Prior to starting my job at Stanford Hospital, I only went to places in my car. I have never used the bus system within San Jose, as I was lucky to have parents to take me to school daily, events, etc. Once I was old enough to drive, I was given an old family car to get to school. Currently, I try to drive as little as possible. When going to work or school I usually take the Caltrain because I am given a year-long pass to use Caltrain for free through work. After learning more about air pollution, I think that by taking the train I am helping reduce air pollution that is caused by private automobiles. It has also helped my health because I walk to the train station from my house which is about a 15 minute walk. Though it doesn’t seem like a lot, this was exercise that I was not getting before. Little by little, it encouraged me to start walking more and eventually going to the gym. I have now lost 40 pounds and feel great and am no longer pre-diabetic. I definitely think this is because I started walking to the train station that initiate this change in my mentality,
Congratulations Vanessa, thats incredible! It is so interesting to see both the environmental and the personal health gains associated with choosing a different method of transportation. I also had some of the same experience as you in terms of access to personal vehicles or parents driving me to and from. It seems crazy to me even now, to consider driving less. So sometimes even when I have the option to take public transportation I hesitate to do so. I think this class will help me better understand opportunities to help my environment and save money on gas as well!
ReplyDeleteThat's great! I found it cool how simple decisions we may not have given a lot of thought into making end up leading to bigger and healthier changes. Keep it up!
ReplyDelete