Environmentalism is the new Fashion

Who would've thunk it? After spending my youth being physically fit and the majority of my adult life promoting fitness with an emphasis on the environment and health, these topics now lead news headlines.

Obesity, due to lack of fitness & dietary options, and the deteriorating environment, due to the lack of support from the powers that be, have left not just the US, but the whole world in a state desiring change. After getting my degree in the Health Sciences (University of Cincinnati) and then becoming an environmental specialist (UC Santa Barbara) I began writing articles, poetry and a book (25andUp.com) -- all of which work to integrate fitness with health and the environment. I learned from childhood exposure to these concepts and later through formal education and working in the petroleum industry how these three elements are so intertwined and interdependent. People who worried about these problems were usually shunned or pigeon-holed as a freaky minority. The tide is changing as these easily understood concepts become mainstreamed into our living quarters while global warming and our own habits are reminders of how we are negatively influencing the earth and promoting these undesirable conditions.

Perhaps it is a result of a recent governmental study (U.S. Climate Change Science Program) that implicitly states that humans are impacting global warming, which has increased the core temperature of the earth by 1 degree over the last century. Or, perhaps it is a movie that was released in which Al Gore (An Inconvenient Truth) reveals the ravishing impact that global warming is having on our weather patterns and the resulting influence on our environment. Instead, maybe it is the war in Iraq that has proven how important foreign oil is to the US economy and how far the US will go to get that oil.

Possibly, the price of gas at your local intersection has fueled the realization that petroleum is a very expensive natural commodity and the true price is now being revealed. If the price of gas also included the cost of what it will take to fix all that those emissions have done to our air, water & land or to even begin to cover the health impact fossil fuels have had on each of us, the price would be even greater. More likely, the reality that the environment and the negative impacts of pollution are now on everyone’s mind is due to a combination of each of the above undeniable realities.

We have waited to start making adjustments until it is possibly too late. All of the denials of the obvious or to the contrary will no longer be tolerated as we look for more money to be made available for health and environmental ingenuity and leadership in the near future. Alternatives to our accepted bad habits including fuels and gas-guzzling vehicles will be more readily available and convenient as long as the public remains aware and demands these alternatives without compromise. After all, the US has always been a leader in innovation while also bringing new concepts to market. And this one is long overdue.

Finally, environmentalism is now fashionable.

Remember, YOU have the POWER!

By: BioD

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