Improving Life in the United States - Essay Example

One of the major concerns of America today is the growing number of obese people. Children are not exempted from such and this calls more attention to how American families are raising their children. Doctors and researchers all agree that American diet have drastically changed, relying on easy to prepare foods or the readily available victuals from fast foods. They are now promoting changes in how Americans eat, going back to how our ancestors, decades ago, ate. On a parallel, as this problem is being resolved, similar attention is solicited to a much wider scope of concern.

The production and consumption of local farm products is advertized at a higher level because of its effect on the various aspects of American living. First, from health advocates who suggest that home-grown fruits and vegetables are far healthier because they are locally available while they are still fresh, with more nutrients as compared to imported products that have undergone various stages of preservation. Secondly, by environmentalists who suggest that local production and consumption will create a tight-knit interconnection between producers and consumers, enabling accountability between them (Morris, 641).

Such a situation will create awareness about how the products are produced and transported and therefore will demand high standards of maintaining quality services from farmers and producers. Such awareness in turn, will help consumers appreciate the efforts of farmers and producers. Thirdly, from economists who argue that buying locally grown food is not only good for local economy but on a global level as well. Although there are beliefs that local production will kill developing countries’ economies especially those who rely on exportation for their economic growth, Morris says otherwise.

To prove his point, he cites CARE, a non-profit organization that works to fight global poverty which refused to accept tens of millions of dollars in federal money for food aid in Africa, arguing that such help undercuts farmers, making their situation worse and not better. He thus suggests that local production to make Africa self-sufficient is rather the solution to their problem and not reliance on exportation or help extended by successful countries (642). The environmentalist’s perspective mentioned earlier reflects in part the argument of Al Gore in his Nobel Lecture in 2007.

He informed the American people that on the day he delivered his lecture, 70 million tons of global-warming pollution has been dumped and a larger amount will be dumped again the next day (721). If such an increase has been constantly growing for the past five years, imagine how large both American producers and consumers contributed to such pollution. The lack of accountability and awareness in the production and consumption of imported goods surely is a great factor to this global crisis. Therefore, in response to Al Gore’s call for the Americans to forge a united effort, with great individual involvement, everyone should become aware of this impending crisis that might dim the future of the next generation.

Being accountable, this generation should act and, act quickly, together (724). The modern American lifestyle has improved a lot when one evaluates on the basis of technological advancements. However, there is no denying that such achievements have destructive consequences not only individually and locally but also globally. The fast-paced modern