#12: Choices But No Options

     Chicago has a lot to offer, and plenty of different types of foods to try. A bunch of world class restaurants. But one of the worse things about Chicago is that it makes it nearly impossible to cook for a family on the budget. Having grown up in Chicago, I have experience this first hand. I grew up in a single parent home with two brothers. I remember the family having to drive half an hour to River Oaks to grocery shopping for the next two weeks. The pilgrimage was made because local grocery was subpar and more expensive compared to those in the suburbs.

Orange represents Fast Foods, Blue is Grocery Stores.

     The Chicago South side is a virtual food desert. Every major street is loaded with fast food restaurants like: McDonalds, Burger King, and the local fast food restaurants. Sit down restaurants are far and few in between.  Most of the big chain grocery stores like Jewels and Dominick’s are located usually where two major arteries meet, which makes since too an urban planner but makes little since to have a grocery locations that far apart. To add further injury, the groceries are usually more expensive then the exact same brands in stores in the suburbs. My family was fortunate enough to have car to travel the distance, but those who rely on transportation on south side (which are a vast amount) don’t have access to those stores and have little option but to go to the overpriced grocery store or buy the underpriced fast food item.

Plenty of Choices.

The desert of grocery on south side is not limited to the price and location but also the quality. There are practically no whole food stores within walking distance or even a manageable bus distance. Whole Foods Stores are mostly located in the north side and require ownership or access to a car to be able to drive to those places. Even then the premium for whole foods is much higher than that of the cheaper less quality food sold at the local chain. Many will settle for the cheaper options because they just don’t have the money to pay the premium on more sustainable food.

Number of Whole Foods: 0.

     So the people are left a variety of choices among fast foods, and expensive yet low-quality groceries. The choice is merely an illusion to disguise the fact that there really isn’t an option to be healthy. Adding a Wal-Mart, which provides more cheap and sub-quality groceries, will not solve the food desert that is south side Chicago. South-siders need access to better food not more food, we have plenty of big chain fast foods, groceries, and convenience stores in the neighbor but little or no quality grocery stores that offer alternatives or that can compete with the chains that choke out quality via cost savings. What the south side needs is complete neighbor transformation which provides access to different options of food rather than the choice between to evils.

The Chicago Food Desert

References:

Personal Experience

Mari Gallagher. 2008. Chicago Food Deserts: examining the impact of food on public health in Chicago. Mari Gallagher Research and Consulting Group.

#4 Driving A Greener Future

Public Transport

Public Transportation is one of the most fuel efficient ways to travel today. With all the talk of hybrids and fuel efficient cars, trains and bus systems have been providing sustainable transports for decades.  According to David MacKay’s “Sustainable Energy - Without the Hot Air”, cars on average are 33 miles/ gallon witch translate to 80 kWh/ 100passenger-km. He estimates that trains if full to capacity can reach an efficiency of 3 – 4.4 kWh/ 100p-km, buses can reach 6 kWh/ 100p-km. Public transports get there benefit in carrying more passengers for the same energy usage.  Trains are particular a plus because the technology can be directly powered by alternative energy sources.

But although MacKay notes the clear energy efficiency of these forms of public transport, there is a logistical and economic problems dealing with these systems.  Trains are slow to adopt new technology even if the technology is proven just because of the nature of the system. It would take 30 or more years to replace fuel based locomotives and heavy investment infrastructure converting rails so that they operate on electrical energy. This is evident by trains today still using air based braking system despite electric braking systems   being faster, safer, and more efficient. Another issue is he assumes full ridership which is never the case for most public transport system. There will always be times when people will not be using the public busses and trains. When these systems are under capacity, those systems operate inefficiently and sometimes more energy wasteful then cars. These public transport systems, to ultimately achieve their maximum efficiency, require a complete government and more importantly public shift in funding and utilizing public transport.

Private Transport

David Mackay would suggest that the electric car is the most promising personal transport vehicle in providing a solution to the environmental problems.  Electric cars have a lower manufacturing cost, very good energy economy with a 21 kWh/ p-100kh, and have the benefit of being able to be directly powered by renewable resources. Some of the drawbacks are that electric cars have a maximum driving distance of 100 km and the battery life is currently 10 years or less. But changes in electric car infrastructure and improvements in battery technology can potentially lengthen the lifespan and travel distance of electric cars.

The Tesla Roadster