ignore. Yet not every neighborhood experiences heat in the same way. Learn how your city can create more outdoor spaces to reduce the urban heat island effect: www.cityhealth.org/greenspace-i...
New Report: Greenspace In American Cities
Greenspaces—from parks to trails to public commons—are essential for individual and community health. A new report from CityHealth and Trust for Public Land explores how cities can use Greenspace policies to benefit health.
cityhealth.org
alltechishuman.org/all-tech-is-...
Responsible Tech Summer Reading List 2026 — All Tech Is Human
All Tech Is Human is thrilled to release our 4th annual Responsible Tech Summer Reading List! For our reading list, we aim to curate a mix of books that touch on key topic areas of the Responsible Tec...
alltechishuman.org
Our series, "The Deadliest Drug," captured the American drinking problem. Today we turn to solutions. Here are a dozen ways the U.S. can start addressing excessive drinking and its many harms. (No paywall!) www.statnews.com/2026/07/14/a...
12 ideas for tackling the U.S. alcohol epidemic
The U.S. can save lives from excess alcohol use without taking drastic measures. Here are 12 steps that can help.
statnews.com
Social media limits are coming for teens across Europe
Social media limits are coming for teens across Europe
‘We need age-appropriate restrictions on platforms,’ said EU leader Ursula von der Leyen.
buff.ly
NEW: How car-free streets make healthier communities, in the @nationalobserver.com, with quotes from me on the benefits, and the importance of scale and context. You can improve the health of a particular street, but you may simply be moving the pollution problem. (u can sign up to access article)
How car-free streets make healthier communities
A new Carleton University study has found that temporarily closing roads to vehicles can reduce air and noise pollution by about 60 per cent for pedestrians and cyclists.
nationalobserver.com