I was recently reading an excellent book, Physical Activity and Obesity (2000), edited by Claude Bouchard of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center at Louisians State University, and wanted to include some excerpts here. The book is a collection of essays by experts in exercise science and sports medicine. From it I’ve gathered that as a society we’ve underestimated the role that lack of physical activity plays in our current obesity epidemic. Instead, we’ve tended to focus on our food intake.

“The war on muscular work has been a remarkable success,” Bouchard comments (p. 14). But that success comes at with significant costs. Here is an excerpt from Mr. Bouchard’s introduction:

Even though individuals bear responsibility for maintaing healthy weights, national surveys in developed countries and the compendium of data around the world by the International Obesity Task Force indicate that programs with a focus on individuals are not enough…. What is needed is a series of major policies aimed at transforming our environment and the way we live. Indeed, nothing short of a paradigm shift has any chance of success in the efforts to curtail the increase in the number of people who are chronically in positive energy balance. City planning, building codes, mass transit systems, car use, safe footpaths and cycling paths, pedestrian-only city centers, school schedules and programs, and the media are among the areas that will require transformations if we are to attenuate the impact of the current “obesogenic” environment.

The challenge is enormous. Evolution has endowed humans with complex regulatory systems of appetite and satiety as well as with physiological and metabolic characteristics determining basal metabolic rates and food- or cold-induced thermogenesis. The recent past in affluent societies reveals that these biological systems cannot cope well in an environment in which palatable foods are abundant and energy expenditure of activity is low. In particular, the lesson from the last decades is that it seems to be extremely difficult and perhaps impossible for a large fraction of sedentary individuals to regulate food and caloric intake to be in balance at low levels of daily energy expenditure. The energy expenditure from physical activity is thus too low for most people to be able to eat normally without having to be on caloric restriction diets from time to time or having to be constantly restraining their food intake. It has been estimated that the current deficit of energy expenditure from physical activity compared to that of the recent past ranges from about 300 to 800 kcal/day. If this range of estimates is close to the true values, it implies that adults would have to add one to three hours of brisk walking every day to their current daily regimen to be in energy balance at a normal body weight level. This is a major public health challenge indeed! (15-16)

Another essay in the book – “The Cost of Obesity and Sedentarism in the United States,” by Graham A. Colditz and Anna Mariani, addresses the tremendous health-related costs associated with lack of physical activity:

The sum of obesity (7% of health care costs) and of inactivity (2.4% of health care costs) is here used to estimate the total direct costs of inactivity. Overall, a minimum of 9.4% of all direct costs incurred in delivering health care in the U.S. is attributable to insufficient energy expenditure…. Note that these are conservative estimates. (60-61)

Note also that these latter numbers do not include indirect costs such as lowered worker productivity

Here, finally, are photos from Northfield’s Walk to School Day, October 8, 2009. The first features Austen Chytracek, who was the first walker I encountered at Woodley and Division Street early in the morning. He had walked from Greenvale Avenue on the other side of town, near where I live. The second photo shows the lack of crosswalk markings at the same intersection.

The third photo shows all the bikes parked at the Middle School and the fourth is a sidewalk scene near Greenvale Elementary. Notice how much space pedestrians can occupy, which makes it more apparent that they deserve to have the separate space that the sidewalk provides.

I’m the lead organizer for Walk to School Day here in Northfield, Minnesota, again. It promises to be a fun event, as usual!

Here is our press release for this year:

Students at Northfield Middle School and the three public elementary schools will celebrate Walk to School Day again this year on Thursday, October 8.

It promises to be a fun event for many students who have a safe route available from their homes. Not only will they get to walk with their friends, but there will be prizes and recognition as well.

The event is part of the district’s Safe Routes to Schools program, which is designed to help students and communities gain the benefits from increased walking and biking. Those benefits include improved health, a stronger sense of community, and reduced traffic congestion and air pollution.

