One example that comes to mind when I think of social norms is stopping to get fast food while you are out and about or in the car. It is not the norm to prepare food ahead of time or take the time to cook a healthy meal. People stop at fast food places because it is convenient and they don’t have time/don’t want to cook a meal. Since people frequent fast food places so often, they are limited to very unhealthy meal choices and don’t have a choice as to how the food is processed or packaged. Fast food meals, say from McDonald’s, have a lot of paper and plastic waste from the cups, bags, napkins, containers, etc. The fact that the social norm for people is to stop and eat at fast food places is a problem for the health of people and the safety of our environment.
The societal issues that fast food choice connect to are obesity and environmental impact. Obesity is a growing concern, especially in America, and I believe it to be largely attributed to the fast food industry. Fast food is not a healthy food option, yet people continue to eat it without realizing the effects it has on their body. The other concern with the fast food industry is the amount of waste that is produced from packaging materials. Try and imagine the amount of McDonald’s bags that enter a trash bin every day. This waste has to go somewhere and that has a serious impact on the environment. Rather than eating fast food all the time for matters of convenience, I think the social norm should be to prepare healthy food ahead of time for your day. I understand that is not always a possibility, but packing a lunch or preparing meals in advance needs to be something people do on a daily basis.
Hi Rachel, my name is Kevin. I think a lot of people always think of fast food as “bad” because of how unhealthy it is as the staple in a diet for a lot of people. What a look of people don’t think about, and what you brought up, is the impact it has on the environment. Fast food in general can have huge environmental impacts because of the farms/situations that the food is grown and its almost just as serious as the health concern it causes. Feel free to check out my post here: https://wp.me/p3RCAy-bMp
Hi Rachel,
My name is Jiye Choi. I’m studying energy engineering.
I enjoyed to read your post. it is true that many people stopping by to get a fast food a lot. people don’t really realize how the fast food affects to their body until something goes wrong. Nothing is important than our body so it is very important to manage our health. http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/03/04/learning-activity-6-jiye-choi/ here is my post if you want to check out!