AUGUSTA – Trading his customary business suit for a T-shirt and black sweat pants, Gov. John Baldacci on Wednesday embarked on a 12-week trial of his new “Maine in Motion” program, a statewide initiative aimed at getting sedentary Mainers off their duffs.

Accompanied by Murphy the First Dog and members of the Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness, Sports, Health and Wellness, Baldacci took the podium at the Capital Park rail trail connector, across the street from the State House. The governor told the appreciative audience of State House staff, area schoolchildren, AARP members, health and fitness professionals and other invited guests that individual Mainers have a vital role to play in improving their own well-being while helping bring down the cost of health care in Maine.

“Fifty percent of health care costs in Maine are caused by things we do to ourselves,” Baldacci said, referring to high-risk lifestyles that include smoking, excessive alcohol use and inactivity. “Clearly, we are part of the solution.”

Maine in Motion is a voluntary physical activity program that advocates the use of a pedometer – a digital device about the size of a two-bite Snickers bar- to help participants measure the number the steps they take in a day. The pedometer clips to an article of clothing and is worn all day, sensitive to the motion of the wearer.

The goal, according to program director Elanna Farnham, is to help people incorporate more physical activity in their daily activities instead of demanding they set aside a separate block of time for deliberate exercise. By determining the average number of steps they take in a day and then setting a realistic goal for increasing that number, Farnham said, young children, senior citizens and anyone in between can increase their activity and their fitness level.

“We were inspired by Maine’s health statistics,” she said. “The rates of obesity, heart disease, diabetes – all the complications of inactivity.”

Enrollment in Maine in Motion will be offered free of charge to community groups, businesses, schools and other organizations beginning in March 2005. The 12-week pilot that kicked off Wednesday includes about 400 participants at 16 workplaces and other sites across the state. All members of the governor’s staff are included in the pilot and will wear their pedometers daily and “walk the walk,” according to Farnham.

Also present at Wednesday’s event were health commission co-chairs and Bowdoin College classmates Dr. Erik Steele, vice president for patient services at Eastern Maine Medical Center, and Olympic gold medalist Joan Benoit Samuelson. Samuelson said she had agreed to serve only after Baldacci assured her he was serious about increasing Mainers’ physical activity levels. “If anything is going to work [to reduce obesity and its complications], it’s increased physical activity,” she said. “Physical activity is the only panacea.”

Steele pointed out that widespread, chronic health conditions, including obesity, have led to high health care costs and out-of-reach health insurance premiums. In addition to the personal health issue, he said, “This is about money. It’s about business.”

Baldacci led the sneaker-wearing crowd on a brisk, mile-long walk along the paved rail trail, emerging from the woods with a smile. Maine in Motion is just one part of a larger effort to ramp up physical activity and improve health, he said.

“There are a number of health initiatives developing at the state level,” Baldacci said, including plans to eliminate fatty, sugary snacks from public school vending machines, community planning models that encourage walking and biking, and the development of networks of public trails. Beyond that, he said, employers should find ways to promote healthful behaviors at work, school boards should consider incorporating daily physical activity in the curriculum, and community leaders should model healthful behaviors themselves.

All these interventions support the governor’s landmark Dirigo health care reform initiatives, which include a focus on driving down health care costs by increasing the overall wellness of the state’s population. “It’s really a matter of changing the larger systems and cultures,” Baldacci said, “and that happens over time.”

Maine in Motion is funded by the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation, Eastern Maine Charities, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maine, Dead River Co., Central Maine Heart and Vascular Institute and W.S. Emerson Corp. of Brewer.

More information on Maine in Motion, along with other resources for those looking to increase their fitness level, is available at www.mainephysicalactivity.org.