Childhood Obesity

For our last and final project of the semester I am creating a newsletter on childhood obesity.  In putting together both the look and content of this newsletter I think it is important to focus on my audience.  This piece of risk communication is meant to primarily target parents.  I strongly believe that they are the most important actors in a child’s life, and that any changes that need to be made should begin with them.

In order to reach a large audience, and to ensure that the parents receive the newsletters, I think it would be best to distribute them through the mail.  Address lists can be obtained through the local school districts and one newsletter can be mailed to each home.  I believe this method would prove to be most successful.

As far as content of the newsletter, my goal is to educate parents of many aspects of childhood obesity: the risks, the consequences, and possible solutions.  It is my hope that the newsletter will provide parents with the tools needed to take the first step towards fighting childhood obesity within their homes and their lives!

Al Gore uses visual media to enhance his presentation in An Inconvenient Truth.  This is done in many ways: photographs, computerized images (showing the projection of global warming problems in the future), graphs and charts.  All of these images work as a form of visual rhetoric aiding in getting his message across.

Al Gore’s presentation raising awareness on global warming using many photographs of well known places. These photographs are used in a before and after manner, showing the effect global warming has had on the amount of snow and ice, which used to exist in excess.  The depletion of these ice caps is emphasized by the visual images shown.

In addition to real life photographs, Gore also uses computerized images of the globe.  These images are areal shots of the world.  They are used to demonstrate how the water levels of the oceans would be effected by melting ice caps in the north and south poles.  Using a digital technology, Gore shows the slow increase of the water levels….and the gradual disappearance of land.  He explains how many millions of people currently live in these areas, which could someday be underwater. For an emphasis of the severity of the issue, he relates it to Hurricane Katrina.  Imagine this flooding on a much, much larger scale.

A last form of visual media used in An Inconvenient Truth is graphs and charts.  As discussed in my previous post, I think the chart concerning the CO2 levels on Earth is the most effective.  As the 50 year projection was shown, the data literally expanded off of the chart.  Gore used a scissor lift to bring himself up to the level of the chart, which extended onto another screen.  This supplements the lecture he is given, and emphasizes the severity of the issue.  If nothing else, it grabs the audience’s attention…which I would assume is the main goal of the presentation and film.

Al Gore also uses humor to enhance his presentation.  He starts off by saying, “I’m Al Gore, I used to be the next president of the United States of America.”  He uses sarcasm to poke fun of the political figures who deny the existence and problem of global warming.   Instead they spend their time and resources focusing on the threat of terrorism.  Gore states, “Should we prepare for other threats besides terrorists?”  He also uses a cartoon in the beginning of his presentation to define global warming.  These instances of humor help to keep the audiences attention.  It turns attention to the “other side” of the issue in a sarcastic way (in efforts to convince the audience to believe in his ideas and presentation).

There are many ways in which An Inconvenient Truth is an effective form of risk communication with regards to global warming.  Continuing to analyze the film has greatly helped me learn effective uses of rhetoric.  Visuals can be very beneficial, but it is important to use them in the appropriate manner.

(Credit: National Center for Health Statistics)

This image is a graphical representation of the childhood obesity rates ranging from 1963-2002.  It shows the gradual and continual increase in the incidence rates throughout the past 4 and a half decades.  I think this image would be useful in risk communication for childhood obesity because it demonstrates the large increase in the amount of overweight children in the United States.  A graph is more effective in showing the difference than a simple statement of the data.  The article in which it appears also provides a chart of the hard data, towards the bottom of the page.  For me, the bar graph was crucial in visualizing the facts.  I think that this visual does a great job of explicitly portraying their message: the prevalence of overweight children on the rise.

(Credit: Joe_13 on flickr)

This image portrays an obese baby being fed fast food by his parents.  It is a cartoon representation of the many issues today which lead to the problem of childhood obesity.  I think this would be useful in risk communication regarding the problem.  Two of the main causes of childhood obesity are poor diet and poor environment (parental upbringing).  This image demonstrates both of these.  It implies that if children continue to be fed unhealthy foods the incidence rates of childhood obesity will continue to be a problem.

