“We tend to view obesity as a consequence of individual choices, but it’s clear that the environment is a major contributing factor,” says William Dietz, director of the CDC’s Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity. “Place matters. Where people live, work, learn, play and pray affects their nutritional and physical activity opportunities.”

Next week, public health advocates, government leaders and obesity researchers will meet in Washington, DC, for a three-day Weight of the Nation conference sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Among the topics: What government can do to make streets, schools and communities conducive to healthy choices.

We encourage participants to go beyond strategies for fixing current conditions, however. For real change, we must also consider what led to these conditions in the first place. Without a fundamental, ongoing re-examination of how we got to where we are, we are likely to return to the same place again and again.

A “healthy environment” is one in which people come together to continually consider and act on what they most care about.