Sherwin Williams' logo.

While driving home from visiting family in Washington D.C. this weekend I spotted a Sherwin Williams truck riding down the highway. This is the logo I saw...
This image was disturbing to me in so many ways. While I don't have a background in environmental science, I have taken a few environmental courses and I am smart enough to know that this logo symbolizes the smothering of our planet with toxic paint. How is this at all a good message?

I read up a little on the harmful toxins found in paint. It turns out that in many instances paint is one of the primary culprits of indoor air pollution. Probably the most dangerous additions to your average paint can are VOCs or volatile organic compounds which help the paint to stay in liquid form until it is applied.

To Sherwin Williams' credit, they have created a green product line. According to an assessment by Inhabit.com, SW has taken major steps toward creating a line of paints that are up to LEED and GreenSeal standards.

I say good work SW, but how about hiring on a marketing consultant to help you revamp that still disturbing logo? Just saying.

Pale is the new black.

If only this were true. Unfortunately with signs like these...

it is cheaper for teens to tan than to buy a bottle of sunscreen. Fortunately, in many states there are laws that prohibit teens from tanning without parental consent. Unfortunately, many parents consent to their teens tanning. Check out these articles from Time magazine to learn more about the magnitude of the tanning problem among teens today:
Cancer and Teen Tanning: Where's the Regulation?
Why Teens Are Obsessed With Tanning

How safe is your city for pedestrians?

Transportation for America has released its list of the 52 largest American metro regions, ranked according to their safety for pedestrians. Our own St. Louis ranked 21st most dangerous, one slot behind Kansas City (Missouri must be proud) and ahead of such luminous bastions of safety as New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington DC. This also throws into relief The League of American Bicyclist's ranking of St. Louis as a (of 125) Bicycle-Friendly city.

I was as intrigued by the rankings as I was by the revelation that, while 1.7% of the population in St. Louis walks to work (I've made the three-mile trek myself when it was way too rainy to ride), a whopping 6% of those in the NYC metro region hoof their commute. That's owed, I'm sure, in large part to population density. But it's also something of a mindset. When you last moved to a new home, did you consider the walkability of your commute a determining factor?

Dangerous By Design

(via GOOD)

I have an idea for Mountain Dew's next ad campaign!

What does an NBA All-Star do when he's more motivated than ever to help his team win a championship? He loses 11 pounds by doing nothing more than giving up his [gasp] 72-ounce-per-day Mountain Dew habit. Granted, Caron Butler is a physical specimen and a professional athlete, but if even he was carrying around an extra 11 pounds of "Dew" on his body, imagine how much the regular, non-athlete drinkers among us are hauling around.

NBA FanVoice Un-Doing The Dew

Hold my baby?

This post comes from Greg Jarvis. The picture is sort of hard to see but you definitely get the idea...

Google taking suggestions for walkable/bikable routes

One of the handiest tools I regularly use for planning my cycling routes around the city (I'm always looking for a route to work with less traffic) is Google Maps and Street View. It's nice to see what I can expect along the way in terms of bike lanes, gutters, railroad crossings, etc. (though it never shows me where the hostile drivers will be).

The obvious shortcoming of Street View is that, since the images are all captured with a specially-equipped car, it is limited to routes where cars drive. And, as the astute among you may have already learned, bikes and and pedestrians are able to go places where cars cannot.

Though it doesn't appear that the project will be as extensive as Street View for cars, Google has begun taking suggestions for where to gather images with their new Street View Trike. Perhaps this will begin to fill in some of those bike route gaps (like the pedestrian/bike tunnel from Oakland Avenue to Forest Park in St. Louis) that you don't normally discover until you happen upon them.

I'm nominating Forest Park in St. Louis along with the Katy Trail for the Google Street View Trike. Jump in and vote for them as well, or nominate your own favorite walking/cycling route. While you're at it, go to Google Maps and use Street View to preview that walking/cycling commute you know you should try out.

Really QT? Really?

Thank you to Sarah Shelton for sending in this gem of a photo taken at a QuikTrip gas pump. I have been trying to capture this sign on the side of highway 44... but alas, I fear it isn't public health to try and snap a picture while driving down the highway at 70 mph. I am glad Sarah took the safer approach.

Really, QuikTrip? You tout that life is too short for oatmeal but I have to argue that life is only shorter if you opt out of eating oatmeal and instead go for this sugary cinnamon bun. Online estimates clock this morning treat at QT in at 260 calories which I think is an underestimation considering the fact that other sites say the average cinnamon roll contains 300-400 calories. Either way, this compares with the mere 150 calories found in your typical bowl of oatmeal. This also doesn't account for the health benefits of eating oatmeal which include (but aren't limited to):

• Reduction in total cholesterol levels
• Reduced risk for elevated blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, and weight gain
• Reduced LDL cholesterol during weight-loss
• Reduction in early hardening of the arteries

You know, I did an extensive search and was unable to find the comparable benefits of cinnamon rolls. I did however find some pretty sick recipes that involve a combination of artery clogging ingredients that you wouldn't believe. It isn't that enjoying a cinnamon roll is a bad thing, this is just a convoluted message from our friends at QT.

