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De Graaf is authority on impact of overconsumption, stress, and lifestyle on public health
January 27, 2010
John de Graff
What’s an Economy for Anyway? is the topic of a presentation by documentary filmmaker and social activist John de Graaf at 6 p.m. Feb. 17 in Gambrell Hall.
The Darla Moore School of Business and Arnold School of Public Health are co-sponsors of de Graaf’s talk, which is free and open to the public.
Dean Tom Chandler said Arnold School students and faculty should find the seminar stimulating and enjoyable because de Graaf is deeply involved in the national health care debate from a health economics and public health perspective.
A frequent media commenter on the impact of overconsumption, stress, and lifestyle on public health outcomes in the United States, de Graaf is collaborating with faculty at the University of Washington’s School of Public Health to establish a Best Policies Institute.
De Graaf is the national coordinator of Take Back Your Time, a nonprofit organization that challenges time poverty and overwork in the United States and Canada.
He is the co-author of the best-selling book “Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic,” a humorous critique of American consumerism, and has worked for 26 years with Seattle PBS affiliate KCTS-TV as an independent producer of television documentaries, many on environmental topics. Fifteen of his documentaries have aired on PBS during prime time, and he has won more than 100 awards for filmmaking, including three Emmy awards.
He recently completed three new documentary films, Silent Killer: The Unfinished Campaign against Hunger; Buyer, Be Fair: The Promise Of Product Certification; and The Motherhood Manifesto.
Prior to his work in TV, de Graaf was public affairs director for KUMD Radio in Duluth, Minn. He has taught documentary film production at the University of Washington and Evergreen State College. He has also taught on time, consumerism and sustainability issues at Evergreen.
The founder of the Hazel Wolf Environmental Film Festival, de Graaf is the former president of the Hazel Wolf Environmental Film Network and the recipient of the Founders of a New Northwest Award for his work in environmental media. The de Graaf Environmental Filmmaking Award, named in his honor, is presented annually at the Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival in Nevada City, Calif.
De Graaf is a member of the steering committee for the Simplicity Forum, a national think tank for the Voluntary Simplicity movement.
