Before you read or listen, look! The word cloud above includes all of the words from the selections of the interview published here on the website. The bigger the word, the more times it came up in our conversation!

An editorial note: what you see below is a series of selections, in chronological order, from our interview with Dr. David Spingarn. The transcript has been edited for clarity. We have omitted words like "um" and long pauses, and in some places have reordered words to improve the reading experience. Places where "D" (Deven) or "R" (Rebecca) is followed by a semi-colon indicates that a comment or question is being offerered by the interviewers. All of Dr. Spingarn's speech is preceded by a "DS" semicolon.  Our changes were intentionally minimal in order to preserve the voice and tone of Doctor Spingarn. You can listen to an unedited recording of the interview here. (Note: We interviewed Dr. David Spingarn at his office this fall. During the interview, Dr. Spingarn was called away. For this reason the interview is split into two audio redordings that we have organized into one playlist). 

A Few Words On The Interview: We arrived at Dr. Spingarn's office hoping to learn about him and his work, and expecting a crash course in science that connects environmental concerns to medical ones. But Dr. Spingarn's environmental ethic is based in a different kind of reasoning. He is giuded by an instrinsic regard for life and the natural world that houses it. We thought this would be a good time to let you know now that Dr. Spingarn does not touch on medicine very frequently in this interview. Instead, he focuses on the everyday things he does that we think make him extraordinary when it comes to saving the environement. 

D: Could you tell us a little bit about how you started cycling?

DS: So I started cycling many years ago—when I was a kid. Because my mother must have given me a bicycle--and this was in New Jersey, and this was in the sixties— and my brother, he began to organize recycling because he was an environmentalist of sorts. He started to get West Orange New Jersey recycling cans and newspapers. When I graduated college way back in 1975, before you were born, I drove down to New Jersey from Washington D.C. with my other brother and two friends.

 “When I graduated college way back in 1975, before you were born, I drove down to New Jersey from Washington D.C. with my other brother and two friends.”

And we cycled from D.C. to Denver. I stopped in Denver. My younger brother went all the way out to Washington—so he went from Washington to Washington. And the other two guys just went partway and came back and flew back home. And I kind of believe what Lady bird Johnson said many years ago—“every litter bit hurts.” So I’m the guy who cycles, and recycles. I was a little bit a part of Sustainable Saratoga. They try to do environmental type stuff. And I was part of this things called the Bag It. [**The movie that inspire the movement]. We’re trying to get people not use plastic bags, but to use cloth bags that you can reuse and reuse. So, even if I go to Stewarts—no bags. If I got to Hannaford’s—no bags. Wherever I go, I don’t want bags. I cycle into work even though I am only four miles from here. I cycle home. Now, tonight I will drive up to Glens falls, but I have to—can’t do everything at night time. I mean I’m getting older, I’m not going to live any longer. I think that every litter bit hurts and I want to help the environment so that the next generation can live longer, and the next generation, and the generation after that. Today if you go into the big cities there’s tons and tons and tons of people and they all have plastic bags and papers, and garbage. You know I don’t understand all of that—where we get all that food from and where we get all the paper from and so forth. But I still think, like I said, every litter bit hurts and I try to do what I think is the right thing. Yes, I did try to put Solar on my house, but I have too many trees. Many years ago, when I was married, I got my wife to agree with me that we didn’t have to flush the toilet every time—if its yellow its mellow, if its brown flush it down. And so we did that. And now there are some places that—my girlfriend says, why are you going outside to urinate? And I said, well it may be good for the grass. And then she looked it up on the internet and it may be good for the grass if you urinate on it. Not that she does, but I do. So you see I am a little bit on the crazy side. You know I think it may help the environment. And yes, I don’t think that every five gallons is going to make that much difference, but maybe its 5 gallons 5 times a week—that’s twenty-five gallons. It all adds up.

“You know I think it may help the environment. And yes, I don’t think that every five gallons is going to make that much difference, but maybe its 5 gallons 5 times a week—that’s twenty-five gallons. It all adds up.”

