Good morning!
Thank you for tuning in this a.m.
I have a question for you (below).
In 2023, I continue to be mesmerized by the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that lies before us.
Last week, I again came across the Lancet statistic on how many people are dying globally each year from sedentary lifestyles. 5.3 million
I apologize for the graphic but, that is 35 full 747’s (14,520 people) into the side of a mountain. Every single day. 365 days a year.
80 years ago when there was an existential international threat to the U.S., Los Alamos National Laboratory was created.
Initially 6 and then 100’s of physicists and 1000’s of others, dropped what they were doing, and headed to New Mexico to address this critical national concern.
They gathered in 1943 because they feared if they didn’t, hundreds of thousands to potentially millions of lives would be lost.
In its three years, the Covid pandemic has taken the lives of 6.73 million people.
During this exact same time span, sedentary lifestyles have claimed 15.9 million lives.
Sedentary lifestyles are a very real pandemic.
People don’t really seem to be talking about it, at least at the level we need to hear.
Yet, every single day there is the equivalent of 35 full 747’s going into the side of a mountain.
All from a sedentary lifestyle
These ‘passengers’ have children, parents, and friends that miss them terribly when they’re gone. We all see these families sitting solemnly or pacing up and down the hospital floors. You feel helpless. I’ve been one of those family members.
There are definitely people doing heroic work against this pandemic every single day. Many reading this right now.
I ask, are we doing enough in the current model?
As I stare out the window at the next plane sitting on the runway, I say no.
We all care deeply. We are all working very hard.
The inconvenient truth is we’re not doing enough to stop these planes.
I say it’s time to drop what we are doing.
As we discussed on a crisp, sunny walk this past Saturday, there are countless reasons why this would be a massive challenge.
You can probably rattle off 13 right now.
You’re right.
I’m also personally unaware of any other examples in the last 80 years where people gave up their lives, went on a ‘joint sabbatical’, and came together to solve a problem.
But, are we all willing to continue watching these planes fly into the mountainside, one after the other, every 41 minutes?
I’m not and I know you aren’t either.
Not when we can do something about it.
We’re too smart to allow this to continue.
Think of what we could do if we all came together.
Think of the ideas and new solutions we could generate.
It is time to call on the bravery of our parents and our grandparents and give it everything we have.
For us and for our children.
This has gotten out of hand.
We are ripe to fix this.
The current administration has shown they care deeply.
We have brilliant minds at the CDC and across many other acronyms already making countless sacrifices and working hard to stop these planes.
Here’s today’s newsletter distilled into a question:
Do we need another ‘Manhattan Project’?
It may sound absurd, but we need to do something more.
Fantastic solutions are within us and we have a precedent.
This has indeed been done before. The Greatest Generation did it.
We do know the people on these planes. They are us.
I know we have a million reasons why a joint sabbatical would be a logistical nightmare. I also know none of us are the kind of people that throw up our hands and just quit.
This is an opportunity for us to come together against a common global enemy and do something great.
Globally ‘500 million people will acquire heart disease, diabetes, obesity, or other NCDs (noncommunicable diseases) attributable to physical activity between 2020 and 2030.’
I say it’s time.
Let’s step up and leave a legacy that we can be proud of.
David