(Posted by John Goetz)
Saturday, August 30, 2008 by: David Gutierrez
The weight and consumption habits of the overweight and obese are worsening the pace of global warming, said two researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in a letter to the medical journal Lancet.
It takes more fuel to transport people who are obese and therefore heavier, Phil Edwards and Ian Roberts wrote. In addition, heavier people do not just tend to eat more food: they actually require it. The researchers calculated that it takes an obese person 1,680 calories per day just to maintain their body functioning and another 1,280 to sustain their daily activities. This is 18 percent higher than the caloric intake required for a person with a normal body mass index (BMI).
BMI is a measure of weight relative to height that is used to calculate healthy body weight. A BMI of 18 to 25 is considered normal, while a BMI above 25 is considered overweight and one of 30 or more obese.
But according to Edwards and Roberts, 40 percent of the global population has a BMI in the neighborhood of 30 or more.
“We are all becoming heavier and it is a global responsibility,” Edwards said. “Obesity is a key part of the big picture.”
The production and transportation of food is a major source of greenhouse gases, the researchers noted, with agriculture responsible for a whopping 20 percent of global emissions. They also faulted the overweight for contributing to global food shortages.
“Promotion of a normal distribution of BMI would reduce the global demand for, and thus the price of, food,” the researchers wrote.
Tim Church of Louisiana State University questioned Edwards and Roberts’ focus on obesity, noting that 25 percent of the food produced in the United States is thrown away.
“We throw away far more food than the extra 460 calories per day [that Edwards and Roberts] point out,” Church said. “In other words, most of our food overproduction is due to waste, not overeating.”
Sources for this story include: www.reuters.com, telegraph.co.uk.
So Al Gore is responsible for global warming after all (the picture of Al Gore was not part of the original article).
I ride my bicycle everywhere, play soccer, and get by on a lot less than 1,000 calories per day. Most people eat way to much, and that takes it’s toll on the environment.
Half of the west’s water is indirectly used to raise beef. It takes 500 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef. Californians in particular should take this seriously. Rather than blaming global warming for water shortages, we should look at the real problem – which is excess consumption and waste.
Ian Robberts has been pushing this ridiculous story out there for over a year. We wrote about it on the Climate Resistance blog.
Clearly what’s going on is that public health reserchers have run out of things to research, and so attach themselves to the global warming bandwagon. By using ‘science’ he gives respectability to an ugly social prejudice against fat people and a particualry shallow argument against capitalism (it makes people fat) .
Anyone who denies that this new crisis is worse than the other crisis is a flat earther. Anthropogenic Girth Widening (AGW) is causing sea levels to rise due to Heavy Person Land Subsidence (HPLS) and Swimmer-Water Displacement Effect (SWDE). Low lying nations will be flooded.
We need to develop a carbohydrate cap and trade system and carbohydrate offsets for those who can pay more to be portly.
There’s money in this, I can just taste it.
We have to act now to avoid the tipping point, we have just 100 months before we will all tip over when we tie our shoes. Act now, send your money to me and I will invest it in calorie capture and sequestration.
He ain’t heavy;
He’s Al’s brother’s brother
That’s a very unflattering photo of Mr Gore – at first I thought it had to be Jabba the Hutt.
John Nicklin (15:03:26) :
The funniest thing I have read all day!
I think you are all being so cruel about Mr Al Gore. Keep up the good work.
As a card carrying alarmist, I would personally bet that the negative impacts of obesity on health such as heart disease etc are more of a problem than the increase in Co2 emmissions.
On the issue of why deserts are hotter than jungles with less water vapour – I think rising sinking air has a lot to do with it. Air warms up a lot when it sinks. And cools as it rises. Air above equatorial jungle reasons is typically rising, causing convection, storms, cyclones and rain. Air in desert areas is typically sinking, which supresses convection and rain.
Of course the reason air rises near the equator is because thats where its hottest. But it seems hottest in the desert. Must be something else going on as well….
Actually I have my own theory on the issue of increasing obesity. You know how animals gorge themselves during times of plenty in preparation for the onset of cold times and scarcity?
Well, the obese are just following these instincts. They are actually way ahead of us skinny types and are adding layers of fat in readiness for the prolonged cold snap that looms ahead.
Al Gore isn’t as daft as he looks.
Yes! It’s the WORLD’s responsibility to assist you in managing YOUR weight and in making sure that you eat ONLY what is necessary and do NOT dispose of any of it unnecessarily!
