Obesity Contributes to Climate Change
Those extra pounds Americans are carrying around are causing climate change. Considering eating more food requires more agriculture production and transportation costs, obese people are contributing to food shortages and higher energy prices, according to the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. “We are all becoming heavier and it is a global responsibility,” said Phil Edwards. “Obesity is a key part of the big picture.” 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions are produced by agriculture.
Image: colros on Flickr under a Creative Commons license
This is pointless, obvious and inconsequential. Find something more valuable to do with your time.
There is no way to know that obese people eat more that “average” weight people. I know skinny people who eat way more than me, but they stay skinny. And millions of obese people are on diets all the time but they never lose weight. I just don’t think it is fair and balanced to say that obese people eat more than all other types of people. If you are going to stereotype you may as well go after all of men, since I’m sure they all eat way more than women do. So men are causing climate change.
Shannon, I agree that not all people who are overweight eat more than thinner people. I do know a lot of people who barely eat anything and still are larger due to genetics or slow metabolism. There are some overweight people that do overeat or make poor food choices, and I believe these are the ones London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine are referring to in their study.
Umm, I disagree that this is inconsequential.
According to the linked Reuters article: “At least 400 million adults worldwide are obese. The World Health Organization (WHO) projects by 2015, 2.3 billion adults will be overweight and more than 700 million will be obese. In their model, the researchers pegged 40 percent of the global population as obese with a body mass index of near 30.”
We have to feed these people, and if their weight is due to overeating or eating processed foods, than it is a world issue.
Presuming that the climate is changing due to humans…
Yet another reason to hit the gym, eh? It’s funny, I never really thought about it that way, but now it really makes a lot of sense! Thanks for the info!
gee i wonder how many of the people complaining about stereotypes and how the poor fatties arent to blame are fatties themselves
grow up and lose some weight and stop blaming everyone and everything but yourselves
Obesity is on its way out. Now that we are turning corn into fuel, the price of corn-based foods is rising. The jolly, happy Aunt Jemimas and Fat Betties we know and cherish now, will soon become skinny screeching demanding euro-bitches in the future, and we won’t have any corn liquor to ease the pain! Bush is wrong, Deeply wrong!
Yes they do contribute more to carbon dioxide emissions. They drive their cars more. They consume more food that is high in fat, calories, sugar, and meat. They sit in the drive thru for their three big mac meals per day. The lifestyle of an obese person is to consume, consume, consume. Look up any article in Redbook or ivillage and read that for losing weight the best the things to do are to take a walk, use public transportation, take your bike more, take the stairs instead of the elevator, eat more vegetables and fruits that are locally grown, and drink less corn syrup based sodas. In other words, reduce your consumption.
It has less to do with how much they eat, it has to do with what their lifestyles are like.