On almost every block, one can find institutions of fast food service with their enticing fat-soaked aromas filling the surrounding air; yet in a society with a childhood and adult obesity rate of well over 16 percent, why is it that we lack a greater or equal number of parks and outdoor family activities?

Each day natural ecosystems are destroyed and sold off commercially, some of which fall into the hands of the fast food industry. With newly acquired land it seems that almost overnight there is a new McDonald’s or Burger King open for business. It is hard to fathom how quickly the construction of corporate projects, especially those of the fast food industry, can be constructed when it takes years for others such as our own performing arts center.

The destruction of these ecosystems is severely crippling our society and decreasing the availability of land for outdoor facilities like sports fields and children’s playgrounds.

With the absence of these facilities, televisions, couches and the fast food industry increase their number of victims of "I.M.D.S. (immobile media-dependent starchism)" or couch potato syndrome.

The syndrome began to escalate in the 1980s as televisions became god-like entities, couches became unbelievably comfortable and fast food franchises became desirable. Since that time obesity rates have tripled with little foreseen solutions by its victims other than diet pills and liposuction.

The main problem is not the obesity itself but society’s overall lack of motivation to fight it through simple exercise. Who can blame us? Not everyone enjoys running five miles on a stationary treadmill or on the streets of suburbia each week.

So how do we fight obesity in a society with a scarcity of national parks and community sports fields and playgrounds? The answer is quite simple and requires little capital. We need more events encouraging families to get off of the couch, unglue their eyes from the television screen and to most importantly take their hands off of the super-sized French fries.

Community-wide, our society is in desperate need of these events promoting outdoor activity. As the number of national parks and recreational lands decline to alarming numbers there is little hope in the fight against the Big Macs and Whoppers.

Events as simple as Chico Kite Day are priceless in the fight against both childhood and adult obesity. These events, along with an overall increase in societal motivation, will ultimately be the deciding factor.