We’ve never needed safe play spaces in our communities more than we do now. Nearly a third of kids and adolescents in America – and two-thirds of adults – are overweight or obese.Many are urged to get more exercise but can’t follow this advice very easily where they live. Walking and bicycling are dangerous on roads designed for cars. Safe parks and playgrounds can be few and far between, especially in low-income communities.

What’s the most promising way to keep obesity prevention efforts going in this economic climate?

Strategies that are good for health and business alike.

The obesity crisis is threatening more than our health and our children’s well-being. It’s taking a major toll on our already fragile economy: costs associated with obesity total about $147 billion a year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Obesity causes more than 15 percent of this country’s preventable deaths—more than alcohol, toxins, care accidents, gun-related deaths, drug abuse and STDs combined— and it causes a huge financial strain on the health care system.

Former Governor Sarah Palin recently claimed that First Lady Michelle Obama's childhood obesity prevention campaign inappropriately usurps the role of parents in making food choices for their children. Her critical comments fail to recognize that, in too many instances, parents have become prisoners of school and community environments that restrict their child's access to healthy food and physical activity options.

During a breakout session at last winter's White House Fiscal Responsibility Summit, President Obama's chief economic advisor Larry Summers introduced the subject of Social Security reform by suggesting that an increase in the retirement age may be a prudent consideration given that "Americans are living longer". When it was my turn to speak, I pointed out that "everyone" is not living longer and that, in fact, some researchers are forecasting a drop in America's overall life expectancy due to the childhood obesity epidemic.

The measurements of childhood obesity go beyond the scales, the doctors’ offices, and health care dollars. Overweight and obese children are underperforming in the classroom and on standardized tests. The support of policies and funding that would improve the health outcomes for 30 percent of our school aged children would help to elevate test scores, graduation rates and overall academic performance.