Small changes can add up to big shifts in the environment. We know this from decades of research on addictive substances. I understand we really would all like to believe that we’re in charge, that we have complete freedom over what we eat. But how free can we be? Living in a saturated environment, one that continuously surrounds us with food products carefully engineered to get us hooked and keep us coming back for more. Those kids in the Tenderloin, they apparently live in what’s called a food desert. They don’t even have access to a grocery store, really. What’s a grocery store when it’s stuffed with junk food 74% of it loaded with added sugar? All the health experts will tell you, shop around the perimeter of this grocery store that way you can steer your way around all the junk that’s in the middle. But how different is that from a strategy that steers children around drug dealers in the Tenderloin. We can do so much better than this. We don’t have to live in an environment that is ready to get us fat and then blames us for the health consequences in the medical bills. We don’t have to sit by and watch our children suffer from diseases of adulthood. We can rerigged this environment to make it safe. It’s not about personal choice anymore. It’s about our public choice.