CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
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CCE is 15years old!
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I do a fair amount of litterpicking in Lochend Park. The main culprits there are fag packets, beer cans and Mcdonalds packaging.
What is to be done about businesses like Mcdonalds who only supply "disposable" packaging; does it cease to be their problem/issue as soon as it leaves their premises?
The drinks industry 'hates' the idea that the Scottish Government might introduce legislation it might have to pay attention to.
(See also: Scottish Whisky campaigning against minimum alcohol pricing.)
Now these are policies which people on all sides seem to agree with. Big business campaigned to keep the UK as a 'single market' but should respect our 'local' voice (apart from KSB). I don't expect low sugar, low waste laws to come from Westminster. Local solutions need local laws.
If business did proceed with implementing this scheme then no doubt they would pass the cost on to the consumer. So their over-packaged sugary drinks would be less attractive to buy? These are big companies though so they'd find a way.
I see all this as a scaled up version of the Roseburn shopkeeper argument that is used to thwart any change in behaviour that could help the environment.
The fact is that the re-cycle bins are full of drinks cans and bottles and industry just wants to pass the cost of recycling by stealth to councils. It's aided in this by the packaging industry as they use heavier plastics (try flattening some of these bottles!) in an effort to use up more cheap oil.
In Germany they have regulation about weight of packaging versus content. Here some products look close to 50/50. (No I don't buy them but have picked up in amazement).
Gerry Farrell writes well (they're not all bad people you know!). Of course ScotGov loves advertising and any scheme would need promoting (!)
See also: Scottish Whisky campaigning against minimum alcohol pricing
The organisation in question here being the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA), dominated by the big players such as Pernod-Ricard, Diageo, Beam-Suntory, Erdington and Grants. More than a few of whom make good money flogging cheap grain spirits (whisky, vodka, gin).
It has also been every bit as (in)effective as the other industry-backed body the Portman Group in the promoting responsible use of their products.
Perhaps industry-funded bodies that are set up and controlled by the industries in question have ulterior motives. Who would have thought? (See also Press Complaints Commission; Cycling Scotland)
Weight loss and gain after "the Biggest Loser". Lots of Wow! moments in this article.
'“We eat about 900,000 to a million calories a year, and burn them all except those annoying 3,000 to 5,000 calories that result in an average annual weight gain of about one to two pounds,” he said. “These very small differences between intake and output average out to only about 10 to 20 calories per day — less than one Starburst candy — but the cumulative consequences over time can be devastating.”'
Just had this campaign retweeting to me by a candidate.
http://www.obesityactionscotland.org/scotland-s-weight
The bit that worried me was that the 5 pledges they wanted you to sign up to were all about food and nothing about Active lifestyles.
It's funded by the Scottish Government and has a panel of eminent doctors.
Anyone else find this a bit odd?
@HankChief I don't understand the pledges. "Implement actions that will help achieve healthy weight", "Position the public sector to lead by example", "invest in initiatives to help children achieve healthy weight" - what actions, examples and initiatives are they talking about?
Yeah, that's probably because you don't work in the health sector?
"Obesity Action Scotland is a new unit that was established in summer 2015 to provide clinical leadership and independent advocacy on preventing and reducing overweight and obesity in Scotland. It is funded by a grant from the Scottish Government and hosted by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow on behalf of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and Faculties."
So, from their point of view it's a medical issue. A question of diet.
"Together we can build a food environment where the healthy choice is the easy choice."
In fairness, activity doesn't really help you lose weight. It'll take quite a long bike ride to burn off a full-fat Irn Bru for example (other soft beverages are available).
@crowriver
In fairness, activity doesn't really help you lose weight.
I think you meant to say ...by itself.
If you look back to the 70s, when really fat people were still a novelty, the population was both more active (more physical jobs, more children playing out rather than in front of screens, fewer car journeys) and ate less calorie-dense processed rubbish food, less often.
The problem is a both ends of the process.
@HankChief I don't understand the pledges.
Yes, most of them are just gobbledegook of the type used by the Scottish Government to get out of doing anything. It was only a "vision" etc.
With regard to activity, I suppose that could be covered by the very woolly statement "implement actions that will help achieve healthy weight in Scotland" and they do mention activity later on.
But it is all rather "We should do something! Or other. Mebbes aye. Mebbes naw."
"Yes, most of them are just gobbledegook of the type used by the Scottish Government to get out of doing anything. It was only a "vision" etc."
The level of priority given to this issue by the powers that be is rather revealed by the fact this "unit" has just three staff, plus a (presumably voluntary) steering group.
Slightly smaller than the sales team at an average local used car dealership then.
Definitely lower than the average daily staff roster in the pharmacy on the corner of my street.
As they say, "actions" speak louder than words. If the Scottish government or indeed the medical establishment were really serious about taking action on obesity, the resources put into it would not be so pitiful.
That NY Times article seems pretty clear on diets not working*, and my understanding is that, across the board, (i.e. not just in extreme loss situations like those ones) people will gain most or all the weight back within five years, and often gain more. I don't subscribe to the theory that 95% of people "lack willpower", and trying to insist on individual solutions to social/structural issues appears to be destined for failure - a bit like trying to persuade people to cycle more without changing the environment (physical & social) in which they do so! - so I would prefer to focus on stuff we know will improve health regardless of your size - which is nice, since getting active improves heath outcomes for everyone, pretty much.
