Thursday, October 26, 2006

No hope for fat kids

I heard a thing tonight on the local news that depresses me. Following a very public campaign by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, schools in the UK started to make a concerted effort to cut out junk food and actually start spending money on decent grub for school kids. At last, I thought, we are trying to do something to do combat childhood obesity and bad eating habits.
And are the little buggers grateful? Not a chance!
Some schools have lost up to a third of their children who had previously eaten schools dinners and who now go off to fast food outlets to get their saturated fat fixes. There had been reports in England of doting parents passing chips and doughnuts to their health averse offspring through school railings.
Since taking up my current simple living kick I thought seriously about my diet - for reasons of my own health and the effects of what I consume on others and the planet in general. I have become more and more convinced that the most sustainable and ethical diet I can adopt is a vegan one.
I think that it is a viable diet for most people and a general adoption of it would help a range of social and ecological problems. However, with news like that above, I wonder if I am on a road to nowhere. Are people in general, and especially young people, so shortsighted and focussed on personal gratification that they are unable to adopt new habits that will benefit themselves most of all?

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