PORTLAND, Ore.(May 22, 2013) —Traditional Roots Institute, the new community-education initiative of the National College of Natural Medicine, will celebrate World Environment Day on Saturday, June 1 with an inaugural event, “Nature Health + Ecology,” to be held at the college. Traditional Roots Institute is dedicated to raising awareness about plants and the healing power of herbal medicine.

The free event, a forum on the environment, health and well-being, will take place from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. on the NCNM campus.

The event will offer information on health and sustainability; how to reduce exposure to toxic chemicals; hands-on classes about growing and using medicinal plants; a discussion about the health benefits of natural environments; demonstrations on biodynamic wine farming, and more.

The city of Portland was selected by the United Nations Environment Programme Regional Office of North America to host World Environment Day, a day dedicated to global positive environmental action. The city has invited its schools, organizations and businesses to schedule events celebrating sustainability and the environment from Earth Day on April 22 through World Environment Day on June 5.

Traditional Roots Institute is NCNM’s newest community-education initiative. The Institute is dedicated to raising awareness about the healing power of herbal medicine.

ABOUT NCNM

Founded in Portland in 1956, NCNM is the oldest naturopathic medical school in North America and an educational leader in classical Chinese medicine and CAM research. NCNM offers accredited four-year graduate medical degree programs in naturopathic and classical Chinese medicine, and a Master of Science in Integrative Medicine Research degree. Its community clinics provide low-cost medical care throughout the Portland metropolitan area. In addition to the campus-based NCNM Clinic, NCNM practitioners attend to approximately 40,000 patient visits per year. Until July 2006, NCNM was known as the National College of Naturopathic Medicine. The name change reflects the diversity of the college’s programmatic degree offerings.