The event also helps to illustrate the benefits of “complete streets”–streets that are built to accommodate all users, including pedestrians, cyclists, and the handicapped. Unfortunately, all too often streets in our society are incomplete.

Students will receive maps of recommended routes, and adult volunteers will be stationed along the routes during the morning and afternoon travel times. A Northfield police officer will be located at the intersection of Jefferson Parkway and Division St./Highway 246 during both the Middle School and Bridgewater travel times. Bridgewater students who live east and northeast of the school are asked to ride the bus as usual due to concerns with that intersection.

Again this year Walk to School Day is funded through the Safe Routes to Schools grant that the school district and city won in 2008. The $30,000 grant includes money for “encouragement” programs such as Walk to School Day.

The grant has also funded an engineering study of walking and biking routes to the district’s K-8 schools. The study has been completed and will be released soon to the public.

The Northfield Safe Routes to Schools Task Force and Northfield Public Schools are organizing the local Walk to School Day in cooperation with the City of Northfield. Many schools around the world will be celebrating Walk to School Day a day earlier. Here in Northfield, the Safe Routes to Schools Task Force decided that the local school schedule makes October 8 a better day for the event.

Forty years ago nearly half of all kids walked or bicycled to school. Today less than fifteen percent get to school that way, and many are driven to school in motor vehicles. Public health experts believe that reductions in physical activity are partly to blame for dramatic increases in rates of diabetes and obesity in children.

Since 1997, communities around the U.S. have been celebrating Walk to School Day. Around the globe, International Walk to School Month brings together more than 40 countries in recognition of the common interest in walking to school.

In its twelfth year, U.S. participation reached a record high with more than 2,800 events from all fifty states and the District of Columbia registering in 2008. Many more communities held events but did not register. For more information visit the National Walk to School and International Walk to School web sites.

…we watch a football game on TV and see a commercial for a bicycle.

I wrote the article below for the recent “Progress” section of the Northfield News. I can’t find the article online, so I’m posting it in its entirety here. It summarizes progress we have made on nonmotorized transportation issues here in Northfield, Minnesota:

Over four years ago several of us Northfielders started working to make our area safer and more inviting for walking, biking, and otherwise getting around under our own power. In part we were building on others’ work, but in other ways we were breaking from the recent past—a past in which sidewalks often were not considered an important part of the street system and transportation plans made scant reference to nonmotorized modes of travel.

Since then, the collective efforts of the entire community—including elected leaders, city staff, interested citizens, and various boards, commissions, task forces, and community groups—have led to many improvements. Here are some examples: Read the rest of this entry »

I recently answered questions for Northfield News reporters working on a couple of different articles. In “Where the rules meet the road,” (July 17), reporter David Henke examined rules for cyclists on the road and included photos of me on my bike in different situations. This was featured on the front page of the paper.

In a July 29 story, reporter Jim Hammerand wrote about the conclusion of our Task Force on Nonmotorized Transportation, which officially ends in mid-August. We had our last meeting in late July. I should clarify something that I did not make clear to Jim in my interview with him: the task force is ending because we felt that we had accomplished our major goals.

I’m teaching my class, “The Practical Cyclist,” again this Saturday, July 18, 11 am, in Welch, Minnesota (see Google map). The location is the Welch trailhead facility on the Cannon Valley Trail. The class will be approximately an hour, then we’ll take a ride on the trail. Weather forecast: partly sunny, 72 degrees. Perfect!

Here is a course description:

The Practical Cyclist

Designed for those who want to replace car trips with cycling trips or simply travel sustainably and enjoyably, this classroom-based course will examine the advantages of cycling; potential obstacles; equipment and strategies; safety issues; and cycling advocacy. This is not intended to be a road skills course. Taught by Bill Ostrem, who has been a “practical cyclist” for over twenty years and has served as chair of the Northfield Area Task Force on Nonmotorized Transportation.

