A Healthier You is a Healthier Planet

Thursday, March 3rd, 2011 at 6:56 pm

I just read an article that states that 75% of the world’s coral reefs are threatened. This got me thinking that our planet is as sick as us. Ecosystems are a sick as we are. Everyday I write about how obesity is killing our friends, family, the people we love. Everyday we read about how fisheries are collapsing, and how species are close to extinction. When are we going to put an end to it all? How can we make it stop?

If your willing to hear, I have a suggestion. A few years back I realized that fit people, people who care and take care of their bodies, are more willing to take care of the environment than those that are overweight. I’m not sure if this has been scientifically proven, but I bet I’m right.

The comfortability of modern life has created a lazy human being not willing to take a bike or walk to go to school, the grocery store, or where ever. We consider it a lot easier to drive our car, even if our destination is just a few blocks away. Multiply this laziness by millions and we have ourselves an air pollution problem and a few more pounds of fat on our ass, thighs and belly.

Fast food is another comfortable option born out of our laziness to cook. Yes, it might be cheap and fast, but not in the long run. How long does it take obese person to walk to the bathroom? How much does he or she have to spend on medical bills? That is something McDonald’s doesn’t but on it’s happy meal prices, but the cost is still there. Fast food is bad for your health and our planet. All the boxes, papers, cups, and straws that are used in the fast food industry have contributed to create on of the worlds largest landfills between Hawaii and California called, The Great Pacific Garbage Patch . Scientist believe it is twice the size of Texas… thats a lot of garbage. Who knows how many marine animals have died to this? And you want to know who is responsible? That’s right, we are. Most of the food we find in the grocery store comes in some type of plastic container (i.e bag, jar, etc.). These foods are mostly the unhealthy ones (yes, there is a lot of unhealthy food in our grocery stores), like chips, cookies, microwave food, the list goes one. Fruits and vegetables rarely come in a plastic container. If we bought more of those and less of the others we would be helping a great deal in reducing the trash we produce.

Being healthy goes beyond looking good, it is actually about feeling good. Fit people are mostly really nice people. They rarely pick fights and usually have lots of friends. If you look at teenage shows or movies, you’ll notice that bullies are usually fat and unhealthy looking. This is because they don’t feel comfortable with themselves, the don’t like how they feel with who they are, so why would they feel better about anybody else. Research has proven that a healthy diet can reduce violence in schools. Fit people are more willing to adapt to new circumstances and discuss less. If somebody tells us that walking will prevent air pollution, we walk. Hell, we actually prefer it that having to ride a car.

As you see being healthy or adopting a healthy lifestyle is a win, win situation. By making a few changes in what we do, like walking to the grocery store, choosing the right foods, and cooking most of our meals, you are improving your health as well as the planet’s. People will want to be around you, and you can have a positive effect on their lives, just by helping yourself. Your future, our future, and the planets future is all in our hands.