EARTHDAYview

Everyone in the UK consumes too much – not only the fat people

It's not fair to blame obese people for climate change because it's whole populations who
are responsible for high emissions

Here's an intriguing story: a link between obesity and climate change.

A paper in the International Journal of Epidemiology by Phil Edwards and Ian Roberts shows
that heavier populations increase emissions for two reasons: they consume more food and
they require more energy to transport.

This became "Fatties cause global warming" on the front page of the Sun today.

I'm sure it's true: the more we consume of anything, the greater the impact will be. But
it's not clear that there's anything that can be done about it: hardly anyone is
overweight by choice. If people can't stop themselves from overeating for the sake of
their health, they won't be able to stop for the sake of the biosphere.

A more realistic approach is to persuade people to switch more of their consumption from
animal to plant-based food: that way you can eat just as much, with a smaller impact on
both the environment and food security.

In fact the paper wasn't about individual fat people, but populations. Most people in the
rich world carry more weight than they need. Many of those who aren't overweight still
consume more calories than they need, but burn them off in the gym. Almost everyone in
countries like the UK consumes too much of everything, including food.

So, while we should accept and understand these findings, let's not use them as another
stick with which to beat fat people. They have a tough enough time already.

Source:
http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http://www.guardian.co.uk%2Fenvironment%2Fgeorge
monbiot%2F2009%2Fapr%2F20%2Ffood-carbon-emissions

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Courtesy to Winnie Mui for posting this link, HAPPY EARTH DAY everyone! Love & Peace from
Eve and Save The Human Team
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