*it's also plain horrifying - the whole Biggest Loser setup sounds frankly abusive, preying on desperate and vulnerable folk (the quote attributed to Danny Cahill - “I used to look at myself and think, ‘I am horrible, I am a monster, subhuman,’" made me want to weep) and making them into "inspirational" freakshows. And the regimes they're subjected to as supposedly "healthy"...
I'm not a health expert but I also got the general impression it's really difficult/impossible to lose weight permanently whatever you do, as the body adjusts the metabolic rate and also the hormones that control hunger.
But even without any weight loss, exercise has health benefits. Being overweight doesn't necessarily mean unfit. Sumo wrestlers are an extreme example, but I know some overweight people who can cycle at a fair pace or do other exercise for hours, much longer than some non-overweight people.
Personally I find the "weight loss" argument for activity psychologically not very compelling. It may or may not be correct in an abstract sense, but it's just not what people experience when they start becoming active. If people expect to lose weight or if this is their main aim, there is a danger they get disappointed and give up quickly.
It seems better to me to promote the direct benefits, like generally feeling more energetic and less easily exhausted.
Cycling (especially utility cycling) has the huge advantage that (once you're used to it) it fits into the day and you don't need to plan any extra time, it even saves time. And it's fun and doesn't feel like "exercise", and you can start slowly.
Tonight @ 9 BBC2
"
Over 62 per cent of adults in the UK are currently overweight or obese and this figure is set to rise. A common attitude is that obese people should be ashamed - it is their fault, they have no will power and if they could just 'eat less and exercise more', the problem would soon be solved. Yet, despite millions of pounds being spent on this simple message, the UK is getting fatter every year.
"
Possibly a factor
Stumbled on the NHS Health Scotland's Exemplar Physical Activity Employer Award through a mad Daily Mail headline.
Pilot scheme with a few employers to see if employees can become more active through things like standing meetings, taking the stairs and....paid lunchtime walks.
Pilot ended in August, presumably being written up now;
http://www.healthscotland.com/documents/28154.aspx
Looks like classic window dressing to me - leave people in an obesogenic environment and try to plaster on a layer of remedial measures, but I guess we'll see soon?
In my experience there's an unreachable hardcore of office workers who will not walk a step further than required and consider cake to be a basic foodstuff, but I guess it's not for them.
"In my experience there's an unreachable hardcore of office workers who will not walk a step further than required"
Just as there is an "unreachable hardcore" of drivers who won't be changed by all the nice messages about 'choose another way'.
Meanwhile the subtle (and less subtle) 'nudges' of better infrastructure are largely neglected - probably partly due to all the effort targeting the unaffectable.
"More than 2,300 overweight patients needed bariatric support from the patient transport service last year to attend hospital appointments"
"Lothian had the highest numbers of overweight patients requiring support in Scotland, except for Glasgow which had 3,845 patients."
"
And caring for the growing number of people diagnosed with diabetes is costing the NHS in England alone around £10bn every year, nearly 10% of the entire budget.
"
"
Scotland has been placed joint last in an international study of physical activity among children.
The research found that Scotland had one of the best environments and infrastructure for outdoor play among the 38 nations that took part.
But it was ranked joint worst for exercise, and for the amount of time children spend in front of screens.
"The Scottish government, which has questioned the report's methodology..."
If you don't like the academic study's conclusions, question the methodology and imply the researchers are not doing their jobs properly. Aye, that'll work...
From the report:
"Average grades for both Overall Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior around the world are D (low/poor). In contrast, the average grade for indicators related to supports for physical activity was C. Lower-income countries generally had better grades on Overall Physical Activity, Active Transportation, and Sedentary Behaviors compared with higher-income countries, yet worse grades for supports from Family and Peers, Community and the Built Environment, and Government Strategies and Investments. Average grades for all indicators combined were highest (best) in Denmark, Slovenia, and the Netherlands."
http://www.activehealthykids.org
By the way, Scotland gets the lowest grade, F; while England gets a more respectable D- (as does Wales). Maybe that's why Scottish ministers are complaining?
Here's the full report card for Scotland:
http://www.activehealthykids.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/scotland-report-card-short-form-2016.pdf
Even cars are becoming "obese":
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-38048793
On the plus side, larger spaces = less parking available
Ha yes, I saw the fat cars article too. Also today on the BBC, the new head of GPs says that the advice to eat 5 fruit and veg a day is unrealistic and that it should go down to 2. I can get the point about tailoring to individuals, 2 fruit and veg a day is better than none after all but that is a different thing to changing the advice to everyone. Sure if you go down the avocados and goji berries route, fruit and veg can be expensive but somewhere along the line "we" have lost the ability to buy and cook cheap, local, seasonal veg. :-(
I don't understand why people WANT huge great cars. Surely they just have to put more petrol in them (...to drive 3 miles across town and then not fit them into a parking space)?
ETA: I mean, yes, I suppose I do understand - because we as a species are incredibly easy to market to, and because there is no real pressure to NOT have stupidly American-sized cars..
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