JANUARY 30, 2006
A
year ago a good friend of mine started a new company that promotes the beneficial aspects of
ru nning and hi king. He calls the sport ruking. So what does this have to do with the environment?
Good internal health is enhanced or degraded, depending upon the external health of the environment. Case in point: Olympic athletes train in clear air cities and move away from polluted cities to enhance their lung capacity. In other words, the personal health of everyone is directly proportional to a healthy environment.
An athlete himself, my friend Bill Chadwick, has excelled as a water skier who competes at a national level. His commitment to his own internal health is legendary and he is a regular at the local gym. Today men and women of all ages are toning and shaping their bodies at a pace never before witnessed in our culture. That is the good news. But, there are two bad news scenarios as well.
- Air pollution impacts the athletic ability of many children; especially inner-city kids from smoggy regions of the country.
- The really bad news is that more of our population is obese.
Our society pushes fitness throughout all segments of our society on the one hand, and over-consumption of fatty foods through sophisticated advertising campaigns on the other hand. Therefore, any exercise program has to factor in the diet equation, and today we must add the environmental equation as well.
Attention to ones physical health through a sound exercise program and a nutritious diet is necessary today. However, doing this without regard to being pro-active about a healthy environment is a waste of time. A healthy me, and a healthy you, deeply committed to ruking in the hills of Michigan, California, or Vermont, without a healthy eco-system to sustain us, becomes a losing proposition.
Tone the body, eat right, and advocate a sustainable and healthy environment simultaneously and we may begin to see the change we envision. All rukers, young and old, need a clean place to ruke with an air quality that enhances the experience.
Every athlete must become an advocate for a clean environment now.
--Peter