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Lack of Walkability in the US is destroying mental health

makeamericawalkable.com

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Re: Lack of Walkability in the US is destroying mental health

#111

Post by CalRobert »

chrononaut wrote: post #52
CalRobert wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not on vacation and Europe has been great for me mentally. Similarly, I hate when I go back to the US.

For me the walkability benefit in Europe is almost offset by the overabundance of diesel exhaust fumes.

Whereabouts are you? I remember in 2008 I visited and it seemed like the whole continent stank of diesel but it's much better now, or my sense of smell has weakened. I'm in the Netherlands and there's not too many cars on the road compared to many other places, though.

Re: Lack of Walkability in the US is destroying mental health

#112

Post by hackyhacky »

henryhenryhenry wrote: post #72
hackyhacky wrote: post #27

I am fully on-board with walkable cities, it's something I feel very strongly about. This link, however, is not to an article supporting the lofty claim of the title (currently "Lack of Walkability in the US is destroying mental health"), but rather to a shop where you can buy red Trump-style "Make America Walkable Again" hats.... for what end exactly? Not clear. The site is collecting donations, but they don't say w…

What would you like to see on the website? All proceeds from hat sales go toward funding the Make America Walkable documentary.

If you want to make a documentary, I would like to know why your documentary will be better than what is already available, such as Not Just Bikes, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, or any other prior art.

Re: Lack of Walkability in the US is destroying mental health

#113

Post by deprecative »

EdTechAndrew wrote: post #90
deprecative wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are they hostile to car owners or is it the car dependency enforced via city planning / infrastructure? I almost always see the latter but hear the former as criticism which is laughable.

Hostility may have been too strong of a choice of word. It's less the arguments or sentiments of anti-car advocates but more the language used online. For example, r/fuckcars is massive. A large subreddit might not be considered mainstream, but it does have massive reach. A lot of people see this as one of their first exposures to car-free communities and do not feel welcomed by it. I think it's somewhat of an optics…

Fuck cars, yes. That says nothing about car owners. You're letting your feelings get in the way of the message.

Re: Lack of Walkability in the US is destroying mental health

#114

Post by henryhenryhenry »

hackyhacky wrote: post #112
henryhenryhenry wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would you like to see on the website? All proceeds from hat sales go toward funding the Make America Walkable documentary.

If you want to make a documentary, I would like to know why your documentary will be better than what is already available, such as Not Just Bikes, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, or any other prior art.

This is a multi-year project, a feature length documentary that will be sold to a big streaming service, not a YouTube channel.

Re: Lack of Walkability in the US is destroying mental health

#115

Post by henryhenryhenry »

princevegeta89 wrote: post #42

This is not surprising in a capitalistic first-world country and always happens when everything around you is designed for you to always drive somewhere. It's up to each individual person to decide how or if they want to spend time outdoors, be it a run, walk, or a bike ride.

The irony of your comment is American infrastructure in 2023 favors cars is less capitalistic and more corporate lobbying and the government siding with the car industry.

Re: Lack of Walkability in the US is destroying mental health

#116

Post by henryhenryhenry »

zer8k wrote: post #56
cagenut wrote: post #15

IMHO we're going to look back historically at single-family-detached-suburban-sprawl as not just the fulcrum in destroying the environment, but also actively harmful to the people that live there, especially children. Its easy for it to feel "normal" or even aspirational to us now, but its basically only ~3 generations old, and the first generation raised in suburbs was usually larger families in closer-in suburbs, p…

> IMHO we're going to look back historically at single-family-detached-suburban-sprawl as not just the fulcrum in destroying the environment, but also actively harmful to the people that live there, especially children. Spicy take. I grew up in a neighborhood that would've been considered "suburban" I guess. I had no problems because there were 20 kids who lived there and we all played together. We also went to the s…

Watch the TED talk "Ghastly Tragedy of the Suburbs". Has your mind changed after watching it?

Re: Lack of Walkability in the US is destroying mental health

#117

Post by hackyhacky »

henryhenryhenry wrote: post #114
hackyhacky wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want to make a documentary, I would like to know why your documentary will be better than what is already available, such as Not Just Bikes, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, or any other prior art.

This is a multi-year project, a feature length documentary that will be sold to a big streaming service, not a YouTube channel.

Do you already have an agreement to sell it for a big streaming service, or is that merely your aspiration? If you've already sold it, why do you need additional money? If you haven't already sold it, then you shouldn't speak about it as if doing so were a certainty.

Regardless, you still haven't answered my question. Why is making a multi-year, feature-length documentary better than a series of videos on YouTube? Why do you think that your chosen medium will be more effective or persuasive than previous works? In other words, why do you think you deserve donations?

Re: Lack of Walkability in the US is destroying mental health

#118

Post by groby_b »

glonq wrote: post #35
eBombzor wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Canada also has free healthcare. There are an infinite number of cultural differences that could affect the mental health rates in EU/CA more positively than in the US.

"free", but you often get what you pay for. source: am canadian.

As opposed to overpaying for things that aren't actually helping you, but sure make the insurance company happy?

Source: Am USian.

(Also worth noting that you can add private health care to your menu. If you balk at the cost, welcome to the US model)

Re: Lack of Walkability in the US is destroying mental health

#119

Post by grumple »

korse wrote: post #69
grumple wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US, you'll empty your bank account and still get terrible service - you've spent money but received terrible care. Maybe things change if you can afford your own full-time doctor for 500k / year. Canada ranks above the US in every healthcare measure.

How/where? Is this actually a 'solid insurance is hard to get problem'? Neither myself or family (extended included) have experienced problems and we certainly don't have private doctors. The whole 'american healthcare bad/unaffordable' argument is something that I hear quite a bit on the internet, but pretty much never do in real life.

> The whole 'american healthcare bad/unaffordable' argument is something that I hear quite a bit on the internet, but pretty much never do in real life.

What bubble are you in? For some of us, we make enough money that paying 400/month for insurance while our employer does the same isn't a big deal. For us software engineers, it's no big deal. For the 50% of people making under 60k a year, that's a large chunk of their income.

I hear it constantly from friends nationwide (I have a very large extended circle for a few reasons), media, and my wife, who is a healthcare worker and deals with insurance constantly (as does anyone in healthcare in the US) or my mother (also in healthcare). And of course, we have lots of friends who are in healthcare. And I hear it from my parents, who, as aging people, have more healthcare needs. Your insurance company gets to delay or prevent access to prescriptions, surgeries, or physical therapy as long as they desire.

I'm in Philadelphia, which is one of the biggest cities in the US and where healthcare makes up a much larger than usual portion of our local economy [0]. You can find numerous other sources to support this, Philly is a huge biomedical / healthcare hub. It's almost like being in LA for film or SF for tech.

Where insurance really starts to suck is if you and your healthcare providers think you need care, but the insurance company says no. My wife experiences rejections from her patient's insurance companies daily. Happens with Medicare too.

0. https://www.besthealthdegrees.com/careers/the-top-10-cities-...

Re: Lack of Walkability in the US is destroying mental health

#120

Post by steaknpotato »

cpursley wrote: post #95
oerpli wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While it might cause other issues, I think the root is somewhere else and harder to solve (even if the solution is obvious).

Walkable communities would get people actually talking to each other, for a start - just from the serendipitous encounters with other people irl (like what happens in Europe).

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