about renewable, integrated, conscientious, responsible, efficient and innovative design and architecture. also about health, policy, chicago and the american condition.
Maybe a little about me, but NO G WORD.
1. HEART DISEASE - coronary heart failure - common causes: high cholesterol, old age, smoking, high blood pressure 2. CEREBROVASCULAR DISEASE - stroke - common causes: high blood pressure, old age, smoking, heart disease *note - causes of hypertension (high blood pressure) - sedentary lifestyle, obesity, sensitivity to sodium, alcohol intake, vitamin D deficiency 3. LOWER RESPIRATORY INFECTION - bronchitis, pneumonia - common cause: bacterial infection *bacteria develop increasing resistance to antibiotic treatments 4. HIV/AIDS - common causes: unprotected sex, intravenous drug use, contaminated medical equipment 5. CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE - chronic bronchitis, emphysema - common causes: smoking, air pollution, chemical exposure, dust 6. PERINATAL CONDITIONS - mortality associated with childbirth - some factors: bacterial infections, sexually transmitted diseases, premature birth, severe malformation 7. DIARRHEAL DISEASES - bacterial contamination - common cause: contaminated drinking water 8. TUBERCULOSIS - airborne bacterial disease - less common in developed countries, great increase (30%) in people with silicosis - a condition often caused by paint, concrete, or portland cement exposure 9. MALARIA - tropical parasite - common cause: mosquito bite. resistance to treatments, ongoing vaccination unaffordable 10. TRACHEA, BRONCHUS, LUNG CANCER - common causes: smoking, genetics, air pollution
ok, so here's some final thoughts: diseases related to lifestyle: 5 of the top ten. diseases related to environmental contaminants: 5 of top ten. diseases related to poor/lack of infrastructure: 4 of the top ten. hmmm. i wonder how these are interrelated? maybe there are really THREE DISEASES.
KILLING OURSELVES KILLING THE EARTH KILLING EACH OTHER
1. the SUPERSIZE phenomenon ha! blame it on jurassic park! it turns out that supersize was the concept of a McDon's exec, who realized people felt greedy when they bought TWO, but not when they bought ONE that was a bit LARGER. when JURASSIC PARK came out in 1993 (remember that? i seriously went four or five times) the accompanying fast food promotion was mcdonald's DINO SIZE.
see that? the DINO SIZE EXTRA VALUE MEAL was the beginning of SUPER SIZED FAST FOOD! but that was in 1993. the super sized PEOPLE trend had already started in the mid-80s (look at the time lapse map on post below) so it seems we cannot totally blame this on supersize alone. in fact, the phenomenon lead to the SUPER SIZE ME documentary, which i believe has started the trend of having 'healthy' options at fast food places, and seems to be a good thing (even if simply reactionary) its seems that the super size phenomenon was one of the things that highlighted the growing obesity issue.
2. HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP seriously, do we even know what this stuff is? i sure aint completely sure! all i know is, its in practically EVERYTHING. its such a big deal when something DOESNT have it, they advertise on the front of the package. so WTF? ok 1st - regular corn syrup is pure glucose glucose is a monosaccharide (simple sugar) that is easily metabolized and is found nearly everywhere in biology. the commercial form is created through processing of starches - which in america is almost exclusively CORN STARCH
(glucose!) why is GLUCOSE the most common simple sugar in cell function, and not other simple sugars (LIKE FRUCTOSE)? well, apparently it not highly reactive with enzymes and proteins - while the other sugars are. this reaction of simple sugars is called GLYCATION, and it destroys or lowers the function of many enzymes. these lowered enzyme functions are known to lead to complications of advanced DIABETES (!) now, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP is reprocessed corn glucose, resulting in a mixture of 55% FRUCTOSE for use in soda, or 42% fructose for use in commercial baking. interesting. so HIGH INTAKE OF FRUCTOSE CAN LEAD TO REDUCED ENZYME FUNCTION. we may have hit something here. lets check the use of HFCS in america over the years: image from the golden spiral a really pretty sicknasty sustainablog - check it
so yeah... LOOKS LIKE SOMETHING TO ME. ok we got fast food, and definately corn syrup. why else are we getting SO FAT???
