Thoughtful conversations with the people of Maine

I think that it's really interesting the way that people make decisions around what's in their home. There's a finite number of sets of sheets that any person needs or a finite number of couches that they need. So you have to get really, really creative with how you are telling the story behind what you are selling to them, because they are making this really personal decision to live with it every day.

There is a tension when we talk about the social drivers, when we talk about other determinants of health, there's kind of this tension and belief about individual choice and someone's choosing to do X, Y, and Z, and then these other contextual factors. At the same time, if where they live to go for that walk or that bike ride is really beautiful, it's safe, there are sidewalks, there's some kind of separation between cars and where they're cycling or walking, that's great. That's not necessarily within their control, but those are policy levers that we can pull to change that dynamic.

People said they felt like they had been abandoned by the environmental community, not necessarily that they weren't getting what they needed, but that they weren't being heard. They weren't being asked for input, they weren't being asked to contribute to the solutions.