Friday Quote: George Nethercutt is “Going Dutch”
According to a February 2012 survey, Holland has an estimated 16 million bicycles, about one for each Dutch resident. Only 10 percent of Dutch residents are obese.
Meanwhile, obesity statistics for the United States are, by wide margins, the highest in the world. In 2010, the U.S. Center for Disease Control reported that 35.7 percent of all Americans are obese (nearly 112 million) and 17 percent of children fit that category. It’s estimated that only about 1 percent of all Americans commute to work by bicycle. In the debate over national health care, perhaps the United States can learn something from the Dutch.
I completed a seven-day cycling trip last month of the Netherlands and parts of Germany. A noticeable aspect of the trip was the startling number of bicycle travelers Holland boasts. Most cities throughout the Netherlands contain some auto parking garages but many bicycle parking garages for commuters, workers and students — huge facilities that house tens of thousands of bicycles. Roadways are filled with cyclists of all ages. Particularly notable were elderly cyclists whizzing along the trail ways of Holland at all hours of the day. Dedicated roadways for bicycling abound. Bicycles are the most common form of transportation for the Dutch, and their statistics show it — low heart-disease rates, low auto-death rates and low physician-per- 1000-population rates. It’s hard to spot an obese Dutchman in a shopping mall or walking on any busy street.
Germany is another matter — with a population of just over 81 million, 10.4 million Germans are obese, ranking 14th of 29 nations surveyed (the U.S. is No. 1). In 2010, an estimated 30 percent of all Germans rode bicycles an average of three days per week as a mode of transportation. Germany has high auto-death rates and high mortality from heart disease.
Comparing the Netherlands to the U.S. may be a fool’s errand because of the vast differences in size, terrain and international position, but the Dutch and their lifestyles can teach us something valuable. Read the rest from the Inlander HERE.
As some have already pointed out, he's not really advocating for a shift in policy rather it comes down to personal responsbility. That said, it's definitely my favorite column!