(Credit: ktheory on flickr)

This final image shows the irony of American advertising.  Just below a bulletin board advocating the fight against childhood obesity is another for McDonald’s.  More and more children in the United States become overweight while the fast food industry continues to advertise its unhealthy and fattening foods.  I think this image would be effective in risk communication focusing on childhood obesity.  Mainly because it pinpoints one of the largest issues surrounding it: poor diet.  Children need to be brought up with healthy lifestyles, eliminating the exposure to such harmful foods.  The placement of these advertisements struck me as both ironic and unfortunate.

I recently viewed An Inconvenient Truth, a documentary based on Al Gore’s global warming campaign. The documentary can certainly be looked upon as a piece of risk communication. It provides a combination of clips from Al Gore’s informational campaign on global warming and narratives where Al Gore tells about his life experiences. I think this unique combination of data and story telling offers a meaningful message. Visual images were a crutial part of the message portrayed, and gave the audience something to focus upon.

In the beginning of the film Al Gore quotes Mark Twain, “What gets us into trouble is not what we don’t know - it’s what we know for sure that just ain’t so.” This shows Gore’s belief that people whom are so sure that global warming is a hoax are only setting themselves up for trouble. He spends a large part of his campaign presentation on educating the audience on the straight facts. Graphs and charts were provided to give a visual picture of what is occuring in the world today. This terrifying information is not open for interpretation, the concrete data speaks for itself. Our world is experiencing global warming. What is often disputed is the cause of this crisis. Gore speaks of the Scientific Revolution and it’s effects on the environment…including possible contributors to the rising temperatures on Earth. In addition, he displays a chart of the increasing carbon dioxide levels on Earth over the past. As the 50 year projection was shown the data skyrocketed off the charts. Another screen above was used to extend the data, and Gore himself used a lift to bring himself up to its level. This extreme visual aid was successful in getting the audience to grasp just how large a change the world is seeing.

I thought that one of the most effective aspects of the documentary was the narrative and stories told by Gore. Several times he gave an insight to his personal life, making himself more relatable to the audience. Telling tales of his childhood and family link the issue being discussed to emotions. Specifically, Gore tells of his father’s tobacco farm. Even after the Surgeon General’s warning about the dangers of tobacco and smoking his family continued to run a tobacco farm. It wasn’t until after his sister died from lung cancer that they stopped. It wasn’t until it was too late. The parallel between this story and the dangers of global warming is evident. If global warming is not made a more publicly acknowledged problem, and if people don’t start acting out soon…it may be too late. As the films title says: The truth may not be convenient, but it’s still the truth.

Our next class project is to prepare a number of press releases on our topic; in my case, childhood obesity.  To prepare ourselves for this assignment we read excerpts from Judith Welsh’s How to Write Powerful Press Releases.  In the text she gives helpful hints and important do’s and don’ts to successful writing.  It is important for a press release to be written with a specific goal in mind.  Limiting it to only one purpose helps to keep things focused and to the point.

Here are three situations regarding childhood obesity which could be addressed in a press release:

1. To inform/educate the public:  Many people seem to be unaware of the serious risks involved with childhood obesity.  Statistics show that its rates have been on the rise for the past several decades.  I believe that making the public more aware of the health consequences of being overweight will help people begin to take steps in the right direction — towards a healthier America.  Using  public press to inform people of the facts and statistics is likely to grab their attention.  It will be important to relate the problems/risks to the publics’ personal life, in order to get them emotionally invested in the issue.

2. To educate the public:  Another major area in which a press release could be used is to educate the public about possible solutions to the growing childhood obesity epidemic.  Without information on how to do so, the public is unlikely to take action.  A campaign focusing on the simple, everyday changes that can be done would be most effective.  This press release could aim to education people not only on the importance of a healthy diet and regular exercise for children, but also how to achieve one.

3. To promote an event:  A press release could be used to promote a healthy food/cooking presentation or conference.  Holding an event open to the public could help to further educate people on healthy eating habits.  A presentation could be held where a local chef demonstrates quick and easy meals  which can be prepared at home.  At the presentation suggested recipes (and cookbooks) could be handed out.  These can include many simple recipes which can easily fit into a family’s busy lifestyle.

Of the many possible topics for a risk communication, these three ideas seemed most relevant to my project.  In the next week I will be working to expand upon these, as well as develop a few more.  Addressing the public is the most important part of my risk communication project, and I foresee press releases being a helpful way to get information out there.

