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| "Be
the change you want to see in the world." -Ghandi |
Featured book:
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Ask not what your
community can do for you — ask what you can do for your community.
I have taken the liberty of combining
JFK's famous inauguration speech with the "think globally, act locally"
mantra to urge you to help mold our community into a more healthy,
personal, connected, clean, and friendly one.
Bicycling provides the single best hope
for averting a public health crisis, maintaining economic vitality,
mitigating international security threats through reduced dependence on
foreign energy, and bringing back a sense of community and quality of life for people of all ages and
abilities:
- Cycling promotes active,
healthy lifestyle habits. Kids need mentors to show them their bodies were
meant to move and be active. With most 21st century jobs being sedentary, an
overwhelming majority of trips taken by car, DVDs in cars, computer games, TV,
and reduced funding for physical education in schools, kids will never know
their bodies were meant to move. They need parents, teachers, and community
leaders to demonstrate good active lifestyle habits to emulate. Riding a
bicycle to school, to work, on errands, and for recreation are great ways to
accomplish this. 30 years ago 70% of kids
walked or biked to school. Sadly, just 10% walk or bike today. Bicycling
is great exercise that helps fight fat. The Center
for Disease Control and Prevention has identified
obesity,
particularly among
children
and now even
preschoolers, as reaching near epidemic proportions and a
known risk factor for increasing levels of diabetes, heart disease, stroke,
hypertension, gull bladder disease, joint degeneration, depression, and
increased surgical risk. America is on the verge of a health and economic
crisis with sedentary lifestyles, child obesity rates, skyrocketing health
care costs, and lack of healthcare. Looking for a
succinct, attractive and non-technical promotional piece to sell the new Safe
Routes to School program to your local school board or PTA? Check out this
four-minute video pitch.
The piece was developed by the League of American Bicyclists with the help of
a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
- Cycling
makes good economic sense. The average family spends approximately 25% of
household income on transportation, mostly in the form of car payments, fuel
and maintenance, insurance, parking, and taxes to maintain roads. In WA use of
studded tires cause our roads to wear out between 25 and 50% faster.
Employers are learning that healthy employees significantly reduce health
related absences and mitigate skyrocketing healthcare costs. Employees who
ride to work are healthier, more energetic at work, and reduce parking demand,
fees, pollution, and rush hour congestion.
- Cycling is friend and family oriented.
Kids riding to school together build social relationships and responsibility
they would not gain watching a DVD or playing a computer game in the back of a
minivan. The camaraderie from touring, training, and racing builds lifelong
relationships.
- Cycling decreases air,
water, and noise pollution. 57% of the
air pollution in WA is caused by motor vehicles.
Asthma is an epidemic in Washington State. Over
the past twenty years, the incidence of
asthma, particularly among children, has increased dramatically.
The best way to reduce air
pollution and water pollution caused by oil and engine fluids running off into
our streams, lakes, and Puget Sound is to get people out of their cars and on
to bikes.
- Cycling is multi-dimensional.
Everyone can tour by road or trail, race on the road, trail, or track, and
commute to work, school, or errands.
- Cycling decreases
congestion. 1 motor vehicle takes up space equal to that of 12 bicycles.
See photos here.
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