Why Parking is Such a Problem & How Microbes Influence Our Lives - SYSK Choice

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Why Parking is Such a Problem & How Microbes Influence Our Lives - SYSK Choice"

In this episode of "Something You Should Know," host Mike Carruthers delves into two seemingly unrelated yet profoundly impactful topics: the pervasive issue of parking in modern society and the often-overlooked significance of microbes in our daily lives. Through insightful conversations with experts Fred Warner and Jake Robinson, the episode unpacks the complexities of urban planning and microbial ecology, offering listeners a deeper understanding of these critical subjects.

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1. The Parking Predicament: Unveiling Its Impact on Urban Landscapes

Guest: Fred Warner, Staff Writer at Slate and Author of Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World

Fred Warner opens the discussion by highlighting the overwhelming dominance of parking in American urban planning. He emphasizes that parking is not just a mundane inconvenience but a primary land use that shapes the very fabric of cities.

Fred Warner [06:24]: "There is more space for parking each car in this country than there is for housing each person."

A. Legislative Mandates and Architectural Consequences

Warner explains that many American cities have laws mandating extensive parking spaces for every new establishment. For instance, restaurants are often required to provide a significant number of parking spots relative to their size.

Fred Warner [07:16]: "For every hundred square feet of restaurant, you have to provide one parking space... you're essentially legislating that every restaurant have more space for parking than space for restaurant."

This legal obligation has led to the ubiquitous presence of parking lots and garages, which inadvertently discourage pedestrian-friendly designs and historical renovations. The result is a stark, car-centric urban landscape characterized by sprawling parking areas that overshadow storefronts and hinder aesthetic urban development.

B. The Paradox of Parking Abundance and Scarcity

Despite the numerous parking spaces, cities often grapple with a paradoxical scarcity of available spots, leading to frustration among drivers.

Fred Warner [09:56]: "There are between four and nine parking spaces per vehicle in this country."

Warner attributes this phenomenon to several factors:

• Non-Shared Parking: Each establishment typically controls its own parking lot, limiting the availability for transient users.
• Free Parking Policies: The prevalence of free parking encourages increased car ownership and usage, exacerbating the demand for parking spaces.

Fred Warner [12:23]: "Most people park for free most of the time. I would say upwards of 90% of the time, people park for free."

C. Addressing the Parking Dilemma: Potential Solutions

Warner suggests that paid parking systems could alleviate the scarcity by:

• Organizing Parking Demand: Implementing time-based pricing to discourage long-term parking and make spots available for short-term needs.
• Encouraging Alternative Transportation: Reducing reliance on cars by making other modes of transport more viable, thus lowering the overall demand for parking spaces.

Fred Warner [18:22]: "Paid parking works best... The purpose of parking meters is to organize parking demand. It's the only way we have because otherwise, it's just a total free for all."

Warner also touches upon the economic and social implications of parking policies, noting that overemphasis on parking can lead to traffic congestion, higher housing costs, and unattractive urban architecture.

D. Cultural Shifts and Mindset Changes

The discussion underscores the necessity for a collective mindset shift regarding car ownership and parking. Warner posits that Americans often view parking as an entitlement, making it challenging to implement policies that prioritize urban livability over automobile convenience.

Fred Warner [25:42]: "Nobody likes paying for parking... but when push comes to shove, they prefer paying for parking to looking for a space for 20 minutes and then giving up and driving away."

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2. Microbes: The Invisible Architects of Our Health and Environment

Guest: Jake Robinson, Microbial Ecologist and Author of Invisible: How Microbes Shape Our Lives and the World Around Us

Transitioning from the tangible frustrations of parking, Mike Carruthers introduces the microscopic yet monumental world of microbes. Jake Robinson dismantles common misconceptions, presenting microbes as essential, largely beneficial organisms that profoundly influence both human health and environmental ecosystems.

A. Understanding Microbes: Beyond the "Germy" Perception

Robinson clarifies that microbes encompass a vast array of microscopic organisms, including bacteria, fungi, algae, archaea, and protozoa. Contrary to the prevalent belief that microbes are predominantly harmful, he highlights that over 99% of microbes are either harmless or beneficial.

Jake Robinson [31:35]: "Over 99%, are actually harmless to us or really beneficial and vital for our survival."

B. The Human Microbiome: An Intricate Ecosystem

The conversation delves into the human microbiome, revealing that each person harbors trillions of microbes that play critical roles in various bodily functions.

Jake Robinson [35:17]: "Yes, and many of them will be benign. So many of them will just be fleeting, but some of them will play really important roles in keeping you alive."

Key Roles of Microbes:

• Digestion and Nutrition: Microbes aid in breaking down complex nutrients, making them accessible to the human body.
• Immune System Regulation: They help in training the immune system, distinguishing between harmful pathogens and benign entities.
• Cognitive and Mood Influences: Emerging research suggests a gut-brain axis where microbes impact mental health and cognitive functions.

C. Soil Health and Agricultural Implications

Robinson extends the discussion beyond the human body, emphasizing the critical role of microbes in soil health and agriculture. He explains that degraded soils lead to diminished nutrient density in crops, affecting the overall nutritional value of our food.

Jake Robinson [47:30]: "We've degraded the soil so much through adverse farming practices... we've actually been losing the micronutrients in the soil."

This degradation necessitates a revolution in agricultural practices, advocating for ecologically sound farming methods that preserve microbial diversity and soil health.

D. Antibiotics and Microbial Impact

The episode addresses the effects of antibiotics on the microbiome, cautioning against their indiscriminate use.

Jake Robinson [49:40]: "Taking antibiotics regularly... are destroying the gut ecosystem. So it's going to have a really detrimental effect on your health and your immune system."

Robinson advocates for holistic health approaches, such as maintaining a diverse diet, engaging in regular exercise, and spending time in biodiverse environments, to support and restore a healthy microbiome.

E. The Interconnectedness of Life Through Microbes

Robinson eloquently summarizes the interdependence of all living organisms facilitated by microbes.

Jake Robinson [46:25]: "All the nature you can see intimately depends on all the nature you can't see."

This statement encapsulates the essence of microbial ecology, illustrating how invisible microbes sustain visible life, from plant growth to animal health.