For class this week we read an excerpt from Disaster: Hurricane Katrina and the Failure of Homeland Security.  Chapter 5, titled “The Big One” gives a detailed description of the events leading up to the disaster of Hurricane Katrina.  It gave an inside look at the risk communication efforts that were made in attempts to minimize the damages due to the hurricane.  Unfortunately, many mistakes and problems occurred along the way.

Reading this article really helped me understand the extreme importance of effective risk communication.  Page 109 of the book really stood out to me as an example of poor risk communication.  It involves a situation in which Cedric Richmond, a New Orleans legislator, received a conference call while watching a peewee football game in a local ballpark.

“As state officials rattled on during the conference call about shelters they had opened and supplies they had on hand in parishes far inland, Richmond broke in.  ‘All these preparations are great,’ he said.  ‘But let me tell you, if this storm is the “Big One” as you say, the seven hundred people at this playground with me don’t know it.’”

This part of the text struck me hard.  Efforts of risk communication in New Orleans as Hurricane Katrina approached were ineffective.  So many people were left stuck in the city, with not enough knowledge about the upcoming storm and no way out.

Reading this chapter made me realize just how important effective risk communication is.  Whether it be at a time of crisis (such as in New Orleans) or an everyday situation (such as the battle against childhood obesity) it is crucial that risk communication succeeds in getting the necessary information out there to everyone who needs it!

The text for this class is Having Your Say: Reading and Writing Public Arguments. In Chapter 10 they introduce A but B Statements. These are ways to construct an argument using a clash statement. An A But B Statement explains the problem by telling what the current situation is, and what you would like it to be (or what it should be). Here are a few A But B Statements relating to my topic of childhood obesity:

1. It is crucial for families to sit down to a healthy meal on a daily basis so that children keep a nutritious diet, but with the fast paced lifestyle of Americans today it is often hard for parents to find the time to do so.

2. Children need to maintain physically active lifestyles, however new technological advances in computers, television and video games encourage kids to partake in sedative activities instead.

3. American’s should immediately begin to address the issue of childhood obesity, but many are unaware of the problem and uninformed on ways that they can help.

When this year and class first began I was very apprehensive about the idea of a “blog” as part of a class. Typically when I hear the term, the first think I think about is a social networking site such as MySpace or Facebook. How this could apply to a college course was beyond me.

However, as the semester progresses and I continue to build upon my course work, I see the importance of keeping this blog more and more. One of the main goals of my risk communication project on childhood obesity is to reach out to a large audience. Blogging is a great way to do that!

Creating an online blog is a great way to “write for the public,” which is the main idea of this course. A large percentage of public writing in today’s world is done online. In putting my course work and ideas onto a blog, it makes it open and available to the public eye. In our society, the first place most people look for information on any given topic is the internet. It provides us with a quick and easy resource for practically anything.

Putting together a risk communication portfolio and making it available online ensures that people all across the country (and world) have access to the information. Childhood obesity is a nationwide problem is today’s society. I can only hope that posting my course work online will help it reach out to people all around.

In addition to spreading my work, blogging was an easy way for me to link with my classmates. Having all of our course work posted online allowed me to keep up with their progress. I think this was essential to maintaining good class discussions and provided guidance at any times where I was not quite sure what was expected of me.

All in all, I have to say that my opinion of blogging has changed throughout the course of this semester. Instead of thinking of it as part of social networking (and a waste of time), I can now see the many benefits of networking with others through the internet.

The readings assigned this week were very helpful in beginning to familiarize myself with the blogging-world. They addressed issues such as the blog-media relationship and ethics. These topics will be important for me to keep in mind throughout the semester as I work to develop this blog on childhood obesity.

Two excerpets from Mark Tremayne’s Blogging, Citizenship, and the Future of Media were assigned, the Introduction (Examining the Blog-Media Relationship) and Chapter 5 (Blogging for Better Health: Putting the “Public” Back in Public Health). The introduction provided me with a good basis for the usefulness of blogging. A blog allows for a very fast spread of knowledge. It also provides the opportunity for networking. With this, information can be traced back through links. These can be to other blogs on the topic, information websites, etc. Blogs are ideal for research, aided by blog specific search engines. All of these things make blogging as a form of risk communication useful. By creating a blog on childhood obesity, I will be able to make my research, findings and ideas public. This seems to be a very effective way to spread the word such an issue that has a great affect on everyone in American society today.

