Obesity. America's calling card and one of its biggest problems. I've always been interested in the obesity pandemic because I tend to be a health nut on occasion. I'm not enough of a health nut to put down that oh so delicious piece of pepperoni pizza or the piece of pecan pie that swims in afterwards, hence the word 'occasion,' but enough of one to care about my weight and the weight of Americans in general. I always blamed obesity on fast food as a result of advertising and America's new greatest pastime: couch potatoing. I never really thought that anything contributed to lack of exercise besides laziness though.

When I started to really get into sprawl, my natural interest in health and the problem of obesity along with my sharp intake in appetite as a result of walking to my classes everyday drove me to begin considering walkability as a suspect for the death of America's physical activity. After all, if Americans can't walk anywhere and are forced instead to spend all their time driving, how can they burn off anything they've consumed? The article Childhood Obesity: are we missing the big picture?, which I found through the Georgia Tech library's search engine, helped to legitimize my suspicions. The article made claims which suggested that those people in environments which promote walkability are more prone to exercise. It also provided research which directly connected the magnitude of America's BMI (Body Mass Index) with the level of sprawl. After reading this article and skimming several others, I am convinced that sprawl, or at least some of the characteristics of it, is a major contributor to the problem of obesity. The article referenced here makes an argument against the case of sprawl as a contender by saying that research found inner city settings to have higher obesity problems in general than settings which are characterized as sprawl. This can be dealt with by simply acknowledging the level of crime which is generally associated with the inner city. Most people won't go outside if they feel unsafe, a truth which the article also addresses.

Regardless of the validity of the point for the inner city, it can't be denied that sprawl has some sort of hand in the obesity epidemic which is sweeping the nation. Once people can walk to work again, their belts will inevitably grow smaller.