 Right now, my house, is the heat on at home? No, I’m not there. Do I need it on right now? No. And I try to keep it low. So when friends come over in the wintertime they know they’re bringing a sweater. Cause I keep it around 60, 62. And when I mow my lawn, I’m very fortunate, I found an electric lawn mower that has a rechargeable battery, so I use that. You know, I try to do what I think is the right thing.

D: So where does that conviction come from? All these things you do for the environment—why? So I guess we’re asking how did you get interested in the environment?

Well I guess my brother in part was doing that. And then, I don’t know how I became involved in that. I guess, I want good air to breath. And why waste stuff? I mean what are you going to do with all those damn plastic bags?

D: What is your motivation for trying to save the environment?

I don’t know, it just came into my head. So I think that staying green is a good thing. I’m a little bit nutty that way. So if I’m cycling with my girlfriend, I’ll be ahead of her picking up litter… If I see bottles on the ground that are worth 5 cents, I’ll pick them up… maybe a dozen at a time. I don’t understand why people litter. It drives me a little crazy. And I like to save energy at home. When I do laundry, I usually hang up my underwear and my shirts. I don’t put them in the dryer. Saves me money, and it may help the environment.

R: So it is more just based in logic, not any specific [motivation]… You just think that it is logical that we should all want to help the environment and do whatever we can.  

DS: Well, now, I’m getting older, so preserving for my generation’s probably not going to make a difference. But your generation, or if you have kids, their generation, it makes some sense to me. And air pollution’s not a good thing either.

D: How does that tie into being into a physician?

DS: I just try to practice what I preach. … I just called up two fellow physicians to see if there were going to the CDPHP conference tomorrow. It does two things… Saves them gas money, and helps the environment. And I actually have a standard shift Subaru, so I can coast. I’m the crazy guy who costs down hills, and I get good gas mileage. It does two things for me: save me money, helps the environment. And I think it was nice when you guys went solar. That a nice thing to do. So… That’s what I kind of do. When I go to the supermarket, I use fabric shopping bags. You know how many plastic bags I have? I have all these plastic bags… I just think it’s the right thing to do, for me. I do have two composters. How good are they? I don’t know. …

“When we hike down into the Grand Canyon, I’m the nut who will pick up the bottles all the way up. Litter drives me a little bit crazy.”

When we hike down into the Grand Canyon, I’m the nut who will pick up the bottles all the way up. Litter drives me a little bit crazy. I guess I learned that from my parents, they didn’t litter at all. Recycling wasn’t a big thing back then. I think my brother began it because he was very bright kid and thinking about all that stuff in high school.

D: What was your brother’s name?

DS: Arthur Spingarn. But he passed away, of lung cancer, at age 48, but he was not a smoker. Crazy things happen.

*Author’s Note: Arthur Spingarn was employed as a wetlands ecologist with the United States EPA at the time of his death. 

D: Do you feel like you see the effects of a changing environment in your patients?

DS: No, I mean, what I see with my patients is… some of them are overweight and obese… that’s not the environment. Of course, a little bit of secondhand smoke isn’t good… This is a great area here [Saratoga Springs]. …

D: Is there any environmental literature, literature being a very broad term, like any movies you saw, that have influenced you, or is it all just family influence?

DS: Well, family, and just doing the right thing. I don’t really have time to read. I am part of some environmental groups, and I give a little money here and there… environmental hedge funds and such.

R: So you’ve never read any environmental literature?

DS: No, not that can I remember.

D: I would like to more about your trip to the Grand Canyon or other trip, just to get an idea of your direct experience with places we would consider wilderness.

DS: Well, I went to Iceland this past spring with my kids. My son graduated high school.

