Americans are a fat lot. Given Americans’ collective chubbiness and the painfully high price of gas, one would think that Americans would be waddling towards a healthier and more sustainable mode of transport.  But no.

Bill Gifford, an Outside magazine correspondent, chronicled his attempt, inspired by a holiday to Holland, to exchange his car for the bicycle for a while. To Gifford’s horror, he discovered that Americans use the bicycle for a meager one percent of all their trips, compared to a robust 30 percent amongst the Dutch.

The argument for environmentally conscious and sustainable living is apparently failing to steer Americans away from cars and towards public transport and bicycles.  Perhaps a more grotesque and immediate statistic will urge Americans to think again; the American Obesity Association, citing research from the CDC and the NIH, reports that 30.5 percent of American adults over the age of 20 are obese; the number jumps up to 64.5 percent for the simply overweight. If only for the sake of their health, Americans might consider tapering down car use.    

Mimi Hanaoka