Author Archives: Melissa | Growing Green Nutrition

How not to drive

Exhibit A
Exhibit A

Today we will talk about proper behavior at intersections in congested traffic, class.

Rule 1: If you cannot clear the intersection due to backed up traffic in front of you, DO NOT ENTER the intersection.

Rule 2: STOP before entering the intersection.

Rule 3: If you fail to follow Rules 1 and 2, you might get stuck in the middle of the intersection when the traffic light changes (see black oval in Exhibit A, representing a car).

When this happens, you are a sitting duck — other drivers trying to use the intersection will become irritated with you for blocking it.  However, that does not make it okay to reverse into the OCCUPIED CROSSWALK, where I am crossing with my bicycle.  Just because you are in an awkward, dangerous, and ILLEGAL position, you do not have the right to run over me.  It is not my fault you are not aware of and/or cannot be bothered to follow some simple laws of driving.

Preach it!

Michael Pollen, Big Food vs. Big Insurance, in the NYTimes:

To put it more bluntly, the government is putting itself in the uncomfortable position of subsidizing both the costs of treating Type 2 diabetes and the consumption of high-fructose corn syrup.

There’s lots of money to be made selling fast food and then treating the diseases that fast food causes. One of the leading products of the American food industry has become patients for the American health care industry.

As things stand, the health care industry finds it more profitable to treat chronic diseases than to prevent them. There’s more money in amputating the limbs of diabetics than in counseling them on diet and exercise.

Yes, yes, and yes.

The third snippet is a bit of a sore point for me right now.  I have been looking for a job as a health educator for two-and-a-half years.  Apparently I should have stuck with the medical school plan and gone into amputation surgery (is that actually a surgical specialty, or did I just make it up?).

I’ve always had mixed feelings about John Mayer’s song, “Waiting on the World to Change.”  I like the melody, but the lyrics raise some questions:  Why are you waiting?  What are you waiting for?  Why don’t you go out and change it now?

I know what I want to do, but the jobs just are not out there, in part due to the reasons Michael Pollen mentions.  Our health care system does not fund prevention.  So maybe I am waiting on the world to change.

Who needs a car?

We’ve now gone over a week with one car, and except for our rainy Saturday morning errands last week, we may as well have had no car.

Over the past six days, we’ve been to church, Home Eco (green general store), the Japanese Festival, the park, the Greek festival, the grocery store, the dentist, choir practice in the suburbs, and a community meeting about street design, all sans motor vehicle.  We also engaged in the normal biking to work during that time.  From Sunday morning to Thursday night, we covered 117 miles on our bikes.  That’s 117 miles not driven.

You built this . . . for me?

We spent the morning of Labor Day completing our own little personal biathlon — bike, run, bike. In the middle of the last biking event, we refueled at the Greek festival. Eating spanikopita and baklava is normally part of athletic events, right? I guess if you count the eating, it was a triathlon.

Anyway. On the way home, we noticed that the construction workers also had the day off, leaving the completely closed for construction interstate along part of our bike route wide open. A beautiful expanse of smooth new pavement with no cars to be found. And, oh, would you look at that? A gap in the fence — perfect for walking a bike through.

We tried to resist, really we did. But in the end, it was just too tempting. In a few short months, the interstate will reopen, serving only the all important motor vehicle, encouraging and enabling our car culture. But on this day, it was all ours, and it was beautiful. We only rode a short stretch, since we were at the end of our biathlon and ready to get home, but it was enough to make me want more. Just think of the possibilities, if there were interstate systems for bicycles, a way for us to safely and easily travel longer distances. A world where our transportation infrastructure not only supported but truly prioritized biking and other forms of alternate transportation. More green dreams . . . .

Say what?

Me: Now I get most of my exercise as a bike commuter.

Interviewer: Do you ride a stationary bike, or are you actually out biking?

Um, yeah.

In addition to maintaining a straight face during the above exchange, the mention of Monsanto funding a school garden seriously challenged my poker face skills.  Would you like a side of herbicide with those vegetables?  Industrial agriculture, anyone?