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3. Additional Insights: Food Allergies vs. Intolerances

While the primary discussions focus on parking and microbes, Mike Carruthers briefly touches upon the distinction between food allergies and intolerances. He clarifies that allergies involve the immune system and are typically more severe, often beginning in childhood, whereas intolerances are predominantly digestive issues that can develop later in life.

Mike Carruthers: "Allergies involve the immune system and are generally more serious. Food intolerances tend to increase with age and are more of a digestive matter and usually just a nuisance."

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Conclusion: Shifting Perspectives for a Better Future

This episode of "Something You Should Know" compellingly illustrates how both macroscopic infrastructures like parking systems and microscopic entities like microbes significantly influence our lives and environments. Through expert insights, listeners are encouraged to rethink urban planning priorities and appreciate the indispensable roles of microbes in maintaining health and ecological balance. The discussions advocate for policy reforms, lifestyle changes, and heightened awareness to address these multifaceted challenges, ultimately striving for a more sustainable and health-conscious society.

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Notable Quotes:

• Fred Warner [06:24]: "There is more space for parking each car in this country than there is for housing each person."
• Fred Warner [07:16]: "For every hundred square feet of restaurant, you have to provide one parking space... you're essentially legislating that every restaurant have more space for parking than space for restaurant."
• Fred Warner [09:56]: "There are between four and nine parking spaces per vehicle in this country."
• Jake Robinson [31:35]: "Over 99%, are actually harmless to us or really beneficial and vital for our survival."
• Jake Robinson [35:17]: "Yes, and many of them will be benign. So many of them will just be fleeting, but some of them will play really important roles in keeping you alive."
• Jake Robinson [46:25]: "All the nature you can see intimately depends on all the nature you can't see."
• Jake Robinson [49:40]: "Taking antibiotics regularly... are destroying the gut ecosystem. So it's going to have a really detrimental effect on your health and your immune system."

This comprehensive exploration not only informs but also inspires listeners to engage with urban and ecological issues proactively, embodying the podcast's mission to share "something you should know" that can enhance and transform everyday life.

Transcript

[Fred Warner]

What's up guys? It's Fred Warner, linebacker for the San Francisco 49ers.

[Mike Carruthers]

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[Fred Warner]

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[Mike Carruthers]

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[Fred Warner]

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[Mike Carruthers]

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[Fred Warner]

It's not as short as you think and looks solid with any pair of jeans. Shop Abercrombie's new arrivals in store and.

[Mike Carruthers]

Online today on something you should know if you drink coffee in the morning, you might want to take a whiff of it too. Then Parking your car Parking has changed the way we live and taken up a lot of our space.

[Fred Warner]

You know, we could pave a small state with the amount of land we have dedicated for parking. There are between four and nine parking spaces per vehicle in this country. There is more space for parking each car than there is for housing each person.

[Mike Carruthers]

Also, the important difference between a food allergy and a food intolerance. And microbes, those little invisible organisms like germs and bacteria, they get a bad rap.

[Jake Robinson]

We've had this quite negative, demonizing view of microbes, that microscopic organisms cause diseases and a few microbes do cause disease. But many of them, over 99%, are actually harmless to us or really beneficial and vital for our survival.

[Mike Carruthers]

All this today on something you should know. I know a lot of business people listen to this podcast because I hear from them on LinkedIn or in emails. And if you're one of those people, there always comes that day when you have to hire someone, which I've had to do as well. And it's tough. Usually you need someone right away. You want to hire the right person, but how do you determine that? Which is why I've come to discover that when it comes to hiring, Indeed is all you need. Indeed has something called Sponsored Jobs. With Sponsored Jobs, your post jumps right to the top of the page for your relevant candidates so you can reach the people you want faster. And it makes a huge difference. According to Indeed data, Sponsored Jobs posted directly on indeed have 45% more applications than non sponsored jobs. And that's what you want. More applications from relevant, qualified candidates. Indeed works. In fact, in the minute I've been Talking to you, 23 hires were made on Indeed, according to Indeed data worldwide. Look, there's no need to wait any longer. Speed up your hiring right now with Indeed and listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsor job credit to get your jobs more visibility@ Indeed.com something just go to Indeed.com something right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com something terms and conditions apply. Hiring Indeed is all you need. Something you SHOULD Know Fascinating intel, the.

[Fred Warner]

World'S top experts and practical advice you can use in your life today.

[Mike Carruthers]

Something you should Know with Mike Carruthers hi, welcome to Something YOU should Know. I've been a big coffee drinker most of my life. I'm one of those people that really needs to have a cup of coffee in the morning. Maybe you are too. And it's always been thought, in fact, there used to be a marketing campaign coffee was the think drink that it was supposed to help you concentrate and think better. Well, maybe drinking coffee does that, but smelling coffee has an effect as well. If you take the time to smell your coffee before you drink it, there's some science that says it can have a powerful effect on your brain. Specifically, inhaling the fragrance of coffee can enhance working memory and stimulate alertness. So drinking coffee may help you stay alert and be more productive. But drinking and smelling coffee can be even better. And that is something you should know. If you drive a car, there is one big part of that whole experience that you don't think think about a lot, except when you have to, and that is parking. Because no matter how convenient it is to have a car, you have to have a place to put it. Everywhere you go, parking can be a hassle. It can be expensive and in some places, virtually impossible to find. Then of course, there is paid parking and parking meters, which can result in expensive parking tickets if you don't feed the meter. See, parking really is a big deal. In fact, did you know that in many US Cities, parking is the number one land use and it has literally shaped the landscape in many parts of the world. Here to explain how and why you should care is Henry Grabar. Henry is a staff writer at Slate and author of the book Paved Paradise How Parking Explains the World. Hey Henry, welcome to something you should know.

[Fred Warner]

Pleasure to be here.

[Mike Carruthers]

So when I think about the subject of parking, it doesn't feel like that's much of a subject, except that, you know, parking is something you complain about. There's never enough of it. You can't find a spot when you need it. So why dive into this topic? Why is this so interesting?

