Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Public Health

This Is Your Brain on Cars—Oh, and Your Lungs and Heart and Gut, Too

By Catherine Lutz and Anne Lutz Fernandez | May 17, 2011 | 11 Comments

Gerontologists in a laboratory at the University of Southern California exposed a group of mice to the same atmospheric conditions that humans encounter when driving along the freeway. Horrifyingly, they discovered that the mice’s brains showed the kind of swelling and inflammation associated with diseases such as Alzheimer’s. The researchers didn’t super-dose to get these […]

The Federal Transportation Bill Is a Health Care Bill

By Richard J. Jackson | Mar 3, 2011 | No Comments

Dr. Richard J. Jackson is Professor and Chair of Environmental Health Science in the UCLA School of Public Health. We’re happy to host opinion pieces from academic and other community leaders. Contact damien@streetsblog.org if you’re interested. On February 23, Senator Barbara Boxer and Representative John Mica held a congressional hearing here in Los Angeles to […]

Researchers Confirm Link Between Active Commuting and Better Health

By Adam Voiland | Aug 20, 2010 | 14 Comments

It makes intuitive sense that cycling and walking to work regularly would help people stay healthy, but until now there’s only been anecdotal evidence suggesting that places where walking or cycling to work is common also have lower rates of obesity. Bike traffic in Philadelphia. Photo: Kyle Gradinger, Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia That changed […]

APTA Report Prescribes Public Transport to Improve Public Health

By Noah Kazis | Aug 19, 2010 | No Comments

Transit use is correlated with decreases in the number of traffic crashes. Image: "Evaluating Public Transportation Health Benefits" A new report written by the Victoria Transport Policy Institute’s Todd Litman for the American Public Transit Association [PDF], the trade organization for the nation’s transit agencies, reminds us that one of the most valuable benefits of […]

Our Waistlines Are Expanding In Sync With Our Car-Dependence

By Adam Voiland | Aug 9, 2010 | 40 Comments

States with the highest adult obesity rates also tend to be where the fewest people bike or walk to work. Image: CDC Two reports released last week underscored the increasing severity of America’s obesity epidemic. And the eye-opening findings add to the mounting evidence that stopping the spread of obesity and its attendant health risks […]

The Problems With Ports, or Why We Need a National Freight Act

By Tanya Snyder | Aug 6, 2010 | 5 Comments

Maybe you commute by train, or maybe you’ve switched from driving to biking. But your stuff is still traveling the country by diesel truck. Containers at the Port of Oakland. Photo: NOAA Nearly a quarter of transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions come from freight. The movement of goods from port of entry to a store near […]

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