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Obesity: A problem fueled by consumption

Youth obesity has tripled over the past three decades and now affects over 17% of children in the United States. People have begun criticizing technology, parenting and even just plain childhood laziness as possible reasons for this problem. I, however, feel it’s our country’s very own city structure that’s accompanied with our need to obtain and consume everything that’s sold to us. Suburban houses have become a necessity for home owners in order to encompass our overwhelming amount of “stuff”. As we fill our need to purchase, single family housing thrives resulting in a large blankets of low density, automobile dependent communities that discourage alternative transportation. Childhood obesity may be influenced by multiple processes but the complete lack of walkability in modern communities is driving the trend.

Understanding how suburban living became popular is the first priority in order to figure out how to mitigate the problem. Various authors have ranged its popularity from the introduction of the automobile, white flight, and even the general want to blend nature and city. Author Joseph Kelly is able to explain how single family suburban houses boomed in the 1940s and 1950s. His response to its popularity involves using mass production to drive down costs which allows residents to fill their new homes with their needs (stuff). Secondly, modern communities have been growing at a considerable rate and consequently has left them under designed. These communities are unwalkable by residents due to their low density, unconnected neighborhoods. Lastly, a comparison of the United States to a more compact country like Japan, can inform us on ways to improve our living habits. Benjamin Senauer and Masahiko Gemma have studied how simple physical activity such as walking and biking on a regular basis helps Japanese citizens healthy.

Works Cited (in progress)

Joseph Kelly, “Up From Potato Fields,” Time 1950: 69-76

Benjamin Senauer, Masahiko Gemma, “Reducing Obesity;What Americans Can Learn from the Japanese,” Choices (2006): 265-268.

Mark Fenton, “Battling America’s Epidemic of Physical Inactivity: Building More Walkable, Livable Communities,” Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior (2005): 115-118

Image of Childhood Obesity 1971 vs 2005. “From weknowmemes”JPG, http://weknowmemes.com/2011/12/image-of-childhood-obesity-1971-vs-2005/ March, 27 2012