[Fred Warner]

I think people rarely think about it and sometimes say to me, well, that sounds like sort of a boring thing to write a book about. But then once you get them on the subject and they start talking about parking, you realize that everybody is full of opinions about parking. And actually everybody spends a lot of time thinking about it. The realization that I had was that I realized I was surrounded by parking. I mean, once you start to see it as the number one land use in many American cities, you can't stop seeing it. And it pops out everywhere. And once you begin to understand its cost and its effect on landscape and the architecture and our travel patterns and our housing costs, you never look at it the same way again.

[Mike Carruthers]

So when you say that parking is the number one land use in many cities, explain what you mean, because that's hard to imagine.

[Fred Warner]

There is more space for parking each car in this country than there is for housing each person. I think you can sometimes see this if you look at a satellite image of downtown Kansas City or Columbus, Ohio, or Little Rock, the parking lots really stand out. It is the dominant feature of the landscape. And in fact, we actually require this by law that many buildings consist. More than half of the property has to be devoted to parking. Which is to say for your square footage, let's say you run a restaurant. For every hundred square feet of restaurant, you have to provide one parking space. Well, a parking space is bigger than 100 square feet. So you're essentially legislating that every restaurant have more space for parking than space for restaurant.

[Mike Carruthers]

And those kind of rules apply where? Because obviously you couldn't make that the rule in New York or Chicago because there's no room. You couldn't open a restaurant because there's no room for those parking spots.

[Fred Warner]

Well, those are the rules almost everywhere. Now, places like New York and Chicago have decided that they are sufficiently dense that it doesn't make sense to require somebody opening a new restaurant to provide two dozen parking spaces. But that remains the law in most American cities and suburbs. And so when you think about the American architectural vernacular, you know, you're driving down a, you know, six lane road, you've got these sort of stores and restaurants and retail set behind parking lots on each side of the road. That style of architecture is really the architecture of parking requirements. Because if you're required to build that much parking, that's just what the architecture ends up looking like. It's like the built American form follows from the requirement of providing parking. And that's how we get what the country looks like today.

[Mike Carruthers]

Yeah, with a lot, a lot of strip malls where the front of it is, it's like an L shape. And the Front of it is all parking.

[Fred Warner]

Exactly.

[Mike Carruthers]

And it's really ugly.

[Fred Warner]

Yeah. You know, I find it personally not my favorite type of architecture. And what's funny is, I think a lot of Americans share this sense that we don't build things the way we used to, that there's this kind of sense that, like, both for residential and commercial architecture, that there was this golden era in American history where we built things we liked and we stopped doing that. And I would suggest to you that one of the main reasons we stopped doing that was that we imposed the obligation to provide parking. And providing parking just creates unattractive buildings. It creates buildings that are separated from the street by a huge parking lot. It makes it basically impossible to renovate any historic structures because you have to provide a certain number of parking spaces. So you basically have to demolish the building next door. And if you've looked at, like, a new office building or condo tower in an American downtown, look at the bottom, like, six to eight floors, I almost guarantee you they are used for parking. And in fact, there are some buildings that, like, by the number of floors, are more than half parking. So what you're really building is a parking garage with a little bit of apartment or a little bit of office on top.

[Mike Carruthers]

So I find it surprising that parking is the number one land use in many communities. What else about parking would I find surprising?

[Fred Warner]

Well, I think one of the ones that always grabs me right away is that there are between four and nine parking spaces per vehicle in this country. So that means that the national parking Stock is only 25% full at its fullest moment. And, of course, some of those cars are in motion. So when you think about how full parking is, how hard it is to find a parking spot, there is just an unbelievable quantity of parking in this country. And so I think that's one of the things that grabs people right away is, you know, we could pave a small state with the amount of land we have dedicated for parking, which suggests that perhaps building more parking is not the solution to making it easier to find a parking spot.

[Mike Carruthers]

Wait a minute. How can that be? Because that is not people's experience, frequently that there's all this abundant parking. It's often very difficult to find a parking spot. So reconcile that.

[Fred Warner]

Yeah, it's this crazy paradox, right? So much land for parking, and yet when I need a parking spot, it's so hard to find one. I think there's three reasons that this happens. The first one is that parking is not shared. Right. So we talked about how every Apartment building, every office, every courthouse, every movie theater has to provide their own parking spaces. Well, in most cities, by law, the office and the condo can't double up and share a garage, and they definitely can't share that garage with the people who are going to the sub shop next door. And what that means is that when you arrive in a place that appears to have a lot of parking, you quickly realize that each lot is actually proprietary and belongs to a certain business, a certain apartment, etc. So it looks like a lot of parking, but when you need one, it's not necessarily available. The second big part of that is that the parking is free. And because the best street parking in most places is free, it becomes really hard to get a spot there. And if you just charge even a little bit for that really good parking, people who would otherwise get there early in the morning and park all day will park a little further away. And then when you show up at lunch or to run an errand or to do a delivery, there'll be a parking space available to you. I mean, you might have to pay a couple quarters for it, but that's better than driving around the block 100 times.

[Mike Carruthers]

Is there any sense or any statistic about how much the typical car owner pays to park their car?

[Fred Warner]

Most people park for free most of the time. I would say upwards of 90% of the time, people park for free. And when you. And in fact, parking. Free parking is basically the number one determinant of car ownership and car use. So it's one of the great ironies about parking is that one of the reasons we built so much parking and we required people to build so much parking was that we were very concerned about traffic. Like traffic was a total nightmare in American cities in the 1940s and 50s. And the reason for this, people thought, was that there wasn't enough parking. So they built all this free parking. And one of the great ironies is that all that free parking encouraged many, many more people to buy cars and drive them everywhere. And as the urban environment degraded, with more and more parking lots taking the place of buildings, it became more and more challenging to, say, walk or ride a bike or take transit to a new destination. And so in this way, parking is like this. It's like a narcotic, right? Like, the more you have of it, the more you need.

[Mike Carruthers]

Well, you know, when I saw your book and I started thinking about this, what I find interesting is I don't take Ubers or Lyft very often, but I would say at least Half of the time that I do, it's not because I don't want to drive, it's because I don't want to park.

[Fred Warner]

I believe it. I think that, you know, one of the, one of the other statistics that, that grabbed me when I first heard it is that studies estimate that a third of downtown traffic is people looking for a place to park. So that's you, right? That's you driving around in circles looking for a place to park. I agree. It's maddening and it encourages people to stop driving. And that just goes to show that if you want to control traffic, if you want to control emissions, cut down on car crashes, on pollutants that drift into the windows of people's apartments, parking is the lever. And I think that's what you're experiencing there, is that the challenge of parking motivates you to find another way to get around.

