Vermont City Almost Encased In a 1-Mile Dome

destinyland writes "A Vermont city once proposed a one-mile dome over its 7,000 residents. (They paid $4 million a year in heating bills, and HUD seriously considered funding their proposal.) The city's architectural concept included supporting the Dome with air pressure slightly above atmospheric pressure. (Buckminster Fuller warned their biggest challenge would be keeping it from floating away...) There would be no more heating bills, fly-fishing all year, and no more snow shoveling. And to this day, the former city planner insists that 'Economically it's a slam dunk.'"

Comments

The Reptile Brain is why...

[meburke]

Actually, the problem is probably better analyzed as a dynamic system. The limbic system is highly efficient at preserving energy in the face of stress. Just thinking about restricting your food intake will slow your metabolism by as much as 40%. Exercise stresses the body, and trying to move the body from a homeostatic state of sedentary activity requires a lot of adaptation. Twelve weeks is probably not enough. A high-carbohydrate diet overloads the cellular sensitivity to insulin control which essentially "gives up" allowing high concentrations of insulin to exist in the bloodstream, and insulin causes fat accumulation in the presence of excess calories from carbohydrates. The use of high-fructose corn syrup in so many different foods stimulates the production of insulin in a manner that is not controlled by oxycalcitrin (a hormone produced in the bones), further aggravating fat accumulation. And, the onset of a life-changing activity without going through the seven steps outlined in James Prochaska's transtheoretical model of change creates mental and physical reactions that are inimical to the reduction of obesity. (And I'm just hitting the high points of the system here.)

Any more questions? (Go on, ask me a HARD one!)