Good question.

MSNBC reports on the results of a global study that shows a positive link between fitness and active transportation, stating what I could have told you for free: people who walk and bike instead of drive everywhere weigh less. Not surprisingly, the US came in last.

Susan Handy of UC Davis' Sustainable Transportation Center asked the million dollar question: "How do we get more people walking and bicycling in the US?"

The problem really isn't that we're all lazy and addicted to our cars. Okay, that's part of the problem. But a bigger part of the problem is infrastructure. Our cities simply weren't designed for active transportation. We built a nation to support the automobile, not the human being.

Anne Lusk, one of Bicycle City's advisors and a Harvard School of Public Health research fellow,  is featured in the piece:

"What I found most exciting about this excellent research is the applicability," she said. "The issue then becomes should we improve our transit, walking or bicycling opportunities simultaneously or should we focus on one of the three?"

Lusk said her first choice is bicycles — and not just because of global warming, fluctuating gas prices or the economic downturn. When Dutch researchers asked people to match emotions with various forms of travel, she said, "The greatest emotion was joy for bicycling."

The evidence is mounting that a community like Bicycle City is needed now more than ever.