Are Fat People Responsible for Global Warming?

When I first heard this I had to do a double take. I mean, is there anything they won't blame fat people for? So of course I had to google this new found study my husband told me about and found many articles regarding the study which was published in the International Journal of Epidemiology by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical medicine. This study concluded that the overweight society is increasing gas emissions in vehicles, therefore, it is increasing the effects of global warming.

Disclaimer: I am overweight myself and have no problem with fat people. We are what we are, we are what God wants us to be. Take it or leave it.

In my research I also found an article of another study done in 2006 by Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Virginia Commonwealth University which came to the same conclusion as the wonderful London School. According to the statistics in the 2006 study, "nearly 1 billion gallons of fuel are consumed each year because of the average weight gain of people living in the United States since 1960 - nearly three times the total amount of fuel consumed by all passenger vehicles each day bases on current driving habits." They later on admit that their "conclusions should be considered conservative because they do not consider indirect consequences of obesity nor the increase in the number of vehicle miles linked to more people living in the United States." They also only based their information on passenger vehicles (cars and light trucks). I could point out so many X factors they were dealing with when they came up with these outstanding results...

1. How many more people drive then they did in the 1960's?

2. How much farther (Vacations, work related, daycare related, etc.) does the American Public drive then they did in the 1960's?

3. How many more things is the American Public towing behind their cars and light trucks (campers, four wheelers, etc.) that would help to decrease gas mileage?

4. The studies say that because people are fat they are more likely to take a car then to walk or hop on a bike... the studies don't say if they went out and polled for these facts... or what they were expecting for driving... many people walk and bike for recreation... not for getting where they need to go.

5. In the 2006 study it says "We thought there must be some way that we could determine how to quantify the effect of being overweight on fuel consumption. We felt that beyond public health, being overweight has many other socio-economic implications." THATS IT! Right there they admit they were looking to connect obesity with fuel consumption. The researchers were going to do it hell or highwater, instead of beginning their research with "we wanted to look into what has contributed to the rise of fuel consumption."

But lets move on...

So the London study further railed on fat people by saying they consume to many calories. "To maintain bodyweight, obese people require a greater number of calories than less heavy folks. As a result, they need--and consume--a larger amount of food. Producing both plant and animal-based foods requires a huge amount of earth's resources, including water, fuel and land. And when we use these resources, we damage the environment. Moreover, the methane gas produced by beef and dairy cattle is a huge contributor to global warming." It was also said the waste by consuming more food (packaging etc.) is also detrimental to this campaign.

Again there are so many ways to attack these things. I have seen teenage boys, growing children, and people with high metabolism be able to polish off more at a sitting then a fat person. Not to mention the fact that when you go into a grocery store the shelves are packed with... believe it or not.... with FOOD!!! They work to keep those shelves packed to increase their monetary overtake... have you ever seen those carts in the stores full of stuff about to expire and needs to be sold? Food is produced whether it sells or not... fat people are not the big drain here... society as a whole is.

The final thing neither of these studies tells you is how to fix the problem.. sure they say go on a diet. But they don't look into why the American Public is overweight. Could it be since 1960 - 40 years ago after all, our society is on more drugs (many of which cause weight gain), along with all the other factors - food, laziness, computer/video games, tv. There are more factors out there than anybody cares to think about, but the only way they ever come up to solve the problem is with a diet.

Will that be President Obama's solution too? With his new health care plan will he charge the overweight people more because they are a "menace" to society and to the earth? Will the overweight people be charged extra "carbon taxes" because we contribute more to global warming? Think about it, and think that studies like these are done to advance political agendas and to create a bias toward certain people. Then when you are done thinking, just remember . . . People are people, no matter how big or small.

My research

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article...

http://watthead.blogspot.com/2006/11/new...

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNew...

http://www.greenpacks.org/2009/04/21/fat...