Carissa Bluestone covered the Summit for the respected environmental Web site, Worldchanging.  You can read her in-depth report at:  http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/010343.html

Richard Seven of The Seattle Times did an in-depth pre-Summit article:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009626067_nwvacations09m.html

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Vacations do matter, conference speakers confirmed, especially for health. Sarah Speck, a cardiologist at Seattle’s Swedish hospital, scared everyone at the conference with a graphic look at the impact of stress, and especially workplace stress, on heart health, concluding that such stress is “the new tobacco,” and that vacations are an important way to reduce stress and burnout. Dr. Arnold Pallay, a family physician from New Jersey, confirmed Dr. Speck’s findings, saying that many of the health problems his patients suffer from stem from lack of vacation time. “Take two weeks and call me in the morning,” he tells them. 

Former National Park Service Director Fran Mainella provided an inspirational keynote encouraging attendees to keep up the good fight for vacation time and for access to recreation areas and parks.  She urged everyone to watch the new Ken Burns PBS series on our national parks: THE NATIONAL PARKS: AMERICA’S BEST IDEA, premiering September 27^th.  See www.pbs.org for listings.

Attendees watched a video by Representative Alan Grayson of Orlando, Florida, who introduced the Paid Vacation Act of 2009, the first effort to pass a vacation law in the United States since 1936. “When people tell me they oppose such a law, I ask them if they get vacations,” Grayson told participants, “and every single one of them has said, ‘Yes.’ They want vacations for themselves but not for others.”  John de Graaf’s report from the Summit can be found at:  http://www.yesmagazine.org/living/no-vacation-nation

Thanks to all our speakers and attendees!