[Mike Carruthers]

I'm speaking with Henry Grabar and the name of his book is Paved How Parking Explains the World. I am definitely not a big clothes shopper and probably like you, I've bought clothes online that were disappointing. But I have a very different experience with Quince and I've come to find out that so many people I know shop Quince. So far I've gotten a couple of shirts and sweaters from Quince and, well, you'll know what I mean when I say this. Every time I get something new from Quince, it goes right to the top of the rotation. My Quince clothes are my go to clothes. If you don't know Quince, you are going to love their website. Quint's has all the things you actually want to wear, like organic cotton silk polos like the ones I have, European linen beach shorts, pants for every occasion. Really nice pants. And here is the very best part. Everything at Quint's is priced 50 to 80% less than what you'd find at similar brands. You see, by working directly with top artisans and cutting out the middlemen, Quince gives you luxury pieces without those big markups. I've really been amazed at how many people tell me they shop at Quint's. It's become like the place to go to buy clothes. Elevate your closet with quince. Go to quince.comsysk for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E.comSYSK to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.comSYSK we talk a lot about health on Something you should know and I guess it motivates me. I mean, I'm not a nut about it, but I try to take care of my health. I want to preserve my mobility and strength as I get older. And I recently started taking this supplement. Maybe you've heard about it. It's called Mitopure. Mitopure is a precise dose of something called Urolithin A that supports your health by encouraging cellular renewal. Since I started taking it, I can tell I have more energy and I notice I recover faster after I exercise. I did some research on this too. There's some real science here that supports what I'm saying and so does my experience. Mitopure is the only Urolithin A supplement on the market that is clinically proven to target the effects of age related cellular decline. And Mitopure is shown to deliver double digit increases in muscle strength and endurance without a change in exercise. From my own experience, I have more energy and strength and just overall feel better every day. And who doesn't want that? And I'm not just recommending it to you. On this podcast, I tell friends and other people I know about it because of how it makes me feel. Now Timeline is the company behind Mitopure and timeline is offering 10% off your order of Mitopure. Go to timeline.com something that's T I M E L I N E.com/something. So Henry, does it work when communities, city governments institute paid parking to replace free parking to discourage people from parking? Does that work?

[Fred Warner]

In most cases it does. And here's why. Paid parking works best. These city planners say when it's not designed to raise money. The point of paid parking should be to organize the way people park and how long they park for. So you push the people who are parking all day into the spots a little further away and the people who are parking for a shorter amount of time can park closer. Unfortunately, in the last 70 years, many governments have thought of parking meters simply as a way to raise money for motorists. And I think that is not the purpose of parking meters. The purpose of parking meters is to organize parking demand. It's the only way we have because otherwise it's just a total free for all.

[Mike Carruthers]

Well, I know there are a lot of communities that for example, at Christmas they'll put little hoods over the parking meters and let you park for free. So obviously that's to encourage more business, which would. What I infer from that is by having parking meters you discourage business.

[Fred Warner]

Yeah, unfortunately, I think a lot of Those communities have it backwards. The problem with hooding the parking meters is that, let's say I want to run an errand downtown. I'll drive there and I will leave my car there all day, right? And I'll go around and do whatever. In fact, you know who's going to leave their car there all day is the people who work in the stores. They're the people get there first thing in the morning. They may usually pay for parking in a garage or park further away, but when the meters are hooded, they're going to park right in front of the shop. And when you show up at 2pm to do your Christmas shopping, you will find that there is no place to park and you'll get mad. And you might even drive to the suburbs and shop at the mall. So I think free parking downtown is pretty much a losing proposition for business owners if there's not enough parking. Sure, if you're in some tiny country town where there's, you know, only 100 people live there, yeah, you don't need to make anybody pay for parking. But in a congested city district, it's, it's, it's the only way to make sure that there are spaces available. And I think most people, they don't like paying for parking, but when push comes to shove, they prefer paying for parking to looking for a space for 20 minutes and then giving up and driving away.

[Mike Carruthers]

Is parking a good business to be in?

[Fred Warner]

I would say it's a simple business to be in. I mean, for decades, parking was the largest all cash business in the United States.

[Mike Carruthers]

What?

[Fred Warner]

And yeah, yeah, because, you know, everybody, you know, the whole, the whole parking industry was just collecting cash in boxes nationwide at sports stadiums, downtowns, airports, everywhere. And this created, obviously this made it a very lucrative business to be in, especially if you weren't properly reporting your income to the irs.

[Mike Carruthers]

So you said that, you know, if we build more parking, then more cars show up to take it. And so that doesn't work. And then if you charge a lot for parking, people really hate that. So what's the solution where everybody's happy?

[Fred Warner]

Well, I think one solution is the one that we did in the United States, which is you build so much parking that there's not really anything left to drive to. And that's kind of what happened in a lot of American downtowns. They were obsessed with this idea that to compete with the suburbs, they needed to provide as much free and ample parking as possible. And it turns out that if your number one priority is free parking, downtown is Never going to beat a mall in the suburbs. It's just never going to compete. And so, you know, one solution we ended up with is you build so much parking that it's not hard to find a spot. But also, there's not much. There's not that much to do because. Because your town is mostly parking. The other option, which I think is. Is coming into fashion now, is to try and find ways to manage demand for parking. So that could take the form of parking meters trying to, you know, discourage people from. From maybe parking all day on Main street or encouraging them to. To carpool instead of the whole family, everyone driving down in their own car. And the other element, I think, is to help people try not to drive so much if they want to. Right. Like, obviously, many people depend on their cars and need their cars to go about their business. In America, it's a vast and sprawling country. I recognize that. But lots of people actually live within a pretty close distance of the errands they do every day, whether it's taking the kids to school or going to work or going to the coffee shop or going to the grocery store. The average trip in this country is under three miles. So that's a distance that could be done on a foot or electric bicycle or on a golf cart or something like that, or on a bus. And unfortunately, those modes of travel have become really challenging. And one of the reasons I think that it's so hard to not drive everywhere is in fact, precisely because of parking. I mean, you see this trade off in major cities where cities will not build protected bike lanes for people to get safely from destination to destination on a bicycle because they are afraid of taking away a lane of parking that's used for parked cars.

