Here's a hot take: a lot of these health issues and negative outcomes can be tied back to the automobile. The car enabled urban sprawl. The car and associated

Here's a hot take: a lot of these health issues and negative outcomes can be tied back to the automobile. The car enabled urban sprawl. The car and associated infrastructure (eg parking, roads) has destroyed communities. Even a lot of crime depends on cars. Cars mean you simply don't have to walk anywhere at all. It's why obesity is worse in less dense areas than, say, NYC. Cars enable less dense housing and that kills things like having local shops, eateries and public community spaces to some degree. Dense housing also means you have to be somewhat tolerant of other people and their quirks. I wonder if the unbelievable selfishness that seems to have taken hold in a large portion of people in the US (in particular) is a consequence of not having to deal with people by virtue of this car lifestyle. Cars also allow you to psychologically remove yourself from things like homelessness, drug use and poverty. I think it's a large reason why, for example, I see so many people in SF go on about how amazing the city is. I mean have these people never walked down Market Street? Or the Mission? Or the Tenderloin? Weirdly I never really see much about these negative externalities of affordable private transportation.