Beth and I heard the former surgeon general, Richard Carmona, speak last week and he was something else. Pulling no punches, he admitted that the obesity epidemic has ALREADY caused the failure of the U.S. "sick" care system (he said we kid ourselves into thinking we have a "health" care system......it's a "sick" care system).
Dr. Carmona is an amazing individual.........the son of Latino immigrants, he was homeless as a child and had to scrape and claw his way through school, and then had multiple careers as a nurse, EMT, etc. before he got to medical school and became a surgeon in the army.
He explained that certain populations in the U.S. are particularly at risk to obesity--I was aware of the risk to the African American and Latino populations. But the most at risk population is our native Americans. Dr. Carmona explained that when we (the white Europeans) arrived in this country 200+ years ago, the native Americans were mostly nomadic and had a life expectancy into their 70's. After dispossessing them of their lands and forcing them into a sedentary lifestyle on unproductive land (with the aid of alchohol), the obesity rate among native Americans is currently 36-40% and their life expectancy has dropped into the 50's, i.e. 20 years LESS than it was 200+ years ago!!!!
Please support national "Bike to Work Week" during the week of May 11 through May 15. You can find more information at www.b2ww.org and at www.considerbiking.org.
We are making lots of twowheeling progress in CBus these days, but to be honest I'm tired and feeling a little down. We're doing it mostly grassroots and holding it together with duct tape and bailing wire. Beth and I ordered takeout Chinese tonight and when I opened my fortune cookie, here's what I got:
"Commitment is the stuff character is made of the power to change the face of things."
Hmmmmm,suddenly....................I don't feel so tired.
Doug,
Terrific post. That stat about Native Americans is STAGGERING, and depressing. So sad, but a fight worth fighting!
A book you may enjoy about the "founding" of Ohio is called The Frontiersmen. This post makes me think of that story.
Posted by: jquaglia | April 15, 2009 at 07:52 AM
Doug-
Have you initiated a team for B2WW? Just curious in light of your note above.
Posted by: Allen L. Bohnert | April 15, 2009 at 06:10 PM