[Mike Carruthers]

But if you take away parking for buses or whatever bike lanes you add to the traffic, because now people are having to keep driving to find a place somewhere else to park their car, which clogs the roads, which upsets drivers, which upsets bicyclists. So you're really creating more trouble.

[Fred Warner]

That was the thinking for most of the 20th century in most US cities. And I get it. It's really intuitive, this idea that if you take away parking and most traffic is people looking for parking, then you are going to create more traffic, make people mad, they're going to leave and go to the suburbs. But I think what the parking reformers are arguing for is not so much let's get rid of all the parking, but let's manage it. You know, let's price the busiest parking, let's get rid of some parking spots where it makes it possible to create a way for people to get around another way, in a bus, on a bike, et cetera. And you know, let's for example, direct people away from the main street right in front of the shops and into the public garage a few blocks away if they're parking for more than three or four hours. Those are the kinds of policies that can both, I think, reduce demand for parking, but also ultimately for people who are looking for parking, make it easier for them to park.

[Mike Carruthers]

There are people, again, I kind of put myself in this category who just hate to pay for parking. It's kind of like ATM fees or high gas prices. It isn't that it's necessarily a lot of money. It's the principle of the thing. Like, I guess that's that kind of entitlement that, you know, it's a public street and you should be able to park on it and, you know, not charge me for it and give me a ticket when my meter runs out. And now I've got to pay 50 bucks and that I just, I. There's something about it that just really rubs me and I think a lot of people the wrong way.

[Fred Warner]

Why do you feel that way about parking and not about, say, any other good or service you consume?

[Mike Carruthers]

I didn't say. I have the same thing about ATM fees and high gas prices. So it isn't just parking. There's something about it though, that that public street is just as much mine as anybody else's. But I even don't like valet parking. I mean, I just think it's such a ripoff because I can park my own car. Just give me a spot, I'll be fine. I don't need you.

[Fred Warner]

Yeah, I get it. I don't like paying for parking either. Nobody, to be sure, nobody likes paying for parking. I think the question is not do we want to pay for parking? The question is do we want to accept the trade offs that come with free parking everywhere, all the time. And in the case of basically the last century of American planning, we've learned that free parking for everyone all the time is a recipe for traffic congestion, high housing costs, ugly architecture, dangerous streets, and ultimately a place that's less accessible, not more accessible.

[Mike Carruthers]

Well, it would seem that there's going to have to be for any of this to work some sort of collective mind shift about this whole thing. Because I think people who drive cars believe that if they drive a car somewhere, they're entitled to a place to put it. Even if they have to pay for it. There should be a place to put it. Otherwise they're not going to drive there. And it's an entitlement almost. And to change that mindset seems like it's going to be hard.

[Fred Warner]

I think one thing to drive home about parking is that it feels like it costs nothing because it's free for you most of the time. But building parking is actually really, really expensive. Like just building a parking lot can cost 5, $10,000 of space and building a parking garage can cost $50,000 of space. And if it's underground, it can be up to $100,000 of space. And so when we ask for more parking, we are folding in hidden and massive costs that aren't paid for by drivers when they show up at the parking garage, but they're paid for by everybody else. If you rent an apartment in a building with a 50 space parking garage, the cost of building that garage is folded into your rent whether you drive or not. And I don't think that's fair.

[Mike Carruthers]

Well, after listening to you, I don't think I'm going to look at parking quite the same way again. I've been talking to Henry Gravar. He is a staff writer at Slate and the name of his book is Paved How Parking Explains the World. And there's a link to that book in the show notes. Appreciate it. Thanks, Henry.

[Fred Warner]

All right, thanks a lot. Take care.

[Amy Nicholson]

You chose to hit play on this podcast today. Smart Choice. Progressive loves to help people make smart choices. That's why they offer a tool called Auto Quote Explorer that allows you to compare your Progressive car insurance quote with rates from other companies so you save time on the research and can enjoy savings when you choose the best rate for you. Give it a try after this [e-mail] Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Not available in all states or situations. Prices vary based on how you buy.

[Mike Carruthers]

Here is a dilemma that we have faced in our house. We don't always have time to cook or want to cook. Eating out has gotten so expensive and and fast food, that's no bargain either. Plus, it's fast food. We solve this dilemma with factor. We love Factor Meals. Factor Meals are freshly prepared restaurant quality meals, full meals delivered to you that you just heat for 2 minutes and serve. There are 45 weekly menu options to choose from and as a Factor Meal Eating veteran, I do two things. First, I always make sure to choose some of the meals with sauces because for some reason their sauces are spectacular. And the other thing we do is we Always take the food out of the container it came in and put it on nice plates. When you do that, you swear you are eating a restaurant quality meal. Ginger teriyaki salmon truffle butter filet mignon, sweet and smoky barbecued grilled chicken. I'm telling you, factor meals are so good. Cheaper than going out. It's better than fast food. Just try it once and you will solve the there's nothing for dinner problem once and for all. And here's a significant discount just to try it. Get [e-mail] something 50 off and use code something50OFF to get 50% off plus free shipping on your first box. That's code [e-mail] something50OFF for 50% off plus free shipping. And that promo code is in the show notes. You have no doubt heard of microbes, tiny little things, but what are they exactly? What do they do? Where do they come from? And how do they affect you? Well, it's actually a fascinating topic and here to explain it is Jake Robinson. Jake is a microbial ecologist and author of the book Invisible how microbes shape our lives and the world around us. Hi Jake. Welcome to something you should know.

[Jake Robinson]

Hi, Mike. Thank you very much.

[Mike Carruthers]

So what are microbes? What does that word microbe mean?

[Jake Robinson]

So a microbe is any organism that you essentially need a microscope to see. So any living thing that's invisible to the naked eye. So these include things like bacteria, fungi, also known as fungi, fungi, depending where you are in the world, algae, these tiny organisms called archaea. And so these prefer extreme environments, things like hot springs. But they also occur in the human body too. There's protozoa as well. So these are tiny animal like creatures. And some consider viruses to be microbes too. But there's a debate about whether they're alive or not. And most people would say that they're not alive. And so microbes are everywhere. They're inside us, they're on us, they're in the environment around us, in the soils, on plant leaves, in the air. So, yeah, they're essentially any organism that you won't be able to see with the naked eye.

