Exercising to Help the Environment

Photo Credit:  Some rights reserved by saulmora via Flickr.

We all know cycling and jogging adds extra days to our lives and gives us better health but there are effects that can trickle down that people may not have considered. So maybe one person exercising in an entire community may not exactly sway policies or improve the city’s walkability but a collective effort from fitness gurus and active citizens could take us down a greener path.

A World of Cyclists
With the obesity, rates sky high in this country it is a true testament to the inactivity in some towns and the dominance of fossil fuels. If you look at Dallas Texas (the oil state), their fast multilane highways are choked by traffic in the Fort-Worth Arlington metroplex. Although they have a great bike community, you have to have nerves of steel to ride around town. More segregated bike lanes, municipal bike racks and bike boulevards, could make a world of difference in the amount of fuel combusting cars on the road. So many people are scared to ride their bikes for fear of being hit or because there simply isn’t a space for them on the road. Many cyclists report that if there were more bike lanes in their towns that they would be more likely to bike to work or to the store. The more people that get involved in cycling groups and actively propose new bills and plans, the more people will get off the couch and possibly utilize the new healthier avenues of transport. In short, more bike lanes equals cleaner air.

Local Farm Support
After you spend an hour or two at the gym, you become ravenous for food almost immediately. Your body just burned all the carbs stored in your muscles and liver and are itching to be replaced. You also need proteins to help repair damaged tissues that occurs during exercise. Most people won’t be reaching for a cookie and soda pop but something along the lines of a salad or vegetable stir-fry. And what better place to get those ingredients from than the farmers market. If conjointly, more people exercise they will naturally be eating healthier and thus the farmers market would receive much more support. Instead of supporting companies like Hershey’s and corporations like Carls Jr., people should be supporting their local farmers, local economies, and reduce food travel miles whenever they can.

Being a Great Role Model
Much like with any developing movement, a trend takes time and concerted effort to develop. Eating healthy and taking care of our bodies through exercise can ripple into the younger generation’s idea of social normality and the probability of them copycatting that trend is high. After all anything positive or negative people do is being analyzed by young kids all over the world and we certainly want to be a good representative of the earth and overall general health. A child who grows up taking transportation with their parents is likely to do so as an adult. A child who was raised seeing parental figures exercise and stay active are more likely to mock those activities, as they get older.

So as you can see, exercising can go far beyond just immediate personal impacts and can have a domino effect that ultimately helps the local environment and supports a community. It’s always great to be a good role model and pursuer of a healthy planet. So next time you take a jog outdoors just know that you are contributing to the bigger picture – a healthy environment.

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Angie Tarantino (156 Posts)

Angie Tarantino is a contributor and part founder of The Environmental Blog. She covers animal rights, green tips and general green news topics She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area in California. Follow @EcoChic314

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