U.K. Report: Walk More and Lose Weight, Save the Environment

A CommuterPageBlog reader points us to this a story (School Run Car Ban Proposed, August 14) on the U.K.'s Channel 4 web site where some people are calling for 'car exclusion zones' around schools to get families to walk more and fight rising obesity rates. The cry for change is prompted by a report released August 13 by the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) entitled Unfit for Purpose: How Car Use Fuels Climate Change and Obesity.

The main points of the report include:

• Since the Second World War, the continuous increase in car ownership has led to a dramatic decline in walking as a means of transport - muscle power gave way to fossil power.
• This report calculates that just by returning to the average distance walked by people in the UK without cars, the rising tide of obesity can be almost halted.
• At the same time, a substantial share of individuals' contribution to national carbon dioxide emissions could be avoided.
• The report goes on to argue that this could and should be done through renewed efforts to promote walking as transport. This would be vastly cheaper than dealing with the consequences of the obesity epidemic and climate change.

Some key findings from the report:

• 40% of all journeys in the UK are under 2 miles in length - distances easily covered by up to 30 minutes of brisk walking. Nonetheless, 38% of these journeys are currently by car.
• If a typical British adult were to walk just an hour more per week (equivalent to the difference in walking between a typical driver and a non-driver) this would counteract a weight increase of 2 stone (28 pounds) over a decade and a longer-term slide into obesity.
• This alone could make a major contribution to halting the trend of increasing obesity across the UK.
• The extra walking could displace at least 11 million tonnes of CO2 from cars - amounting to 15.4% of the total emissions from passenger cars.

The report author notes that "walking is the most obvious way for most people to burn calories." Seems like if we all tried to find ways to incorporate more walking into our routines we'd benefit as individuals and as a community. For more information on walking visit www.walkarlington.com.

---

Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and a biking/Metro commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria.

Comments

[acai berry diet]

glad I came across this site good read. bookmarked.

[Experience diet diary]

I'm from Japan.
Glad to meet you.

Indeed I am sorry,Please link to this site.
Keep it up please.

[mary]

Hello, This is Mary

I am 36 years old with 2 toddlers. My youngest just started day care last week- which still feels a little strange. I haven't had this much time to myself in years. First thing I want to do is lose the extra pounds I put on during the last pregnancy. One of the girls next door has suggested I join her walking group two days a week. After my first pregnancy I lost around 35 pounds using the Herbalife products, but when I called the man that sold them to me three years ago he told me this week he doesn't sell them anymore. He told me to look on the internet. It's disappointing because he was really nice and he called me regularly to make sure I was using their products correctly. It was nice to have someone checking in with me every week to see how I was and it kept me motivated.

I searched on the internet for someone that sells Herbalife in New Jersey. I found many websites but I don't want
just to buy the products, I want to find someone trustworthy that sells the products so I can also meet them and get started again.

Could anybody here recommend someone in New Brunswick?.

Thanks, Mary

[turbulence training routine]

Walk for life.

Walk for the environment.

Walk to save money and save the future in many ways.

Walking is the best!

Great post.

[diets and good health]

Walking is the best and easiest way to get fit.

Government should encourage everyone to walk more and reduce the use of car. Good for health and good for environment. It's a win-win situation!

[Brian]

typo alert - lose weight, not loose.

[Kristina Cowan]

I agree with the idea that more walking would benefit individuals and communities alike. Walking to the corner store should never go out of style--especially since it can help combat congestion AND obesity.

I touched on the merits of walking in one of my recent blog-posts (see link connected to my name).

Kristina Cowan
Senior writer
PayScale.com