[Mike Carruthers]

So things like germs, those are microbes because you can't see them. Anything you can't see is a microbe.

[Jake Robinson]

Yeah, anything that's living is a microscopic organism or a microbe for short.

[Mike Carruthers]

And you study them. Why? What is it about them that fascinates you? And why is it important to shine a light on this?

[Jake Robinson]

So over the kind of last 150 years or so, we've had this quite negative, demonizing view of microbes because germ theory suggested that microscopic organisms cause diseases and a few microbes do cause disease, but many of them, over 99%, are actually harmless to us or really beneficial and vital for our survival. And so I'm trying to change the narrative, along with many other people, that, you know, we need to look at microbes in a more positive way and try and understand their functional roles in keeping us alive. And all of a, all of a life alive on the planet.

[Mike Carruthers]

Isn't that interesting that the general sense is that microbes, little germy things are bad for you when you say that, you know, 99 of them are not. So I wonder how they got that reputation.

[Jake Robinson]

Sure, I mean, we didn't know much about them until the, the 19th century. Germ theory kind of, you know, is this leading theory that suggested that we really need an explanation for why so many people had diseases and why so many people were dying. And so it's just sort of, it created a storm from there, I guess that, you know, microbes are bad. And we thought we didn't have the technology to understand that microbes can actually do good things as well. And they're really complex communities of life. And so the last sort of 10, well, between 10 and 30 years, we've developed much more advanced technology in order to understand them at the community level.

[Mike Carruthers]

So I have all these microbes, probably millions, billions of microbes in my body. Yes.

[Jake Robinson]

Yep.

[Mike Carruthers]

How'd they get there?

[Jake Robinson]

Trillions. So they get there from largely from the environment around us. So when we're born, we pick them up from our mothers, we pick them up from our food, we pick them up from spending time in the natural environments around us. And so we emit actually with this kind of constant flux between our bodies and the environment around us. So we emit a million biological particles every single hour. So every one of us is. And it's surrounded by this microbial cloud that's emitting from our body, but we're also ingesting and we're also inhaling millions of microscopic organisms every single day. And so again, it's this kind of two way exchange between our bodies and our environments.

[Mike Carruthers]

And these microbes, trillions you say that I have in my body, do they all play a role or is this just very benign, they're passing through or why are they there?

[Jake Robinson]

Yes, and many of them will be benign. So many of them will just be fleeting, but some of them will play really important roles in keeping you alive. So some microbes are really important for digestion in the body. So what you eat needs to be broken down in order so that you can use the micronutrients. Some microbes are important in cell signaling, and so they produce chemicals that allow our cells to communicate. So every cell in our body is needed, requires these chemicals in order to communicate with each other, and they're thought to be important in brain health. Lots of different things in our bodies. Yeah, so they play important functional roles in keeping us alive.

[Mike Carruthers]

And do we all have basically the same microbes in our body? I mean, what are the chances that the microbes in my body are more or less the same as the ones in your body, or are they really different?

[Jake Robinson]

Yeah, so it'll be likely very different. So you'll likely have different species in there, depending on how you treat your body, what kind of food you eat, whether you exercise regularly, whether you spend time in certain environments, how much pollution you're exposed to, these kind of things. These all affect your walking ecosystem. So your body is essentially a walking ecosystem. And yeah, so your microbiome will be quite different to somebody else's, but it might be more similar to someone you live with because you're kind of exchanging microbes with the people that you interact with every day. So, yeah, it would likely be quite different to mine because I'm at the other side of the world not interacting with you.

[Mike Carruthers]

And if you were to crack each of us open and take a look, is one better than the other or they're just different?

[Jake Robinson]

Defining a healthy microbiome is an ongoing debate at the minute. So it's kind of difficult to define and sort of extrapolate to everybody across the world. So each of us have different requirements, and one microbiome might look different to the other, but it might not necessarily be healthier than the other. So there's an ongoing debate at the minute. It's likely that our microbiomes will be very different, but everybody has kind of different requirements and different species. But there's also a concept called functional redundancy. So even though you might have different species in your body to mine, they may have the same functional roles, you know, providing chemicals and. And all sorts of different compounds that our bodies need.

[Mike Carruthers]

So we hear things like, you know, oh, you should take probiotics, and then. Because that's good for your microbiome. And is that all nonsense or is there some science there or what?

[Jake Robinson]

Yeah, so there is some science, some of it's conflicting. So we need more evidence, need more randomized control trials. But there is some evidence that suggests that taking probiotics can improve the balance, the ratio of, you know, healthy or good microbes to. To these opportunistic pathogens, for sure. And it makes sense as well. And, you know, prebiotics are really important as well. So these are the foods that your microbes feed on. And so having diverse prebiotics in the form of diverse vegetables and fruits, etcetera, Provides the nutrients that a healthy gut ecosystem requires. And so that's good for you as well.

[Mike Carruthers]

Well, what about the supplements, the probiotic supplements, because they can be quite expensive. Are they worth it?

[Jake Robinson]

I think this decent evidence, but it's not compelling necessarily. And it's mostly I'd advise to take a more holistic approach. So, you know, having a more diverse diet with lots of different coloured fruits and vegetables, spending time in biodiverse environments, these kind of holistic approaches, it's likely that supplements will have a small effect. But again, it's. I'd advise to take more of a kind of lifestyle holistic approach to your health.

[Mike Carruthers]

How do these microbes in our bodies affect things like our thinking, our mood, our cognitive function, that kind of thing?

[Jake Robinson]

Yeah, so it's a really exciting field of research at the minute on the microbiota gut brain axis. And it's thought that microbes in the gut can communicate with the brain by various different pathways, for instance, releasing certain chemicals and compounds that tinker with the cells and the fibers of our nerve cells that link the gut to the brain and vice versa as well. It's thought that the brain can communicate with the gut and its microbes via what's called a vagus nerve. So this is the largest cranial nerve in the human body, but there are other pathways as well. But it's early days, early research, but it's really exciting. And it's thought that these microbes can produce these chemicals that do have an effect on our brains. So, for instance, they could affect our moods. So experiments have shown that animals, non human animals, that is, have shown that gut microbes can influence feeding decisions, sexual preferences, mood, how attracted or averse an animal is to a particular smell, and even the types of environments that animals choose to spend time in, which is quite incredible really. One recent study showed that gut microbes in mice had a direct, significant influence on their desire to exercise by regulating chemical signaling in the brain, particularly related to dopamine. So, yes, microbes, we need more studies in humans, but microbes could potentially influence all sorts of Behaviors.

