By Megan Griggs Posted December 16, 2009
When you think of unhealthy, polluted, and just downright disgusting places to live; bigger cities come to mind.
One thinks of New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles. But sadly, and quite frighteningly, Forbes.com shows us that Nevada is number 45 on the 2009 list for the healthiest places to live. That’s like saying Nevada is the 5th worst state in the US. All the other states below us on the list are more southern states such as South Carolina and Louisiana.
Topping the charts are Vermont and Utah followed by Massachusetts.
So how did this happen to us, how did Nevada get to be one of the worst states to live in?
Personally, I thought that our state was pretty great. I have never been embarrassed or ashamed to tell people where I come from. Research shows that a multitude of things together have helped to bring us down as a state.
Let’s take smoking, for instance, Nevada is ranked number nine of the top 10 states with the most smoking. Most of this probably comes from the fact that Nevada had legal gambling, so we have tons of casinos, and with casinos comes lots of smoking.
Another factor that is putting us at 45 on the charts is the fact that we have the 9th highest obesity rate in the country. Statemaster.com reports that 54.6% of Nevadans are overweight or obese.
While Nevada has tried things such as cutting the fat intake of students at school, and trying to promote a healthier lifestyle by eating right and exercising, it seems none of that has really helped in a significant way.
I don’t have the answers to these problems, and I can’t really come up with a plan to decrease these bad things. I do hope though, that Nevada can come together and try to find a way to clean up our state and put us at number one on the charts for next year.
