Chad Froomkin

November 9, 1999

TCOM 100

George Korn

Chapter seven in State of The World is entitled Feeding Nine Billion. It discusses how with a definite population increase in the next fifty years, it will be very difficult to conserve and obtain resources so all the people in the world can have an adequate lifestyle. There is already, in the present day, an overwhelming amount of malnourished people in the world. The malnourished people don't only include those who are starving, but also include people who are obese and eating too much. There is a steady amount of harvest coming into countries, but there is too much going into some, and not enough going into others. The only way that this is going to subside is if the poor start having smaller families, and the people who eat too much start eating healthier. Then the expected growth in population will be able to survive, without there being a shortage of food. The only problem with this is that there is also a scarcity of water. The main supply of food comes from croplands, and croplands survive on the irrigation of water. Without water the production of food will become scarcer, and it would be hard to rely on getting food by ocean fisheries or by rangelands, because those ways of obtaining food are basically non-existent. The world needs to find a way to regulate the amount of water that is used, or there will not be enough left for the whole world to survive. If the population grows and there is no water, and the poor get poorer, and the fat get fatter, than the world could be looking at a worldwide depression. That is why everyone has to be made aware of these problems that are going on in the world.

Some of the things in this chapter are always made evident to the world, and particularly to this country. This is seen in the problems of starvation and the problems of obesity. Every time you turn on the television there are always “Sally Struthers” commercials about a dollar a day for a starving child, or help save these poor children from starvation. The American people know that there are people in the world that are a great deal more poor than they are, and need a lot more help. These “save the children” commercials show these children filthy with bugs flying around their faces, to make the audience feel sorry for them and to make the audience want to help. Sometimes it works, because this plea for pity helps attract the audience and make them want to help. The media portrays these people as a dying breed, showing kids that look like stick figures, or kids whose stomachs are inflamed, because they are so starved. Everyone knows the famine problems going on in some African countries and in some parts of India, but there is still little done to prevent this and the problems seem to never go away.

The second problem that is always covered by the media is the concern for the amount of people that are considered obese or overweight. This is a huge problem especially in this country. According to this book, fifty-five percent of people twenty years or older in this country are overweight. We are only second to Russia, which is fifty-seven percent overweight. The media has certainly covered this issue in many ways. One way is that there are the prime-time news shows, like “Dateline” and “20/20,” who always seem to have segments on the new way to lose weight, or the new drug or medicine to take off that fat. When the drug Fen-phen arrived on the market, everyone made such a big deal about it that it lead off most news telecasts for about a week. There were always stories about it on the news shows, about how it is a wonder drug, and that now all overweight people will be in shape. Overweight people became excited. Finally they had a drug to curb what many think of as a disease. All of this speculation, of course, was wiped out when it was discovered that Fen-phen was actually dangerous to take and was a health risk.

Another way overweight people are constantly reminded to get in shape is through infomercials. There are always infomercials about the latest thing made to make you lose weight. It went from “Eight Minute Abs” to the “Ab Roller” to all the Soloflex equipment to the “Juice Tiger” to herbal supplements that help you lose weight and now finally we have Billy Blanks and his famous workout called Tae-Bo. The American audience is constantly reminded to stay in shape in eat healthy. Some of these things that are advertised might not work, but if it gets people motivated to lose weight, than actually it does work. Some people hate all the infomercials, and think all the equipment is just junk, but they actually work as a starting point to make that overweight person realize what they have to do to lose that weight. There will never be too many things that can help you stay in shape and stay healthy. As long as people keep coming up with new ways to do this, then there will always be more people that obtain that motivation to lose the fat.

The one thing in this chapter that is rarely, if ever, covered by the media is the scarcity of water. It is never reported that there is a shortage of water, or people need to start conserving water. It is probably not likely to happen any time soon, but it is a problem for the future that can be corrected now. It can be directly relating to the ozone layer. The ozone layer became destroyed only after it was too late to stop it. People weren’t aware that driving their cars everywhere everyday or using hair spray out of a can, actually destroyed the earth’s environment. Now people try to do things to prevent this from becoming worse, but it is very much too late. That is why we need to start now, and the media needs to make people aware of this problem, so they can go out and do something about it. Even though the Earth is seventy percent water, one wouldn’t think that there would be a shortage on water. The only way to help the problem is to get involved and find information about it.

The media is doing a relatively good job of presenting to the people the problems out there and what they can do to help. It is those peoples responsibility to get up and do something about it. If there is a big problem with malnutrition, then start eating healthier and get involved in helping other people who may be starving in third world countries. If there is a problem with overpopulation, let the people know about this problem and what they can do to prevent a never-ending increase in population. Find out about the shortage of water, and then find out what you can do to help the problem. If the problems for the future are already presented, then only way they are going to be solved is if they are fixed, before they become a problem.