3. TRANS FATS - or PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED OILS ok ok to make a long story (and some scientific jargon) short, ill try to cut down what trans fats really are. basically, liquid fats (unsaturated fats, not usable for most baking, shorter shelf life) are treated chemically in a process called HYDROGENATION that makes these oils act more like solid fats ( or SATURATED fats: butter, lard) examples of this are MARGARINE and CRISCO. (hilarious, according to the FDA 'zero grams of trans fat' actually means less than 1 gram/tablespoon, after a reformulation of crisco in 2007 - they were gonna ban it!) unfortunately, the process of hydrogenation can leave some of the molecules unsaturated, creating a PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED, or TRANS FAT. trans fats are unnecessary for life (some fats are!), raise levels of bad cholesterol while lowering the levels of good cholesterol in your system, and are more harmful than any naturally occurring fats. in the 1920s, butter and lard were becoming more expensive, and use of soy protien left a large amount of unused soybean oil on the market. hydrogenation made perfect sense - use otherwise unusable product to create shortening and margarine, and sell it for less than butter. up to the 60s hydrogenated fats became the norm, argues by some for being cheaper, while others thought margarine was actually healthier than butter. by 1988, there was suggestion that trans fats might cause heart disease, and by 1994 there was an estimated 30,000 heart disease deaths caused by trans fats. reaction to trans fats has been slow, with mandatory labeling and nutrition information FINALLY adopted in JAN '08. and thats just LABELLING - also keep in mind that less than 0.5 gm/serving counts as ZERO to the FDA. (holy crap that is stupid) while cities and counties have made some moves to lower trans fat use, it still seems VERY widespread in america, and CERTAINLY LINKED TO OBESITY PROBLEMS.
ok, super size portions, enzyme slowing corn-sugar, and cholesterol-loaded fats? the formula for a fat america is coming together. any other ideas people? its time we wrapped our heads around whats happening to our bodies.
seiously, though, its time we address that question. its just a fact. in large, cosmopolitan american cities, the percentage of young, well dressed, fit, and beautiful people is inordinately high. in the words of SPOON 'all the pretty girls go to the city' and they're really not far off, it seems that cities are full of the prettiest people. and that's true in many neighborhoods here in CHICAGO. but the fact remains that a city in any region attracts a pretty good cross section of all the people in the region that might be interested in the culture, economy, or excitement of the city. this idea leads me to believe that an abnormal majority of people in the middle of the country are, in fact, FAT.
interestingly, when you look at this map of the cites with highest/lowest concentrations of fast food vendors, it illustrates that the most fast foor is eaten in the southern states, and in those on the interior of the country. the lowest cities (green) are ALL on the borders if the country, interestingly: (image from papascott , a german blagojevich. (oops, i mean a rod blog! silly me)
so ok, we have gotten SO MUCH FATTER since the 1980s. this is really ironic, considering the fantastic flourish of interest in health and environment-conscious lifestyles we have seen over the same period worldwide - and especially here in america. are we just becoming better liars? WHY are we getting fatter? is it the internet? the TV? this questions begs much more inspection. lets think a moment here....
ok. so its small. it has great gas mileage. (it claims to use less gas than a high end motorcycle - id like to see where that statistic came from) it weighs half as much as a honda accord (bucky would be proud)
but is it really a GOOD THING??
