Advocate: City must take steps to get fit
GREENSBORO — Walking advocate Mark Fenton doesn’t mince words: America is headed toward a massive health crisis triggered by a villain so pervasive it’s set in the concrete and asphalt, bricks and mortar all around us.
This nasty grinch discourages people from physical activity, sapping their vitality and leaving them overweight, chronically ill and often headed for an early grave.
The evildoer? A modern lifestyle geared toward effortless car travel and close-in parking, said Fenton, host of the PBS series “America’s Walking.”
“We are in the midst of an epidemic of physical inactivity and poor nutrition,” Fenton said Monday in a speech at Greensboro College. “Obesity is the tip of a chronic disease iceberg.”
Fenton gave the keynote address at Monday’s Active Transportation Summit, hosted by a coalition of local government, health care and civic groups aiming to do something about the problem.
The coalition, Get Healthy Guilford, says the problem already has reached alarming proportions: Six of 10 adults in Guilford are overweight or obese. One child in three is obese, meaning he or she is at greater risk for diabetes, heart disease, stroke, hypertension and several types of cancer.
“We’re seeing kids here as young as 9 or 10 being diagnosed with type II diabetes, 'adult’ diabetes,” coalition director Leslie Armeniox said. “We all have to pitch in as a community and get people back to the idea of destination-driven activity.”
The group kicked off its “Get Guilford Moving” campaign at the summit, encouraging people to be more physically active and promoting changes in the urban and suburban landscapes to make that easier.
In his remarks to an audience of about 100, Fenton discussed the ways public health officials have battled America’s car-centered aversion to healthy levels of physical activity: health fairs, scientific studies and giveaway programs with prizes for changed behavior.
They all achieve varying levels of success, but seldom in ways that make lasting changes, said Fenton, a resident of the Boston area who was an elite competitor on U.S. national race-walking teams during the 1980s.
Communities simply need to make it easier to go to school, work and stores on foot, bike and public transit, Fenton said. That’s the best way to guarantee a level of physical activity that leads to healthier living, he said. And it happens when officials make those alternatives less costly and more convenient than driving , he said.
Key steps include building more sidewalks, and making intersections safer and more welcoming to pedestrians. The “tool kit” also includes creating bike lanes in some places and “share the road” zones elsewhere, he said.
Using public transit is more active than traveling by car, he said, but many communities virtually ensure low ridership with a lack of shelters and other basic amenities at stops.
Fenton urged his listeners to be effective advocates for change by working with local officials in an encouraging way rather than being confrontational or too highly critical.
Get Healthy Guilford grew out of a United Way study several years ago that highlighted the county’s growing obesity problem. It operates on a grant from the Moses Cone-Wesley Long Community Health Foundation.
Contact Taft Wireback at 373-7100 or taft.wireback@news-record.com
Accompanying Photos
Photo Caption: Mark Fenton, host of the PBS television series "America's Walking," found this bicycle parked in front of a bank in downtown Greensboro.
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