CAR exclusion zones should be set up around schools to make families walk as part of a bid to tackle obesity and climate change, a new study says.
The report from the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) also suggests extending the principle to local shopping areas and other facilities where people routinely drive.
It said banning vehicles from the vicinity of schools could help reverse the dramatic decline in walking seen in Britain in recent decades.
Some 38 per cent of all journeys under two miles - which could be covered by up to 30 minutes brisk walking - are taken by car, adding to the `twin crises' of obesity and climate change, the report warned.
Obesity crisis
If a typical British adult were to walk just one hour more a week it would make a major contribution to halting the obesity crisis.
And the extra walking could reduce CO2 emissions from cars by 11m tonnes, or 15.4 per cent, the research said.
The report's lead author, Dr Adrian Davis, said: "The substitution of car use for walking is a major contributor to the steep rise in obesity, as walking is the most obvious way for most people to burn calories."
Carolina Valsecchi, from the IEEP, said: "The twin crises of obesity and climate change are clearly interlinked through the switch from muscle power to engine power for transport.
"Concerted action is needed to reverse both these trends. Our research demonstrates that something as simple as walking short trips now made by car would make an important contribution to tackling both obesity and climate change."
What do you think? Have your say.
Tweet
Ban school run 'to cut obesity'
August 14, 2007
Showing comments 1 to 25 and replies | View All
ace, manchester (14/08/2007 at 14:45)
ace, manchester (14/08/2007 at 15:07)
Mike, Manchester (14/08/2007 at 15:18)
ace, manchester (14/08/2007 at 15:46)
Not really mark but it just seems like common sence you are what you eat?And for years doctors have been telling people the dangers of kids eating garbage and to much salt and fat.But it seems to have fallen on deaf ears until something like smoking comes along and you have to ban it when all else fails.People are basicly stupid .for years people have been told by the greatest minds on the planet that smoking kills .did they liste ""no"" so the governments has to ban it to get the message through. the same will have to happen with kids diets,im sure.
Black Flag (14/08/2007 at 16:20)
Whether or not people are stupid is irrelevant, people have the right to smoke, eat junk, drink or, in my view, do whatever they like so long as it doesn't affect anyone else. Some of the greatest minds (doctors included) have said smoking kills, but then smoked cigarettes themselves, but that's freedom of choice for you.
The fact that people are stupid is a very good reason that government powers to ban and control should be strictly limited, otherwise intelligent people end up having rules forced on them by majority decision making, when huge numbers of people aren't informed enough to make reasonable decisions.
Rob (Manchester Against Road Tolls) www.manchestertolltax.com, Denton (14/08/2007 at 17:26)
Forward with Frank (14/08/2007 at 19:20)
It is not very becoming of a lady to have rolls of fat on display by way of a short top, nor to parade corned beef legs and cellulite. It's enough to put me off my Pimms on a summers evening.
As for all of these fatties, kids should be made to walk. Their parents are lazy so they drive half a mile to school, then the kid grows up and also drives everywhere. As a veteran of three marathons and one of the most chisled of fellows at my gym I can fully vouch for a healthy lifstyle.
Caring Mum, stockport (14/08/2007 at 19:29)
Dr Coles, Los Angeles, CA USA (14/08/2007 at 20:09)
The 100 year old con www.InteliOrg.com/archive/FireandIce.pdf on climate change.
In order to be an intelligent reader you must have a basic knowledge. Please do your own homework, a starting point www.InteliOrg.com/
ace, manchester (15/08/2007 at 08:27)
Just like passive smoking feeding your kids junk food and food high in fats and salt kill your kids that is the comparison between smoking and junk food .And just because parents cannot be bothered cooking a meal or those who dont know how to cook a meal should be ashamed of themselves.if you have a dog you have a right to look after it feed it and look after it ,but people dont they treat their kids like the dog throw it out to look after itself .this is why we call them ferole children.
Henry Piggot-Smythe, Prestbury (15/08/2007 at 09:44)
What an utter waste of time and money that was when all they had to do was visit any shopping arcade where these obese women hang around eating anything that's motionless and observe their fat children they drag around with them suckling on sausage rolls to keep them quiet and to save cooking when they eventually waddle home.
Show me the fat mother and I'll show you their fat child.
Mike S, Manchester (15/08/2007 at 11:01)
A similar great observation tank is the Food Hall in the Arndale Centre. I saw a girl last week in the queue at Macdonalds ordering ice cream who was so fat I thought she was about to explode, and then the mother arrived, who was twice as big - small objects were practically orbiting around her.
I felt like giving her a slap for letting her daughter get like that, but with that as her role model, the poor daughter probably didn't know any better.
ace, manchester (15/08/2007 at 15:20)
We see some lovely kids with their parents struggling to walk because the parents are feeding them crisps and all garbage foods .We will have a terrible problem with diabeties in the next few years unless we stop this child abuse .parents must be told that feeding kids this garbage will make their kids obese and make them very ill.
The Catcher, In the Rye (15/08/2007 at 15:35)
Henry Piggot-Smythe, Prestbury (15/08/2007 at 15:41)
The Catcher, In the Rye (15/08/2007 at 15:46)
Brilliant! You should do it for a living.
carol heale (15/08/2007 at 17:02)
You could, I believe, have our hellhole of a country turned round in no time. The population would be behind you as they are becoming like a pressure cooker, waiting to have the steam released.
sven is god, stretford (15/08/2007 at 21:28)
Forward with Frank (15/08/2007 at 21:29)
You can''t beat a woman that has a gargling smokers laugh, talks with her mouth full and coughs her lungs upo every five minutes. These weren't just young women either but upto about fifty years old. I won't even mention the ankle chains and tattoos. The men aren't much better either and JD Sports must have done a roaring trade recently on England football shirts.
Here in Germany evryone is much more civilised and the women have class about them and carry themselves well. Where did English women go wrong? This isn't just down to genetics and physical looks it's abot breeding. As a young chap my parents taught me to look at the horse and not the stable that it came out of, as it were.
The problem with these types is that are breeding at an alarming rate too and they will just rear more of the same. There should be allowed one child each at most and should be able to afford it themselves without relying on me and other taxpayers.
Whatever happened to my England?
sven is god, stretford (15/08/2007 at 21:34)
Sean, Manchester (15/08/2007 at 23:27)
Life Is Not Fair, Audenshaw (16/08/2007 at 00:28)
Henry Piggot-Smythe, Prestbury (16/08/2007 at 10:30)
The Catcher, In the Rye (16/08/2007 at 11:54)
He's right though isn't he? This nation seems to have developed another breed that isn't like me and my breed. They all look the same, smell the same, talk the same and have the same (complete lack of) values. They are the modern day untermensch!
RedPaddy (16/08/2007 at 16:29)
I find it offensive what Henry says. I have seven children by four different women but am a good dad to them all. My and my girlfriend want to start a little family of our own and that is our right. I can't earn enough money to pay for all of them but I paid taxes before being on the sick means I can't work so why can't I claim some back for the wee one's? You can't let them go hungry now.
I wish that I had bumped into ye in Bolton.