Two recent actions by Republicans have made me think that I should write an opinion piece on why conservatives and libertarians should support nonmotorized transportation. Here are those two Republican actions:

1. Yesterday in his news conference presenting the cuts he is making to the state budget, Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty made a comment about unnecessary or wasteful spending by cities. He cited as an example a director of nonmotorized transportation for the city of Minneapolis, though in the following breath he noted that the position is federally funded. He was apparently referring to a position funded by the city’s role in the federal Nonmotorized Transportation Pilot Program.

2. Earlier this month the Republican leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives called for eliminating several federal nonmotorized transportation programs. In a list of cuts (pdf) that they would make to reduce the budget deficit, the Republicans included the following programs: Safe Routes to Schools, the Nonmotorized Transportation Pilot Program, and Transportation Enhancements. This is an extreme step, indeed, and not likely to win the hearts of all those walkers, wheelchair users, and cyclists out there.

I learned about the latter action at the League of American Bicyclists web site. See the June 5 post on their advocacy page, which has these good comments from League President Andy Clarke: Read the rest of this entry »

It was about four years ago that I began working as a volunteer bike and pedestrian advocate here in Northfield, Minnesota. There aren’t too many changes that I can point to and say, I helped that to happen. I can only say that some important changes in local planning have occurred, and the local discussion about transportation has shifted to better include all modes of transportation.

Perhaps the most significant result that I’ve helped to achieve is winning a Safe Routes to Schools non-infrastructure grant for Northfield in 2008. (Many people played a role in that project.) A large portion of the grant has paid for a technical/engineering study of walking and biking routes around Northfield’s three elementary schools and its middle school. Now that study is wrapping up, and the public can view the draft of the plan at an upcoming open house.

What follows is a message about the open house prepared by Brian Welch of the City of Northfield.

The results of our study and the proposed Safe Routes to School Plan for Northfield schools will be presented at a Community Open House scheduled for Wed., June 10, 2009 from 6:00–8:00 p.m. in the Bridgewater Elementary School cafeteria located at 401 Jefferson Parkway.

Please join us to understand the findings of our study and proposed improvements to provide safer walking and bicycling conditions for our students, while having the opportunity to provide feedback.  If you have any questions, please contact Brian Welch at 507-645-3027 or Brian.Welch@ci.northfield.mn.us.

A representative from Mn/DOT will be there.  The format will be informal with easels/posters arranged around the room and chairs/tables available for discussions and for the public to fill out comment cards. Possible solutions for the Highway 246/Jefferson Parkway intersection will be included.

[Note: The following appears also as a post at Locally Grown Northfield. Comments can be made there; I've turned them off here. Be sure to note their rules for comment.]

Last August the Rice County Board of Commissioners made a change in their transportation policy that goes against the interests of people who walk, bike, or use wheelchairs in our community. It’s a change that’s detrimental to many of the most vulnerable users of our transportation system, including children, seniors, the poor, and the handicapped.

I’m talking about a change in a fairly arcane and complex policy: the Cost Participation Policy for Cooperative Roadway Construction Projects, which governs the share that the county pays on joint road projects with cities and townships. The policy applies to projects that are part of the county Capital Improvement Plan.

Why should we care about some complex policy? Because it governs the funding for county road projects – which we might also call the public right-of-way – in many of our communities, and because it shapes the way we think about transportation.

The changes made last summer involved the provisions for sidewalks and “bituminous bike paths,” or shared-use paths, along county roads in cities and towns. Previously, the county paid a share of the costs for replacement sidewalks and new and replacement paths – specifically, 55 percent of the cost for municipalities over 5,000 in population, and 100 percent of the cost for those under 5,000. With the change, the county moved these facilities into the “not eligible” category for county funding. In effect, they cut funding of these facilities in their Capital Improvement Plan by 100 percent. The commissioners voted 4-1 for this change last August, with the only exception being Galen Malecha of Northfield at that time. Read the rest of this entry »