Thursday, October 28, 2010

Blog 10: Where The Whale Be At?


In the article “Where the Whale be At?: The Place of Race & Racism in the Discussion of Environmentalism”,  Terry J. Cole gives us a few reasons why people of color should care about the environment. Some of his reasons are: the bond that people of color have historically had with nature, the fact that statistically most people of color live and go to school in places where the pollution is high and thus are more likely to suffer diseases associated with this contamination, and also the neighborhoods where they live have very limited access to healthy food and recreation areas.

One idea I found particularly interesting on Cole’s article is how the proximity of a grocery store or  supermarket can directly affect the health of certain communities. Before I read this artice, l had never thought about how important it is for some people to have a good supermarket conviniently located near home. There is a large number of people who are not affected by this situation because they have cars, but for the people who don't, having a grocery within walking distance really makes a difference.

"Studies show that when there is a supermarket in the neighborhood, there's a 32 percent increase in vegetable and fruit consumption", I was really surprised by this fact when I read it in the article, but now that I think about it, it totally makes sense. If we have fresh produce easily available the chances of having a healthier diet would obviously increase. Recently they put a fruit stand right next to my subway stop, and now since it is so convenient I sometimes stop there to grab an apple or a banana.
It is amazing how something so little can help change one's eating habits....

I WILL FINISH IT THIS WEEKEND DR X. 

No comments:

Post a Comment