Originally Posted by
plustax
More and more people are living in the suburban/ueban environments. You can make car free work in those places if you try. Some people have medical issues and can't. Most people also don't want to stop eating meat or quit start exercising. Nothing immoral about any of this btw. But to say it's not terrible for our long term survival is foolish. We are Born to die though. Once you accept that it's pretty cool.
Well the eating meat thing certainly depends on who you talk to. I'm sure you can give me a whole list of links and reasons as could someone on the other side. I eat chicken and fish and workout; I definitely want a healthier lifestyle. As you see in my signature; I didn't use to have a healthier lifestyle. It really takes the motivation to want it.
One of the things I used to say, that I hear a lot now, is "Why starve and suffer just to live a couple of years longer". Except I realized that not only does working out feel great; AND I hardly 'starve' by eating healthy foods in healthy portions; but it's not about living a few years longer. It's about life being worth living in those last few years. It's about not spending my last 10 or 15 years on earth with pills, pumps, doctors and surgeries. I don't want to have to have joints replaced because of destroying them through being obese, and have to regulate bodily functions like blood pressure through pills. It's the same reason I invest, save for retirement, and put more into my pension than what is normally 'taken out'. I intend to enjoy my life straight through to the end.
People ARE moving more towards suburban and urban environments which definitely has it's societal benefits. Though we definitely could do for some 're-wiring'. For everyone who tells me rural people should move to the city; I want to ask them when the city; which is usually located along a main river or other channel; is going to tear itself down and move out to a sparse, flat, dry region that's tough to farm and thus would be perfect for the cities which destroy all of the land anyway. So that farmers can use that fertile land along the river; instead of it just being rows of cities and large towns. The fact is we aren't as efficient as we ought to be. It would be IMPOSSIBLE, of course, but wouldn't it be neat if we went all "SimCity" on the world and re-arranged everything to be more efficient.