Quick! Somebody call the U.N. and have them form a special taskforce! It should, as is proper, be headed by an Ethiopian – to remind those of us who grew up on such stories that there are starving people out there who would love to have such huge amounts of food. Oh! And then we can set up a website telling our young ones when they will die from eating the amount of food that they eat just like they did with CO2 in Australia.
Yes, I am laughing all the way at this one. Is there a single facet of life the Greenies can’t connect to global warming?
The information and recommendations appearing on this page are appropriate in most instances, but they are not a substitute for medical diagnosis.
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/294/15/1986
Smokey!
Doggone it.
I walked right into that one.
Al G. reminds me that money and power still can’t buy brains or a trim body. Or is it an ingenious disguise?
Why focus only on the obese? On average, larger people need more calories. Once we get rid of the obese, we can start in on tall people. Later, I’m sure there will be more criteria to use…
Michael Hauber, you may want to do some additional reading.
http://junkfoodscience.blogspot.com/2007/01/obesity-paradox-3.html
But according to Edwards and Roberts, 40 percent of the global population has a BMI in the neighborhood of 30 or more.
40% ???????
I find that one hard to believe.
And Patrick Henry:
Considering an active person needs 15-19 calories per pound per day to maintain his weight, with “a lot less than 1,000 calories per day”, you must weight, what, about 50 pounds?
And no, I am NOT calling anyone a liar.
I AM suggesting that, like most people, you are under-estimating your caloric intake.
Extra weight in a vehicle is known for more fuel consumption. Known that for a long time. But so is very cold weather. And under inflated tires.
Wastefulness and gluttony are a part of our culture. Global warming doesn’t even need to be brought into this issue for a need for a correction IMO. Health and energy issues outside AGW theory can stand on their own, and will be around after it dies.
A warming climate has its issues, and so does a cooling one. We need to be ready for whatever comes.
I’m ashamed of all the posters above. First you spend the entire day countin’ sunspecks on the wall, then you come over here and make jokes about the snip [gravitationally challenged].
True Americans would be out this Labor Day not working, but eating burgers and hot dogs and washing them down with Bud Lite and engaging in excess to maintain that buffer we can use for when The Day After Tomorrow arrives. Sept. 3, by my calculations.
Instead the only excess calories being released is the steam from your ears thanks to a sunspeck that might not have been reported until today and that steam is contributing to household warming!
Umm, hey, wasn’t there a post recently praising couch potatoes over active folks? Doesn’t Michael Phelps burn 10,000 Cal/day? And I bet he’s been burning the midnight flying back and forth across the planet. Yeah, yeah, anecdotal evidence to be sure, but we should embrace whatever it takes to address the problem, whatever it was.
So whatever if is you’re doing wrong – eating? drinking? reading? breathing? exercising?, well, stop it. Stop it right now.
Here is a link to Michael Phelps lifestyle vs. The Nanny of the year, Michael Jacobson. http://www.reason.com/UserFiles/Image/kmw/Mikes.jpg
I also recall a study recently that claimed that active, more healthy people tended to eat more than those in a more sedentary life but I don’t have that handy.
A bit off topic but it had to come. The following was a news item in the West Australian today
“Big chill a symptom of climate chaos
1st September 2008, 14:47 WST
Forget global warming – the latest problem is global cooling.
Conservation group WWF has blamed climate change for the coldest August in Sydney for more than 60 years.
The freezing temperatures are proof of the urgent need to cut carbon pollution, according to WWF development and sustainability program manager Paul Toni.
“We can expect more extremes in climate,” Mr Toni said.
He said climate records had tumbled over the past year.
Australia had its driest May on record, Perth had its wettest April on record, and Tasmania recorded its hottest ever temperature, according to Mr Toni.
He said climate extremes were affecting southern Australia in particular.
“This is consistent with climate modelling showing the southern states will feel the effects of climate change most severely,” he said.
Mr Toni said if action was not taken, more volatile weather would be on the radar.
AAP ”
You can’t win with these people.
If anyone is interest in some extra calorie credits I’m willing to sell a few. I’m a rather slim person so I’ve got some to give. I’m thinking of charging $1.00 per 100 calories so if someone out there wants to chow down an extra BIG MAC it will cost you about $5.00, but you get to eat guilt free. Just so you know I’m not doing this for the money, to me it is all about the environment and saving the planet.
OT but it seems the hockey stick refuses to die
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7592575.stm
Bobby Lane (16:35:19
‘Quick! Somebody call the U.N. …………’
Maybe we should put the people working at the UN on a 1000 calories per day. on second thought, they would just cheat. I recall (fox news story) the head hancho at the UN had his conference room set at 68f while the rest of the building was set at 74f to reduce CO2 emmission and save energy.