On a recent visit to India’s Sunderban, the worlds largest delta, I witnessed the impact global warming has on the Bengal tiger population, plants, and the local villagers. This inspired interesting conversations with my fellow travelers from the U.K., India, Nicaragua, Australia, and Germany. I agreed with them that the U.S. has a long way to go in reducing our impact on the world - we use so much more water and energy than most of the world. I also argued, however, that Americans are starting to understand the climate change crisis and working on reducing our negative impact on the environment. I told my fellow travelers about Al Gore’s film “An Inconvenient Truth” and the Ideal Bite newsletter in my effort to explain how this issue is increasingly on our minds and behind our actions as business people and choices as consumers.
So, I was pleased to see that the feature of the latest Economist magazine is on “The greening of America”. The introductory editorial explains that a country tends to be associated with its leader, so the world thinks of Americans as destroying “the chance of a global climate-change deal based on the Kyoto protocol.” The Economist argues that our country is misunderstood, highlighting how U.S. companies are now arguing for carbon controls and even Arnold Schwarzenegger, Californa’s Republican governor, is legislating Kyoto-style reforms in our state, the Democrat-led Congress is advocating strong action against global warming.
This environmental movement of consumer, business, and political action shows the opportunity for even fast food companies to become more “feel good” by incorporating environmentally responsible activities in their businesses such as using alternative energy, reducing waste, and incorporating sustainable materials in restaurant design.

A friend just sent me this data from Oprah’s magazine in Oct. ‘06.  This data from “O” shows, yet again, why we need more Feel Good Fast Food.

1 = Rank of burgers among the most popular guilty pleasures (esp. from McDonald’s, the top choice in fast food by a landslide)
46 = percentage of respondents who eat fast food at least once a week
52 = percentage whose children do the same
17 = percentage of respondents who admit to craving fast food everyday (only 7 percent indulge, however)
3 = number of months 23% would rather abstain from sex than forgo fast food
38 = percentage who skip healthy options at fast food franchises because they either have no interest or dislike them
19 = percentage who say they feel disgusted with themselves after succumbing to a craving
62 = percentage who believe that when it comes to knowing the details of fast food preparation, ignorance is bliss