Not everyone can do that though. With my back and legs, walking to the grocery store, which takes slightly under an hour normally, is going to physically wreck me for at least a day. Some days it's particularly bad and I can't even make it to the main road. And then carrying those groceries back is murder on my back. We do have a car culture in the US, where pretty much everyone is expected to own a car and drive it wherever they go. Part of it is consumerism. Buy more, buy more! But a part of it is that most US cities are built in very sprawling, homogeneous zones. The idea of just strolling down to the market just doesn't happen for most people, unless they happen to live close to commercial zones. Even going to the nearest convince store for me is a half hour walk. And this is no where near the worst place I've lived in as far as that goes.