In case anyone needed another reason to worry about the cost of oil, this New York Times piece about the dwindling numbers of supermarkets in poor neighborhoods describes a perfect storm of related problems. Supermarkets in poorer neighborhoods are closing due to higher and higher rents and the increased cost of shipping food; poor people don't necessarily want to drive out of their neighborhoods to shop, again because of rising gas prices; and the bodegas, gas stations, and convenience stores that spring up to replace the supermarkets sell mostly overprocessed, unhealthy food, which drives obesity.
Meanwhile, a new Harris Teeter just opened in my middle-class, mostly white neighborhood to supplement the two Safeways and one Whole Foods within walking distance. But when I first moved to DC, I lived in a poorer neighborhood near Capitol Hill, and the only food options within walking distance were a 7-11 and a bodega that sold $5 gallons of milk and $1 gallons of neon-colored "fruit beverages."
--Britt Peterson