[Mike Carruthers]

So when we talk about microbes in the human body, it seems like the conversation is always about the gut. But aren't there microbes everywhere?

[Jake Robinson]

Yeah, so we have distinct microbial communities. For instance, on our skin, in our airways, you know, under our armpits. The micro microbial community is going to be different to the microbial communities in our guts. And they all play really important roles or important functional roles in our health. So microbes on our skin play an important role in our immune system, protecting it from those few pathogens that do cause disease. So if you have a diverse microbiome, then it's more likely to, you know, they're more likely to say, you know, there's no room at the end, and boot out these opportunistic pathogens that try and invade our bodies. And the same goes for the gut microbiome as well. With the gut, microbiome is the most, the sort of the, the densest habitat on our body. So it has the most number of species and it plays various other roles, you know, like breaking our food down. So it's important then digestion as well. But yes, like you said, there's a lot of microbial communities in different parts of our bodies, in our mouths and our skin, et cetera, that also have really important roles in keeping us alive.

[Mike Carruthers]

So you said we have trillions of these microbes in us and on us?

[Jake Robinson]

Yes, yeah. So around 100 trillion bacteria, I believe. And I think there's many more viruses as well.

[Mike Carruthers]

And how long do they typically last? And if and when they die, where do they go?

[Jake Robinson]

Yeah, so microbes have a really short lifespan, but they also are able to kind of reproduce rapidly as well. So they may die, you know, within hours or days, but they also rapidly reproduce. They replace themselves as well. And the same kind of predator prey dynamics that you see in ecosystems. You know, for example, when a lion hunts down an antelope, these same principles of ecology apply at the microscopic scale as well. And so we have these turnovers of microbial communities as a result of predator prey dynamics. So viruses will hunt down bacteria, much like, again, the lion would hunt down an antelope. So these, these viruses called bacteriophages, specialize in hunting down bacteria. And in fact, this is quite an interesting statistic. So every 48 hours, half of all the bacteria on the entire planet are killed by phages. So it's quite mind blowing to think about.

[Mike Carruthers]

And I'm sorry, what is that word again? What?

[Jake Robinson]

Phages? Yeah, so some people call them phages, but in the uk, we call them phages and they're called bacteriophages. They're like these tiny little spider like spaceships from Mars. If you Google them, you'll see what I mean. They have these landing gear and they land on the bacteria and then inject their DNA into the bacteria and it ends up killing them.

[Mike Carruthers]

So I've heard, for example, that you're supposed to let your kids play in the dirt, that the microbes in soil and that the microbes in the environment, that we don't want to be too clean, that we want to interact with these microbes. Can you talk about that?

[Jake Robinson]

So Professor Graham Mook, he's an immunologist from London, he put forward what's called the old friends hypothesis. And this suggests that we've co evolved with these microorganisms, these specific microbes over hundreds of thousands of years. And they've played a key role in shaping and regulating our immune system. And that's why they're called old friends. And it's important that we expose these old friends in order to, for them to regulate what's called our innate immune system. And our innate immune system is also known as non specific immunity. And so it will attack anything that tries to invade the body in the absence of proper regulation. So it'll attack ordinarily innocuous substances like dust and pollen. And in extreme cases, it will attack our own cells as well. And that's what manifests as an autoimmune disease. And so we need to be exposed to these different microbes from the environment in order for them to play this regulatory role in our innate immune system. But it's also really important to be exposed to as many different microbes as possible as well, in order to train what's called our adaptive immune system. And so Graham likens the human immune system at birth to a computer. And so at birth we have the hardware which is analogous to the cellular structures of our immune system, but we also have the software which is analogous to the genes that encode for proteins and functions that allowed our immune system to function. But the thing that's missing at birth is data. And much like a computer model or computer system requires data in order to be trained, in order to be functional, so does our immune system. And so by being exposed to as many different species of microbes from a young age as possible, and we're able to build up this large repertoire of what's called tiny immune cells and these, these memory cells, remember all these different shapes and sizes of microbes and allow us to mount a much more efficient immune response to pathogens in the future. And so these are two, two of the reasons why we need to be exposed to the microorganisms in the natural environment from a young age as well, because as I mentioned earlier, it's the period between sort of 0 and 2 or 3 years old, which is when our gut microbiomes are most plastic or most able to be colonized from the microbes in the environment. So it's important that our kids spend time in natural environments, you know, playing in dirt, climbing trees, etc.

[Mike Carruthers]

So I assume if we all humans have these microbes all over us and in us, every other living thing must too, that we see.

[Jake Robinson]

Yeah, exactly. So I like, there's a phrase I like to use. It's all the nature you can see intimately depends on all the nature you can't see. And by this I mean that, you know, the animals, the plants, everything that we can see intimately depends on these symbiotic relationships with the invisible world. And so microbes are really important. They live, live in and on plants. So they live in the soil, on plant roots, inside plant roots, everything you can think of microbes living on. And as I said, just like the human body. So this has been quite a human centric talk. But just like the human body, how micros play these core functional roles in keeping us alive, they also play these important functional roles in keeping all other animals and plants alive too.

[Mike Carruthers]

You know, as I was looking through your book, I landed on something that I'm not sure exactly how this fits into this discussion, but I'd never even heard of this about nutrient density and how it's diminishing since over the last several decades. Can you explain what that is and some examples and then how it fits into this discussion?

[Jake Robinson]

We've degraded over the last century, we've degraded the soil so much through adverse farming practices, et cetera, and these monoculture fields and not applying principles of ecology to our agriculture. And so we've said in order to have soil health, in order to have soil, healthy soils, we need to think about the biology of the soil. It's a really important factor. So the microbes in the soil play really important roles, again, in decomposition, in providing nutrients for plants, etc. And because we've had this soil degradation over time, we're actually losing the micronutrients in the soil. And then the micronutrients that would ordinarily transfer to the plants and the fruits and vegetables that we eat are becoming less dense because of this degradation. And so in relation, how it relates to this, this conversation is that we need to understand the microbial ecology of the soil and protect it in order to protect the, the, the nutrients of our foods. Basically.