Chapter 5 also provided with with useful information regarding blogging. Blogs “rely on individual users to generate and verity content on a continual basis. Bloggers and blog readers, therefore, are the creators as well as consumers of information on the Internet, embodying the ideal of ‘receiver as source’” (pg. 83). This gave me an insight on the usefulness of blogs; and why people blog. I was also able to parallel the examples given in this chapter regarding mental health with my topic of childhood obesity risk communication. While obesity in children and adolescents is not a mental illness, it is still a health related topic which people may seek information about on the internet.

What stood out to me the most was the discussion on the nature of blogging. The chapter talked about the difference between emotional and informational blogs. For my purposes, I think that both types of writing will be useful. Emotional writing is good because it helps to reach your audience and get their attention. With obesity rates among children, I’m sure that most people in our country are able to related to the issue. So many people know at least one child whose weight is a reason for concern. Using emotion is a great way to get people listening. Once their attention is grabbed, it will probably be best to switch to a more informational tone. I think that one of the biggest problems with childhood obesity is a general lack of knowledge on the issue. One of the main goals of my blog will to be to inform the public of the risks of obesity in children, possible causes, and many ways in which it can be avoided and helped.

Another reading assignment for the week was Chapter 5 (Ethical Issues) from R. Lundgren and A. McMakin’s Risk Communication. This excerpt can easily be related to the blogging I will be doing for the semester. They made it clear that ethics are often difficult to approach, mainly because each person has their own set of morals and ethical beliefs. The type of ethics I found to pertain most to my topic was social ethics. Lundgren and McMakin define social ethics as the “code of conduct by which a society judges our behavior” (pg. 74). They stressed the importance of knowing your audience. You must know to whom you are communicating, what you believe the audience needs to know, what they are likely to already know, and what risk communication methods are likely to fail. While creating this blog about childhood obesity I must keep in mind the ethical issues regarding the issue, and carefully account for my audiences concerns and perceptions.

They also included a section on personal ethics.  Here the use of persuasion was discussed.  Persuasion is a way of communicating risk which presents the information with the intent of forcing the audience to take on your opinions.  The chapter gave a list of criteria in which persuasion is most useful: in a crisis situation (where the audience is in immediate danger), when those at risk are not the same as those who are engaged in the behavior causing the risk, when the audience is fewer than 10 people, and when the audience has asked to be persuaded (pg. 90).  The topic of childhood obesity does not fall under any of these criteria.  Reading this helped me to learn that the best way to communicate my risk and ideas is most likely by presenting information and proposing probable solutions; not by using persuasion.

There are currently many organizations in existence which aim to reduce the incidents of childhood obesity in the United States.  These provide great examples for me to look at throughout the semester in an effort to develop my own risk communication portfolio.

1. Rachael Ray’s non profit organization Yum-O! ™ works to empower children and their families to develop healthy relationships with food and cooking.  It focuses on three work areas:  COOK, FEED, FUND.  The purposes of these areas is as follows: COOK- Educate kids and their families about cooking; FEED- Feeding hungry children in America; FUND- Funding cooking education scholarships.

While the main focus of Yum-O! ™ is not primarily a fight against obesity, it certainly aids in encouraging families to adapt healthy eating habits.  This is one of the main problem areas contributing to childhood obesity and Rachael Ray’s organization helps communicate the importance of a good diet.

2. The Alliance for a Healthier Generation is an organization whose mission is to eliminate childhood obesity and to inspire all young people in the US to develop lifelong, healthy habits.  Their goal is to stop the nationwide increase in childhood obesity by 2010 and to empower kids nationwide to make healthy lifestyle choices.

They have several existing programs which work as risk communication including: Healthy Schools Program, Industry Program, Kids Movement and Healthcare Movement.  These programs extend their efforts across the nation into many different aspects of people’s lives.

Both of these organizations use risk communication as a way of fighting childhood obesity.  Throughout the semester, as I develop my project, I think these with provide me a great reference.  They help by providing ways in which to reach the large target audience.  It is important to reach out and encourage parents and children across the nation to adapt a more healthy lifestyle.  Providing them ways to do so, which are both fun and simple, is going to be an effective way to begin the change.