“Iceland was great. It was very nice, and you know what was amazing about it? No litter. It was incredible. I was so thrilled that there was no litter on the ground”

 Iceland was great. It was very nice, and you know what was amazing about it? No litter. It was incredible. I was so thrilled that there was no litter on the ground. So many places have junk all over the place, you know. Here it’s not too bad, in Saratoga, but other places are a lot worse. So Iceland was very nice. Hawaii, which I just came back from – I didn’t see much litter there. That was very limited litter too. That was pretty neat. I appreciate that. I don’t understand why people litter. That was nice, though. They were semi-environmentally sound too. The hotel we stayed at, if you open up the balcony doors, the air-conditioner goes off. A lot of places that doesn’t happen. There’s air-conditioning outside, you know. It’s crazy.

R: So thinking again about literature, obviously you are not a big reader; you don’t read books about the environment or books in general. I’m guessing you would probably say that literature can’t save the environment, because the average person doesn’t have time to read. Is that correct?

DS: I don’t think I’m the average person. A lot of my friends do read. To be honest, I have symptoms of Attention Deficit Disorder. I have to stay busy and do things, so sometimes it’s hard for me to sit down, and relax and focus. I do read at night-time a little bit. I got home last night and did a whole bunch of things. I raked my yard, and I dumped the leaves in the container and dumped them in the back; I don’t put them in paper bags. But I do read a little bit at night. I have too much stuff going on, though. I have medical journals to read. I get JAMA once a week. I get the American Academy of Family Practice once a month, I get the subscriber’s letter, medical letter… not that I learn that much but I like to keep up to date on that… and I’m trying to read Jim Kunstler’s book, he’s a local author who does a little environmental stuff also, but I’ve only got so much time, and so much focus time. So sometimes I do sit down, and relax, and try to read. I have so much on my plate.

…

This is a once a week injection for diabetes. It’s a sample thing. As I told the guy yesterday, and he knows, you only use it once and then you throw it out. Drives me a little crazy, you know? Why can’t you recycle this thing? And all the reps know that; that I really am into cycling and recycling. Once a week’s not bad, instead of doing it once a day. A different medication, same class, but instead of once a day, it’s once a week. Yes it takes longer to become “effective”, but…

D: Are there any products like that that do that particularly well - that are particularly environmentally friendly or not?

DS: No, most of the drug reps, most drug things…

D: It’s not on their wavelength at all.

DS: No. It’s a mess. You used to be able to get insulin in little bottles, now it comes in pens. I like the pens better because it's easier for I think the patient to not have to draw it up, but do they recycle those things? No. But… I cycle and recycle. That’s how I do it. I sometimes get milk in plastic containers if I’m at a store than doesn’t have paper [cardboard], but I usually get paper, because I can recycle that. I don’t like the plastic. It’s not as good. It’s just, who I am. I cycle and recycle. And you know my email address. It’s doc on a bike. (doconabike@hotmail.com) I cycle and recycle.

"It’s just, who I am. I cycle and recycle. And you know my email address. It’s doc on a bike. (doconabike@hotmail.com) I cycle and recycle."

Could you tell us more about that cycling trip, and how it affected you or if it affected you?

No. It was just fun. It was way back when. It was in ’75. I think we had tents and sleeping bags, and I am not sure if we even had tents.

Do you think Literature has the potential to save the environment?

I think it does. I think literature may help. And maybe government can help too. Education helps—I think if you educate people about the environment I think that helps. Like I said, Lady Bird Johnson said, every litter bit hurts—so I kind of think that way myself. Keeping my house cooler but comfortable at 62 degrees instead of 64 or 68 I may be helping the environment. And the same thing with recycling paper, plastic or cans. I think education may help. I think educating high school and middle school kids is important. I think biking is a good thing. It does several things: its good for our bodies, its good for the environment, and for me it’s relaxing.

"I think biking is a good thing. It does several things: its good for our bodies, its good for the environment, and for me it’s relaxing."

What would you say to the students of Skidmore College to convince them to wear a helmet while they are biking?

I tell people all the time to use helmets, and I tell them why. I cycle by and I tell them—get a bike helmet—I do that. It drives some people crazy that I yell that way. I fell off my bike a year ago this weekend and fractured my arm and if I didn’t have a helmet on I could have smacked my head and who would know where I would be today? So I tell that to patients that come in that don’t wear bike helmets.

“All my friends who cycle wear helmets.”