Sprawl Resources

Check out the state of city buses and subways. See "Public Transport"

Better your school's food with how-tos from the USDA (www.fns.usda.gov/tn/Resources/changing.html and www.schoolmeals.nal.usda.gov); to go local, visit www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/lunch and click on Small farms/ school meal initiative; get healthy-vending-machine guidelines at www.healthcollaborative.net/fitcity/FitCityhome.html. See Robin Pelletier's nutritionnetworknews.org, on its work with schools.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has recipes, nutrition information and educational games for children at www.cspinet.org/smartmouth/.

For tips on getting junk food advertising out of schools, see www.asu.edu/educ/epsl/ceru.htm.

Get info on healthy vegetarian diets for adults and children from Physicians' Committee for Responsible Medicine, www.pcrm.org/health.

See Smart Growth America, a coalition of organizations working to improve urban effects on the environment, for more resources on open space, schools, transportation (202-207-3350, www.smartgrowthamerica.com).

Organize for National Walk to School Day. See www.walktoschool-usa.org.

CDC's ACES provides resources on urban trails, bicycling and public-health programs (www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/aces.htm). Also at the CDC, the National Center for Environmental Health concentrates on protecting vulnerable populations from environmental hazards (www.cdc.gov/nceh).

To calculate your BMI, see www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/obesity/ ob_home.htm

Learn more about treating asthma. See www.lungusa.org/asthma

For more on obesity's effects on children, see the American Academy of Pediatrics website (www.aap.org). For strategies to manage growth, visit www.sprawlwatch.org.

Further Reading

"Unhappy Meals," by Barry Yeoman, Mother Jones, Jan/Feb 2003 (www.motherjones.org). The lowdown on how the beef and dairy industries influence school food programs.

Solving Sprawl, from NRDC, 2001,$20 (www.nrdc.org).

See September issues of The American Journal of Public Health and The American Journal of Health Promotion for coverage of the built environment and public health (www.ajph.org and www.healthpromotionjournal.com).

City Limits: Putting The Brakes on Sprawl, 2001; Underfed and Overfed: The Global Epidemic of Malnutrition, 2000. www.Worldwatch.org, 202-452-1992, x 517.

If you buy books, below, at thegreenguide.com, 7.5 percent goes to The Green Guide.

Fat Land, Critser, Houghton Mifflin, $24, 2003.

Slow Food, Petrini, Columbia University Press, 2003; The Slow Food Guide to New York City, Martins and Watson, Chelsea Green, 2003, $20.

Fast Food Nation, Schlosser, HarperCollins Perennial, 2002, $13.95.

Conservation Finance Handbook: How Communities Are Paying for Parks and Land Conservation, Hopper and Cook, Chelsea Green, 2003, $21.95.