Monday, December 19, 2011

Car-Free Commuting as Medicine

My morning commute involves walking 15 minutes to East Falls Church Metro. This usually earns me pitying looks. "Ugh, isn't that far?" Then the person drives to the gym to pay to use a fossil fuel-powered treadmill.

My commute guarantees me 30 minutes of walking a day. In my age group, if there's no an annual fee or specially designed clothing, it's not officially considered exercise. To me, that daily walk isn't a bug, it's a feature.

Back when I drove to work, man, there were days I barely walked at all. Straight from home to car to office to car to evening event to home, and I was more exhausted when I got home than I am now that I walk or Metro almost everywhere.

And that's what most Americans do! It doesn't just make our asses bigger & our lives shorter - it makes us collectively less energetic & happy:

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Yeah...except it gets hot in DC in the summer.