'Green' exercise

Putting aside everything else such as personal health, athletic competition, having fun, happiness, etc., is exercising 'green'? Isn't burning extra calories actually a waste of energy and therefore not environmentally friendly (where do those calories that you are burning off originally come from?)

A few months ago I read a short, rather unimpressive article on the G-Living website about 'green' exercise. The article, while not a total waste, did not go into many useful details. What was good about the article was it got me thinking about exercise in terms of 'greenness' and the environment.

The bottom line is overweight people are not environmentally friendly for many reasons as compared to lighter people on average. They consume more food than they need to. They weigh more so whenever they drive their cars, ride an escalator, fly in a plane, etc. it requires more energy. They are bigger so require bigger clothing, using more energy and resources. According to The Live Earth Global Warming Survival Handbook, if every American lost one pound, 39 million gallons of fuel would be saved per year (not sure how they arrive at these savings, but I can believe it).

So does that mean to be environmentally friendly everyone should whip themselves into shape and drop those extra pounds? Well, yes and no. As outlined below, it depends how you are fueling yourself for the exercise, and how you are exercising.

There are many ways to exercise and get into shape. Driving your big ass SUV to an air conditioned gym to run on a treadmill is not the most eco friendly way to get in shape. According to this blog, typical power output for a treadmill motor is around 2HP. In addition to the motor, treadmills have a a motor controller, digital display, electronic PC boards running the show, many now have a TV. To be conservative, assume the total power consumed for the whole treadmill is 2HP. This is the equivalent of 1491 watts. If using it for 30 minutes every day, this equals 272KWH per year! Factor in driving to the gym, the electricity used to power the lights and other stuff at the gym, the energy used to heat/cool the gym, and you end up with a lot of energy used for your exercise. Running outside instead of the gym treadmill takes zero energy! If you are inclined to running or walking, why not kill two birds with one stone and walk to the store or work instead of driving. I always find it ironic how people drive to the gym to walk on the treadmill, and then take another car trip to the grocery store. Just walk to the grocery store! (I am somewhat of a hypocrite here, I actually do drive to the gym sometimes in winter or when it's raining out, but only do this in crap weather and am trying to minimize it. At least I drive a 5-speed Civic instead of a behemoth SUV).

If incline to biking, why ride a stationary bike at the gym when you can bike outside? Get your shopping done or errands while on the bike (in addition to enjoying fresh air, scenery, people-watching instead of staring at a wall or a TV). Inspired by the cool green energy conference I attended today, one green way to exercise would be to ride a stationary bike at home which has been converted to generate electricity a la Lance Armstrong in the ESPN commercial. Environmental activist and actor Ed Begley already does this.

If you like to pump ze weights, it is probably more environmentally friendly to use free weights and 'old school' lifting techniques as compared to new fancy pants machines. Many of those machines are so overly complicated I laugh when I see them (lots of metal = lots of pollution created when mining that metal, casting the weights, transporting it (probably from China), etc. According to the Global Warming Survival Handbook, metal mining consumes 7-10% of global energy output!). Some weight machines have complicated air pressure setups and electronic displays. Of course all those companies that make those machines don't want the consumer to think that they can get a better workout with a few dumbells and their own bodyweight, as they are in the business of selling new machines.

What about those that don't want to join a gym or do 'exercise' but still want to be fit? As outlined before, why not walk to the store instead of driving? Walking 2 miles outside burns just as many calories as walking 2 miles on a treadmill (I think some people need to see the calories displayed on the treadmill screen to think they are actually burning calories). Why not take the stairs instead of the elevator? This burns calories and saves energy (how do you think the elevator works? Electricity!). Why not use a non motorized push mower to mow the lawn instead of a dirty ass 2 stroke mower? Why not plant and tend to a vegetable garden? This gets into the food context below.

Unless exercising at home, one probably does not exercise in the buff. I always find it curious how so many people go out and buy all new clothing and sneakers when starting a new exercise plan. Maybe they think they will keep up the plan because they have all that new stuff and don't want it to get wasted? Although new clothes and gear are tempting, one should avoid buying these as much as possible. Do you really need to wear a new Under Armour outfit to go lift weights when you can just wear that old t-shirt? (those commercials are pretty cool however, and almost convince one that if you wear that stuff you will get jacked. We must protect this house!) If you are going to buy a new cotton shirt why not buy a US made organic shirt? Are there perfectly good used workout clothes at the local Goodwill or freecylce network/ Craigs List? (I'll admit I probably wouldn't do this in most cases, but some people would).

One gets thirsty while exercising. People who keep up with environmental news know that bottled water has gotten a bad rap lately as it should. As the No Impact Man outlines, bottled water is somewhat ridiculous. The bottled water industry has somehow done a great job convincing the American public, and increasingly the rest of the world, that bottled water is better than tap water. While in some cases untreated tap water is not safe to drink, almost always it is. See No Impact Man's post for interesting bottled water info.

If you are a fan of drinking sports drinks after exercising, buy powdered and mix it into tap water instead of buying a whole sports drink. It saves lots of plastic and shipping weight. Recycle the powder container when done.

What kind of food one consumes has a huge impact as well. The greenest food and fuel for humans is local, organic vegan food. The Standard American diet which is meat heavy is incredibly environmentally unfriendly. According to the IPCC, consumption of meat is the #1 cause of man made global warming, more than all transportation combined! It is so unfriendly that according to this article, it is more eco friendly to drive than to walk if being fuelded by meat. The point of that article wasn't to encourage people to drive instead of walk, but to point out that modern industrial food production is incredibly energy intensive and inefficient. Along the same lines, elsewhere I have read that modern industrial meat production is so inefficient that a vegan driving a Hummer is more eco-friendly than a beef eater riding a bicycle. Scary, but it's probably true.

What does local food mean? It could mean different things to different people. At the extreme are the Urban Homestead folks who grow most of their own food in the middle of the city on 1/10 acre. Most people are not going to do that, so within 100 miles is typically considered local. A typical American meal travels 22,000 'food miles'. Yikes! According to the Global Warming Survival Handbook, a conventional meal produces 4 - 17 times more greenhouse gases than a locally sourced one. Organic is important too. Standard farming is very energy intensive and polluting. It uses lots of fertilizer, pesticides and herbicides. Not only do these pollute the local eco system, they require huge energy inputs to produce them. Organic farming acts as a carbon sink and rebuilds topsoil. According to Global Warming Survival Handbook, up to 3670 pounds of CO2 are captured by each acre foot of organic soil every year (what's an acre foot? I don't know. An acre?).

What is a great local, vegan, high energy organic foodsource? Potatoes. Eating potatoes is 145 times more efficient than eating beef.

To summarize, it can definitely be green to exercise and be fit, however it really depends on how one exercises and how one is fueled for the exercise. Of course what's of importance too is personal health, having fun, athletic competition, etc.

Any other green exercise tips/ideas out there?