i walk

Monday morning we walked to school.
Actually Sebastian scootered and Elise unicycled. It was only Diesel, the dog and I who walked. It is one of the best times of the day, when we leave the frantic-before-school-house-routine and head off togther.
Upon arriving at the school I had the honour of talking to 6 classes of Kindergarten and Grade 1 students about i walk week. i walk is an international initiative that started in Great Britain in 1994. Today over 40 countries participate. The initiative hopes to discourage us from hopping into the car for short trips and to get out and walk. The goals are many including:

Encourage physical activity by teaching children the skills to walk safely, how to identify safe routes to school, and the benefits of walking Raise concern for the environment Reduce crime and take back neighborhoods for people on foot Reduce traffic congestion, pollution, and speed near schools Share valuable time with local community leaders, parents, and children

Our local Translink is promoting the idea as an opportunity to build a strong sense of community by encouraging kids to walk to school and to get to know their transit systems. It’s also about finding alternatives to cars.

Here are a few health facts that may help move people from talking the talk to walking the i walk.

§                            Taking up regular walking can reduce your risk of heart disease by as much as 50 per cent and can help guard against other chronic diseases such as diabetes and even some cancers.
§                            A 10 minute walk for a person weighing 70 kg can burn 42 calories.  Leave the car at home and burn your own fuel instead
§                            Staff who walk to work are more productive, have less sick days and have improved fitness.
§                            Children who walk to school have better concentration and memory throughout the day.
§                            People who are regularly in cars suffer three times the amount of pollution as pedestrians because they are sitting in the line of the exhaust fumes from the car in front.
§                            Most people overestimate public transport travel time by half and underestimate the time taken to drive.
                         Taken from  Government of Western Australia, Department of Transport, 2011

Now can we expand  i walk week, to simply i walk...365 days of the year.

Keep walking!