More portion control billboard badness

My wife and I were in Chicago this past weekend to run the (bitterly cold) Chicago Marathon. We rode Amtrak from St. Louis, and on our way to Union Station in Chicago, we saw this billboard:



According to the Coke website (warning: PDF) a single serving size of Coca-Cola Classic is 8 ounces and contains 97 calories, all from high fructose corn syrup. A family of four would consume over 300 calories each of Coke-y goodness at a meal where the new 100-ounce twin-pack of Coke served as simply "enough."

I'm also not sure why the Coca-Cola Company would go to the odd measure of bottling 50 ounces of Coke as a single unit, if the bottles would always be packaged as twin-packs, effectively creating a 100-ounce unit. Were they worried that even the least savvy and nutritionally-minded consumer might flinch at the sight of a single 100-ounce bottle of liquid candy?

Of course, every person has the right to choose how much Coke to drink, but doesn't it seem a little irresponsible for Coke to be actively marketed in 100-ounce quantities as "enough" for a single meal?

Just down the road from this sign at Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine, a recent study found that "sugary soda consumption may be associated with kidney damage, although moderate consumption of 1 or fewer sodas [daily] does not appear to be harmful." But Coke is actively marketing more than three servings in a single meal as "enough."

It is enough. Enough to make you or your child obese and contribute to your eventual kidney failure.

Clean plate club gone terribly wrong.

This post comes from Nupur. I saw this sign in the window of Amici's Italian restaurant on Kirkwood Rd.

The restaurant is challenging us to finish huge portions and will further reward us with dessert if we do! So, either don't clean your plate and waste food while people are going hungry in the world, or just overeat and finish with additional dessert.

Making the stairs fun...

Thanks to Nupur for this great video! Happy Monday!

Are you tired of us complaining about sidewalks?

"Oh my god," you think to yourself. "Are they seriously still going on about sidewalks and curbs and crosswalks?"

I see your point. It really is annoying. You should mention how annoying it is at your next neighborhood association meeting. Bring it up in a friendly email to your city alderman.

But in the meantime...

I enjoyed lunch at Pi in The Loop this afternoon with some friends. It was totally great. And then the experience was tainted as I crossed back over Delmar toward the Pageant and was met at the end of the crosswalk with a totally awesome curb:


View Larger Map

Yay, a post-lunch obstacle course of inaccessibility! Enjoy crossing the street.

Seriously, email city aldermen. It's super-duper easy.

Funny public health signs...

Thank you to Sally for sharing an e-mail with me today that included these pictures. These are all good examples of public health in action. I am sure they are probably widely viewed but their messages are both important and funny.

Yet another sidewalk to nowhere...

Thank you to Diana for sharing these pictures. Even more examples of silly sidewalk planning:

I guess this sidewalk is leading walkers to a beautiful NO PARKING sign...

and this one to a sewer drain...

Sandbagged.

This post comes from our friend Ashby.

It was observed in St. Louis City.

I didn't measure the width of the opening between these rusty sign uprights, but I'd be surprised if there was enough room for a wheelchair. This just seems lazy. What other reason could the city have for leaving this stuff on the sidewalk when it's not in use?

Would you like germs with that?

With all the talk about H1N1 in the news, I think we are all being more careful about the spread of germs. So, let's have a little quiz. Which of the following is NOT a good strategy for slowing or stopping the spread of germs?

A. Cover your cough or sneeze

B. Wash your hands often.

C. When you can't wash your hands, use hand sanitizer.

D. If you order a pizza, just tell your waiter that if they have 3 separate pizzas they've cleared from other tables they can just put the left over pieces together and you'll call it good.

Much thanks to Mary, who sent along this picture of a pizza her friends had ordered, it is definitely NOT public health.

Food desert.

I had an interesting experience last weekend while staying overnight in a hotel in Atlanta. I missed my connection and had to find a place to stay for the night. By the time I made it through the crowds and to my hotel it was 2 a.m. and I was STARVING. The hotel clerk informed me that unfortunately every restaurant (including the one at the hotel) was closed but that I could help myself to the mini-convenience store in the hotel that was open 24-hours. I walked into the store (which was really just a tiny room) and quickly realized that there was nothing healthy for me to eat. Everything was processed, packaged, and shining on the shelf in all of its glory. I carefully chose my selections:

While sitting in my hotel room eating lots of delicious empty calories, it suddenly hit me that this is the way people all over the U.S. live day-to-day. The mini hotel convenience store was my corner store, and I was in a small food desert. It was a humbling realization. While I could go home after this trip and walk to my local grocery store to get some fruits and vegetables, this lack of healthy options was a reality for many people on a daily basis. A reality that they could not avoid.

