“Think Global(ly), Act Local(ly)” is the mantra of many NGOs and activist groups. Aside from yet another two adverbs taking it on the chin, this is a central theme to many of their strategies.
Recently the White House announced the signing of an executive order establishing a task force to fight childhood obesity. The executive order calls for the assistance of NGOs, as well as corporations, in fighting this problem. A worthy pursuit. But what about the mantra? The mantra states the solution.
Acting locally on childhood obesity, very locally, could be the solution to the problem if that local action was parents encouraging, and requiring, their children to exercise regularly (We used to call this “playtime.”) and discouraging (read that as “prohibiting“) their children from eating “garbage.” Discipline is not a word with which parents should be unfamiliar.
Perhaps if there was more very local, “household-local,” common-sensical, parental attention to the problem, people wouldn’t need yet another expensive government/NGO/corporate task force to tell them what they should already know.
