What would walking do for your carbon footprint and your waistline?

I've been spending a fair bit of time in London of late and, while I love the city, I've been facing the same conundrum I had while living in Paris: when is it better just to walk between points instead of taking the Underground?

The London Underground is superb (well, for a tourist it's very practical and there's no snob factor in terms of who uses it, like you find in the Paris métro). But often, where a trip between Embankment and Convent Garden would require a change and lots of steps, for example, a walk would get you there quicker (which TFL already lets you know), in a more pleasant atmosphere and in a way which impacts less on the environment.

Walkit.com, another discovery from Mike at the Edinburgh Coffee Morn, lets you see what route would be most interesting for your to take, tells you how many calories you'll burn and how much less your carbon footprint will be. It's just superb.

As Mike says, it would be great for Education authorities around the world to have something similar for their localities. However, after spending time with those computer studies teachers, it seems to me that this is a worthwhile database, spreadsheet, graphics and web project, all in one. Is it something an Advanced Higher student might undertake, Mark?

Comments

[David Wilcox]

Ewan - thanks for that. It added a little something to my walk today. Sorry I missed you at the RSA.