Active Transportation: Good for You, Good for the Planet

Originally published in the Sudbury Star on May 29, 2021, as "Burning calories, not fossil fuels, should be our mantra." https://www.thesudburystar.com/opinion/columnists/blacklock-burning-calories-not-fossil-fuels-should-be-our-mantra

Back in the day, before the pandemic, it was common to visit places like New York City. While touring the Big Apple, you might have encountered a sign prompting you to:

                                                   “Burn Calories, Not Electricity

                                                                Take the Stairs”

And if the stairs were easy to find, appealing, and safe-looking, you’d have been tempted to use them. One of the people you could thank for your unexpected short burst of exercise would be Canadian public health physician Dr. Karen Lee, author of the 2020 book Fit Cities.

As Dr. Lee points out, we humans don’t like grimy, obscure stairwells with poor lighting and peeling grey paint. It’s no wonder we don’t use them. Instead, we let electricity do the work, while our bodies get heavier and our blood sugars and blood pressures soar.

Ditto for our transportation. We think of exercise as something we squeeze into our lives (or not) in the form of workouts; meanwhile, when we need to go somewhere, we'll probably take the SUV. Why is this? Are we just lazy? Do we no longer have legs? A wealth of research suggests it's much more complicated.

Over many decades, we've made some serious urban planning mistakes. We’ve designed and built our cities for the comfort and convenience of our cars and trucks. We live in sprawling, disconnected neighbourhoods. Multi-lane streets, big box stores, strip malls, parking lots, and retail-by-car have become our norm. Many of our intersections are ugly, intimidating, and potentially dangerous for people on foot, with traffic lights programmed not for the service of pedestrians but to ensure traffic flow. Riding a bike around town can be life threatening.

It could be different. Just the other day, I met a lucky guy who walks to work. His commute entails about 40 minutes of brisk walking each way. It takes him along shady, forested trails, through the university, and along Ramsay Lake Road, which has heavy traffic, but also features a rare dedicated walking/bike path with plenty of trees.

If this fellow walks to work regularly, he’ll accrue about 280 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise each week, almost twice the recommended minimum. He'll also save 80 bucks a month on hospital parking. He'll save on car insurance and gas. He'll avoid broken axles from hitting Sudbury potholes. He'll save on gym memberships. He'll burn calories. He’ll be healthier, both mentally and physically, with a lower risk of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, strokes, and many kinds of cancer.

Regrettably, many people who might walk or bike to work face something quite different: poorly maintained sidewalks, long distances with nothing interesting or beautiful to look at, noisy cars and trucks rushing hither and thither, car exhaust, blazing sun with no trees or shade, not to mention risk to life and limb. It can seem too inconvenient, too unpleasant, or too dangerous to get around by burning calories. And so we burn fossil fuels instead.

But change is in the air. Dr. Karen Lee would undoubtedly applaud the construction of dedicated (and hopefully safe) bike lanes currently underway in Sudbury. She’d probably design prompt signs that say:

                                                “Burn Calories, not Fossil Fuels.

                                                            Bike to Work.”

 Elaine Blacklock M.D. F.R.C.P.(C)

Sources:

Lee, Dr. Karen. Fit Cities.  Doubleday Canada 2020.