In The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan cites the work of anthropologists in asserting that man’s varied diet helped push him farther along the evolutionary chain than his mammalian cousins.  Because man had choices about what to eat, and was able to vary his diet based his location, his brain continued to evolve while species with fixed diets plateaued.  What could easily be construed as a hassle – having to plan what to eat on a daily basis and make choices about foods to be avoided – turned out to be an evolutionary advantage, as man continued to hone his capacity for critical thinking.  Since achieving our evolutionary preeminence, however, humankind has forsaken that advantage and turned its collective energies toward the lofty goals of convenience and simplicity.  Pollan believes that to be the case with our diet, as well, where we now find preparing actual food, like potatoes or broccoli, too much of a challenge when compared to the ease of frozen pizza or take out.

I’m convinced that my children’s frequent biking and use of public transit have made them more discerning travelers with a far better understanding of their surroundings than car dependent kids.  Not only do kids carted around in cars rarely learn directions but they grow up detached from their surroundings.  You would be too if you experienced much of the outside world from behind a window in motion.  I recall a friend of mine from my childhood, soon after receiving her driver’s license, famously asked for directions to the public library, a place she had visited dozens of times prior to receiving her license.  As a passenger, she had never paid attention to where she was going.  Society deemed her fit to drive and yet she had no idea where to go.  My four-year old daughter, on the other hand, has nearly memorized the various alternative routes for her mile and a quarter ride to school and has mastered left and right due the need for directions while biking.  My other two children have a similar and, I believe, unusual appreciation for their surroundings because of biking.  I don’t need any research to tell me that the mental workout they receive from regular biking makes their minds more nimble.

The environmental movement is often scolded for not being more user-friendly.  Global warming is important and all, but climate change is complicated and unless we can squeeze it into our busy schedules, we just won’t be able to get around to it.  This attitude isn’t surprising, since our wildly successful pursuit of convenience has eliminated most forms of daily exercise, sit-down meals, reading a book, and quality time with family and friends.  Those activities are all wonderful, but they just take too much time.  In an attempt to reach out to a public with a negligible attention span, we see absurd lists proclaiming “three easy steps to saving the environment” or “five ways to show you care.”  Who knew you could save the world before work?   

Advocates for sustainability need to stop apologizing for any difficulties in digesting the message.  We need to stop sugarcoating the challenges we face.  Our single-minded pursuit of convenience got us into this mess; it certainly can’t be part of the solution.  More importantly, we need to expect more from each other.  We need to flip the switch in our brains that was turned off years ago after one too many trips to the drive-thru.  So what if you have to read a train schedule or calculate the quickest bus connection to the doctor’s office.  Your upright, big-brained descendents will thank you for it.

Photo Credit: King County Metro