...it becomes hard to say
this IS more like AMERICAN CARS OUGHT TO BE. i mean, imagine getting 47 mpg in your non-hybrid car. and i wouldn't be surprised if these things ran great on battery power. the car runs about $2000 for a very basic model. (a $2000 car!) thats crazy. apparently the TATA himself hopes to get people to switch from mopeds and motorcycles to the nano car.
imagine ALL of those mopeds as CARS. even if really little cars. nobody would be getting anywhere. it seems a conglomeration of pedestrians, bikes, mopeds, and small motorcycles WORKS in a crowded indian city.
and really, its not that different than crowded roads in CHINA:
in ITALY, they split the difference using tricycle-trucks to access areas difficult to reach or maneuver through in a car: this thing is basically a trike motorcycle with a big box stuck on the back.
will the TATA NANO trend catch on, and will so many more people worldwide buy their very own car? sigh.... probably. its amazing, though, the way TATA's PR makes its new-paradigm push toward company profit seem like humanitarian development. sheesh.
so, we've finally got a car that millions more people worldwide will be able to afford, now how do we get them to decide not to buy one?! we'll see how this one pans out with the world economy in the major slump. and if this really does help combat climate change, ill eat my hat.
GREAT SCOTT! they must have found the delorean that somebody keeps parked up on 31st. seriously, this is kinda cool. the timetable of this project is.... 100 years! i would suggest it is the longest project in history, but you never know with contractors these days. (i wont even MENTION architects)
(anyhow im talking about the BURNHAM PLAN for CHICAGO, inspiration for the newly proposed ECO BRIDGE across the lakefront downtown. have a look)
as you can see, our friends at adrian smith and gorden gill architecture have taken over burnham's 1909 idea to finish off the loop as a great big semi-circle harbor-type-thingy. except that they've covered the whole thing with parks, wind turbines and a monorail! (is it truly our very own EPCOT CENTER?!) perhaps it took 100 years for everyone to realize what the original burnham plan could actually DO. who knew his breakwater could be a power plant? his harbor could be a harbinger? i betcha, if CHICAGO ACTUALLY DOES IT, the great american world might come on down, take a look, and say 'damn that thing looks good!'
then they could finally put turbines in NARRAGANSETT BAY! happy 2009 people, lets throw enough shit against the wall for a change.
so, who's been watching TV this holiday season?? i HAVE. perhaps its because ive been on vacation from TV for a while that im truly surprised, but i have noticed a trend in television advertising that is undeniable. im talking about CONSCIOUS PRODUCTS. (one might say 'natural' or 'organic', or, dare i say, 'green') and in the most remarkable spots too. imagine WAL MART or PIZZA HUT being sustainable, ecologically conscious businesses?
well, the time has come. make way for THE NATURAL, pizza hut's new "soft multi-grain crust" (multi!), "natural pepperoni" (no preservatives!) and "natural sauce" (no high-fructose corn syrup!) its really pretty amazing to me, that one might even confuse the word "natural" with "healthy," but there it is for you.
next to follow suit would be DUNKIN DONUTS, with the new "dd smart menu." man, we've been so stupid ordering our egg sandwiches with yolks!!! GET SMART people. they've got all kinds of tasty treats like the "latte-lite," flatbread sandwiches, and even real fruit smoothies! (...sure) all in the name of "healthy." we all know that HEALTHY is NATURAL is SMART! and why not?!?
mmmmmm... cheese...
and the final, most beauteous addition to the list of new smarter, healther, more eco- freako options is: you guessed it, WAL MART. and really, they are making strides to be sustainable at wally world, not only in some aspects of their store design, but also in their advertising. wal mart has really stepped up both the sustainability and health-consciousness of their options, and not least in their television presence. check out this store display too:
10 half-blondes don't lie! save money live better, people!!
anyways, the purpose of this post is not to pee on somebodies greenwashed fence. really, its to smile at the hilarity of the status quo attempting to cash in on what appears to be an ever-pervasive new revolution in world understanding. values are changing in america, abroad, worldwide. caring for the EARTH and caring for our BODIES are intrinsically linked. to care for a living, breathing thing means to extend its life and ensure its productivity, be it us in our bodies or US AS A SPECIES.
but the extended lip-service of 20th century corporations towards conscious living is more than a fad. they wouldnt say it if we didnt all want it - so something is happening here, and noone could deny it. next, lets bring change to the LAWS! speak with your money, if nothing else. then they HAVE TO listen.