The Food Trust has developed a Corner Store Campaign as part of a movement to address the problem of food deserts in low income neighborhoods in Philadelphia. This is part of a larger campaign by the Healthy Corner Stores Network to change the landscape of food options within low-income and underserved populations nationwide. Noone should be faced with a lack of healthy options.

The best and worst.

This picture was snapped by a student in a popular college town bar.

Along with the usual options of candy and gum, this vending machine also provides condoms (yay!) and cigarettes (boo!).

The City of Parks and Trails.

This post comes from a coworker of mine.

I live in Ellisville, MO called the "City of Parks and Trails" but apparently not many sidewalks to get to them. When I went to take a picture of the lack of sidewalk, I came across this couple and their kids trudging across the grass for about a half a mile until they could get to the sidewalk. They are new to the area and can't believe the sidewalks don't connect to the neighborhoods.

George Strait once sang "When the sidewalk ends, the road begins". This is very true here. I run almost every morning and this is the path I have to take to connect to all my routes. I run in morning traffic on the grass (through many spider webs no less)--in order to get to the sidewalk. The city recently passed an ordinance requiring sidewalks on at least one side of the road for new construction, but it doesn't affect my route.

Jackson Park - A transformation

This post comes from a friend who is currently restoring a house in the Old North St. Louis neighborhood. This is a testament to the changes that can be made when a community of individuals come together to make it happen.

Jackson Park in Old North, is one of the oldest St. Louis City parks. The park is a circular city block that was once home to a gorgeous fountain, a promenade, and tall trees. The park suffered greatly as the surrounding neighborhood experienced years of decline and blight. In recent years, the park consisted of a poorly maintained baseball field, a crumbling/rusting playground, and a tiny basketball court that was littered with broken glass.

Roughly two years ago, the Alderwoman, April Ford-Griffin, announced that she would be able to commit a significant amount of city funds to rehab the park. She brought forth a plan to the community for input. The community held a charrette to discuss the proposed plan and decide on suggestions to alter the plan. The community submitted its suggestions to the Alderwoman who accepted them and incorporated them into the official design documents.

A few months later construction began, including a walking path, new sidewalks, a water fountain, upgrades to the baseball diamond, and an extension of the park that includes a basketball half-court, a big new playground facility, and swings. Construction is still underway. As a local resident, I've watched park usage increase 10-fold. It has been a spectacular transformation!

Accountability.

While walking to and from work this past week...

I had the darnedest time getting to where I wanted to go. Why, you ask? Let the pictures tell you. There are plenty more where these came from.

This man actually gave me an apology wave... or maybe he was waving at the camera.

Same spot, different day. No wave.

This is my personal favorite. The ol' car on the sidewalk trick. I know parking is bad these days but really?

Counterproductivity defined.

Barbie dolls, Teletubbies, Blue's Clues... Doritos?

This post comes from The Consumerist from last week. Apparently this Wal-Mart has placed a Doritos and Pepsi display in the children's toy aisle. The argument is that the display is also next to DVD's. I say that is a weak arguement at best.

It would be interesting to know the demographics of the community where this Wal-Mart is located. I may be going shopping in our local stores this week to do some detective work.

Has anyone else seen something similar in their local stores?

The good...

Running in my neighborhood today I was inspired by the activity around me, the walkers, the bikers, the skaters. There was also a fair at the local community center where I am a member. They had a group of kids that belong to the St. Louis Arches - a circus troop. The cool thing about this program is that it is associated with Circus Harmony an organization that provides classes to the general public in circus tricks (tightrope walking, acrobatics, the flying trapeze). The classes are available for people of all ages and fitness levels. The program even has an octogenarian who does the flying trapeze. Now if that isn't health in action then I don't know what is.

I think others were inspired to be healthy today as well. Maybe because it was a beautiful day and there was plenty to do. Regardless of what the reason was, I received a couple of good pictures celebrating public health.

This is the Urban Health Fair and Market in Lafayette Square, St. Louis, MO. This area of town is a public health success story in itself. The neighborhood was neglected for several decades. Recent restorations have made it a vibrant and walkable community that houses Lafayette Park, a great place for being active.

This picture comes from a walking and biking trail in Denver, CO. Apparently not only do they provide signage about the detrimental health effects of animal waste, they also provide plastic bags full of "doggie bags" (not that kind of doggie bag...) and trashcans nearby for easy disposal.

Keep the pictures coming!

Some popular public health photos to ponder...

While not original photos, their content speaks volumes.

At least we can rest easy knowing that this dog will live a long and healthy life.

For some reason I don't think that this is what Shel Silverstein had in mind... if so, what a cruel joke.

Stairway to....nowhere?

Led Zeppelin would be so disappointed... as was I when I decided to make the healthy decision by walking up the stairs just to find out that I couldn't enter on the floor I wanted to. So you're telling me I have to walk up 3 more floors to get to an elevator to take 3 floors down?