[Mike Carruthers]

I'd never heard of that. And according to you, it says that you would have to eat four carrots today to get the same amount of magnesium from one carrot in 19.

[Jake Robinson]

Yeah, it's mind blowing.

[Mike Carruthers]

How come I never heard of this?

[Jake Robinson]

I know it's, I don't know. I've never heard it until I researched it for the book, to be honest. But there's some figure about apples as well with iron content. I think that's quite 26 apples.

[Mike Carruthers]

To get the same amount of iron from a single apple in 1940, that's amazing.

[Jake Robinson]

It is amazing. It depends on where the apple's grown and where these vegetables are grown. So, you know, organic or regenerative agricultural principles. Well, that figure probably doesn't apply to those situations. It's these kind of mass monoculture agricultural situations where the nutrients will be less dense, essentially.

[Mike Carruthers]

So when people take an antibiotic to help kill whatever bad thing is causing them to be sick, an antibiotic will kill lots of things, I assume, lots of microbes within the body. So can you talk about that?

[Jake Robinson]

So we have these broad spectrum or more specific antibiotics, particularly the broad spectrum ones. These will destroy lots of different microbes that are living in your body. And many of these may play those important roles in keeping you healthy. So if we take antibiotics regularly, then we're essentially napalming that rainforest regularly. We're destroying the gut ecosystem. So it's going to have a really detrimental effect on your health and your immune system. You can bounce back again by take, by applying more holistic principles to your life. You know, make sure you have a diverse diet of lots of fruits and vegetables, exercise plenty, you know, spend time in biodiverse environments, these kinds of things. But the longer, the longer you live, the longer it takes to bounce back from these, these events. And so as you're, when you're, much younger, you're more likely to, your gut ecosystem is more likely to recover much quicker than when you're older.

[Mike Carruthers]

What would exercise have to do with it?

[Jake Robinson]

So exercise has been shown to be really important in providing certain chemicals that microbes need in order to select those more beneficial microbes as opposed to pathogens. It's also good for bowel movement, so it moves toxins and away from building up in certain areas. And also if we think about the microbiota, gut brain axis. So this two way communication system linking our brains to our guts, exercise is really important for our brains and our moods, et cetera. So it's likely to have an important role in our gut ecosystem as well, via our brain and vice versa. So there's various ways in which exercise is good for our microbes.

[Mike Carruthers]

Well, it is amazing to think of all this little tiny microbial life going on around us and in us and we're so unaware of it and yet there's so much going on. I've been talking to Jake Robinson. He is a microbial ecologist and the name of his book is Invisible How Microbes Shape Our Lives and the World Around Us. And there is a link to that book in the show notes. Appreciate it Jake. Thanks for taking the time.

[Jake Robinson]

Cheers Mike. Thanks for having me on.

[Mike Carruthers]

A lot of people who think they have a food allergy actually have a food intolerance. If you suddenly, for example, develop a reaction to a certain food or beverage, you're probably intolerant, not allergic. Allergies generally start in childhood and they might even disappear over time. Allergies involve the immune system and are generally more serious. Food intolerances tend to increase with age and are more of a digestive matter and usually just a nuisance. The most common food intolerances are lactose, gluten and msg. A lot of people develop intolerances for sulfites too. That's the compound found in beer, wine and champagne, and is sometimes added to dried fruit or canned foods as a preservative. If any of those things make you itchy, congested or swollen, you're intolerant but not allergic. And that is something you should know. This would be a good time. In fact, there would be no better time for you to leave a rating and review of this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen. I'm Mike Carruthers. Thanks for listening today to something you should know.

[Amy Nicholson]

I'm Amy Nicholson, the film critic for the LA Times.

[Mike Carruthers]

And I'm Paul Scheer, an actor, writer and director. You might know me from the League, Veep, or my non eligible for Academy Award role in Twisters.

[Fred Warner]

We love movies and we come at.

[Amy Nicholson]

Them from different perspectives.

[Mike Carruthers]

Yeah, like Amy thinks that, you know.

[Fred Warner]

Joe Pesci was miscast in Goodfellas and I don't.

[Mike Carruthers]

He's too old.

[Fred Warner]

Let's not forget that Paul thinks that.

[Amy Nicholson]

Dune 2 is overrated.

[Fred Warner]

It is. Anyway, despite this, we come together to host Unspooled, a podcast where we talk.

[Mike Carruthers]

About good movies critical hits, fan favorites, Must Sees, and in case you missed.

[Amy Nicholson]

Ems, we're talking Parasite, the Home Alone.

[Mike Carruthers]

From Grease to the Dark Knight.

[Amy Nicholson]

We've done deep dives on popcorn flicks. We've talked about why Independence Day deserves a second look.

[Mike Carruthers]

And we've talked about horror movies, some that you've never even heard of, like Ganja and Hess.

[Amy Nicholson]

So if you love movies like we do, come along on our cinematic adventure.

[Mike Carruthers]

Listen to unspooled wherever you get your.

[Fred Warner]

Podcasts, and don't forget to hit the follow button.

[Amy Nicholson]

Have you ever heard about the 19th century French actress with so many lovers that they formed a lovers union? Or what about the aboriginal Australian bandit who faked going into labor just to escape the police? Which she did escape from them. It was a great plan. How about the French queen who murdered her rival with poison gloves? I'm Ann Foster, host of the feminist women's history comedy podcast Vulgar History. Every week I share the saga of a woman from history whose story you probably didn't already know and you will never forget after you hear it. Sometimes we reexamine well known people like Cleopatra or Pocahontas, sharing the truth behind their legends. Sometimes we look at the scandalous women you'll never find in a history textbook. Listen to Vulgar History wherever you get podcasts. And if you're curious, the people I was talking about before the Australian woman is named Marianne Bug and the French actress was named Rochelle no less. Name just Richelle. And the queen who poisoned her rival is Catherine de Medici. I have episodes about all of them.