I would like to pitch the idea that the obesity epidemic is a symptom of failed city infrastructure. Imagine if riding a bike was a no-friction activity; you walk out your door, you have a bike there and the bike lanes are treated as first-class infra instead of cars. Imagine how much more you would bike in this situation, and how much healthier you and everyone around you would be
You’re trying to find a problem for your solution.
The obesity epidemic actually due to the increased availability of ultra processed foods.
As well as a massive car-centric society. I can’t even walk to Jack in the Box at 10pm to get a shit burger, but I can drive thru with a car. That’s part of the problem.
If you make something easier to do, it’s more likely to be done. This is why gun control is needed, make it harder to get a gun, less gun death; snacks at the checkout means more buying of snacks; driveways and parking lots and drive thrus mean more car use.
This is only tangentially related, but I just wanted to share a random anecdote.
I ordered a mobile pickup order at my local Taco Bell with their app. Since it’s nearby, I walked there and I had selected in store pickup. I walked inside and waited for a few moments. The manager comes out and this interaction happens.
Manager: “Inside was supposed to be closed. Idk who unlocked the door but you have to go through the drive through”
Me: “Oh uhh I already paid for an in store pickup through the app.”
Manager: “You have to go through the drive through.”
Me: “Uhhh…can I walk through the drive through? I walked here.”
The manager looks at me in total disbelief that someone would do that. “You don’t have a car???”
Me: “I mean I just walked here.”
Manager: “Ok hold on I’ll get your order.”
Lol. She looked at me like she had never heard of anyone walking some place to get some food lol. Granted I live literally a 5 minute walk from there which is probably not really the norm.
Overpopulation.
It used a problem that was talked about a lot in the latest century. Then some countries reduced their nativity by their own and it was marked as “it’s going to solve itself”.
Problem is, population keeps growing worldwide. Even in these countries with reduced nativity, population keeps growing via immigration.
Also the main drive on reduced nativity was increase of the quality of life and feminism. I think both things are in danger. Quality of life has been descending in later years, and feminism is being eaten by an increase in religious madness all across the world.
So I think overpopulation is still going strong and it will keep going stronger. And it will be a self induced problem, because overpopulation will reduce quality of life, and a reduced quality of life will make people breed more.
I actually think is the number one problem, way more dangerous that climate change. Because, among other things, there’s nothing more polluting than a human being, the more humans in this Earth the more impossible will be fight back climate change. Humans pollute.
And the worst is that no one cares about this issue, and people tend to become very violent when you mention it as a problem.
I worry that with declining birth rates capitalism will fall. OK maybe that is a good thing.
I totally agree, it’s alarming to see the projections of population growth. It seems unsustainable and I fear the consequences will be catastrophic. I think about this every time I see a news piece about declining birth rates or countries incentivising procreation.
I recently watched this Thoughty2 video on YouTube that touched on this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRN2p7sSL_Y
He essentially concludes that, at this point, technology has been able to mitigate the overpopulation fears that have existed up until now.
I full agree with you. Just because we can exist on the planet does not mean we’re better off. We’re already living with the consequences of over population.
The first thing we need to do is change our eating habits. The over-farming of land is increasing the need for chemicals to grow food - not to mention climate change. Bird flu is coming. The manner in which we have to raise animals is atrocious and leading to pandemics. Everything is full of antibiotics so farmers and ranchers don’t have to throw away “bad stock”. Which of course is due to the increasing need to produce more food.
I think the worst part is that when this is brought up people blame the corporations and the governments. They’re right that legislators should do more about this but, in America at least, the people are the one’s who are supposed to have the power. We’re supposed to make choices and cast votes for the world we want to live in. Instead, we keep making the same choices that give corporations more and more power.
America is torn between wanting all the freedom to make their own choices while complaining that government isn’t doing enough.
Disabilities’ rights. If we grow old, we’re gonna be dealing with some type of disability one way or an other. Sometimes it happens earlier. Plus, helping disabled people can sometimes also help non disabled people by making their lives easier.
A lot of problems, such as homelessness and increase in illness is caused by disability. People not being able to work anymore, or even work not being able to accomodate their needs cause homelessness. Covid basically making a lot of people immuncompromised, yet no work is being done to encourage people wearing masks by the government or other influencial entities.
That the 105 male/100 female birth to young adult ratio needs a fix to get to 100/100 at least.
The distraction comes from me being not too kind to either of the duo-culture of the US empire on this issue.
I thought female birth ratio was higher than males
No, slightly more AMABs get born than AFABs. Over time the difference cancels out, as AMABs tend to die a bit more sooner.
It isn’t. More males die during pregnancy and infancy, which used to result into more girls than boys by age 5 two-hundred years ago, but nowadays there are only more women at old age.
By itself this is not that big of an issue. A much bigger issue is the gender imbalance that you find in certain localities due to local governments, universities and companies not taking this gender imbalance into account. But I’m glad that you brought up this issue.
I disagree. Even the discussion on gender imbalance gets warped because of this as sex ratio is never taken into account in the discussion. Even if it is, it’ll be forgotten or discarded.
