Fatties cause global warming

[WriteDown]

Source: The Sun

THE rising number of fat people was yesterday blamed for global warming.

Scientists warned that the increase in big-eaters means more food production — a major cause of CO2 gas emissions warming the planet.

Overweight people are also more likely to drive, adding to environmental damage.

Lard help us ... overweight must eat less for planet

Lard help us ... overweight must eat less for planet

Dr Phil Edwards, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: “Moving about in a heavy body is like driving in a gas guzzler.”

Each fat person is said to be responsible for emitting a tonne more of climate-warming carbon dioxide per year than a thin one....

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2387203.ece

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I'm wary of posting anything from "The Sun," but the arguments presented are interesting.

[marshall]

1. Not to mention the flatulence

The ecosystem is affected in many ways by our ever increasing girth and appetite.

[HopeHoops]

2. Damn, you beat me to that one.

:grr:

[WriteDown]

4. Like our bovine counterparts?

:)

[Dr.Phool]

15. I contributed more than my share of methane to the ecosystem yesterday.

And this fat dog didn't help matters either.

[Warpy]

3. Nobody wants to be fat

in a world where the ideal is praying mantis thin.

Do you think there would be so many fat folks out there if there were a real choice, a real treatment?

There is no false piety worse than that of the young and temporarily thin.

[WriteDown]

6. Another interesting question....

Do you think there would be so many fat folks if the onion ring or french fries were never invented?

[Warpy]

32. Yes

Educate yourself.

[WriteDown]

35. Considering that a hamburger, fries...

and a malted were standard fare not too long ago when waste sizes were much slimmer, that seems curious. It is more likely that a sedentary lifestyle coupled with increasing portion-size are more of a culprit.

[Warpy]

38. or something else is at work

Epidemiologists have been pointing to the distribution of obesity during the last two decades as following the classic pattern of an infectious epidemic. It's also known that a strain of adenovirus can program other tissue cells to become fat cells.

Whatever is going on, it seems the classic view of moral failure leading to gluttony and sloth isn't fully to blame for the obesity epidemic.

It's not the type of food in most cases, it's not portion control in most cases, it's not genetics in most cases and it's not even living one's life in a Barcalounger.

Since it's obvious from the dismal statistics regarding weight loss, that 90% of people who lose weight by all methods, even surgery, gain it all back plus more within 5 years, we need a lot more research into this problem.

[WriteDown]

40. The virus is a longshot at best....

Considering that there haven't been any outbreaks in nations with low calorie diets. Considering that the standard ADULT meal at McDonald's in the 50's was today's "happy meal" the causes are quite easy to spot.

[Warpy]

46. It is spreading in first world countries, though,

especially those with populations that tend to vacation in the US.

Not everyone eats at McDs or any other restaurant, so it's unbelievably disingenuous to blame poor portion control in those places for the problem.

More research is desperately needed. Howling about morals doesn't work.

[sarcasmo]

8. Our friends Doctor said the new weight chart is only for North Koreans who eat twigs.

It was his way of saying it was a joke.

[get the red out]

9. Western food sytems are set up to make people fat

It is a chore to select stuff that won't make you fat and unhealthy. We need to make some systematic changes. And I am thin, but I cannot glide by and let larger people hold the blame totally on their shoulders in this junk-food and car based world we live in.

[WriteDown]

10. Not so sure its the food system...

As much as our inactivity.

[Igel]

37. Both are symptoms.

We're designed to do a certain amount of work on a certain amount of food. But we're also driven to minimize the amount of labor we do, simply because that requires effort and additional food. At the same time, we're pretty much wired to like sugar and/or fat, and even have glutamate-sensitive taste buds (meaning 'meat').

In most circumstances a 100 to 70k years ago, fat wasn't much of a possibility. If it was, it was short-term, because intensive labor, a shortage of food, or both would be right around the corner.

We're prosperous enough to be able to have a lot of food, starch/sweet and fat, to make our taste buds and hunger-related hormones happy.

We're also efficient and productive enough as a people to be able to be sedentary.

It's a bad combination. Of course, diseases like hypertension and diabetes, as well as obesity, are also subject to genetic effects. So a lot of Sonoran-desert peoples are doing very badly with a Western diet, since they were consistently on a low-calorie/high-labor regime for thousands of years, one that lacked a hefty source of fairly pure starch.

[WriteDown]

42. Well put...

I'm Akwesasne and on my reservation its easy to see what the modern diet has done to a people who's bodies are not built for it. Obesity is the norm. As well as diabetes, alcoholism, etc. I am somewhat lucky though because I never had much of a sweet tooth, but have more of a savory tooth. I consume very few fatty carbohydrates, but have the occasional craving for cheese fries.

[CTyankee]

22. Why can't we just eat fresh and in season AND eat smaller portions?

You will never find an Italian eating a huge platter of pasta with a heavy sauce. He/she will eat a small portion before the main course --nearly always-- they eat pasta twice a day and don't get fat. Middle age spread maybe but not obese.

Why is it the Italians, French and Spanish can do this and we can't?

[DUlover2909]

11. I was thin once. I was 20 years old and I used amphetamines.

I'd never get hungry until I woke up after 20 hours of sleep, after 3 days of course of being awake and tweaking my computer's settings and cleaning the apartment.

[Coventina]

12. My place is a mess, maybe I should take amphetamines.

I keep hearing about people who go into cleaning frenzies on speed. It's almost tempting to try it.

I'm a slob when it comes to clutter.

[Coventina]

5. This will become a self-correcting problem, I fear

If the planet survives another generation, being fat will be remembered with nostalgic fondness.

[shraby]

7. If diets/weight loss programs/weight loss pills

really worked, there'd be NO fat people because noone WANTS to be overweight...but those methods don't work now, didn't then, and won't tomorrow. Criticism is no cure and won't help either. Until science finds out what causes it, overweight people will continue to feel miserable not only from their own discomfort, but by the shame and ridicule heaped on them by the "skinnies" who haven't a clue about anything.

[SlingBlade]

13. Why that is the most ridiculous thing

I have ever heard.
This is an assault and slander of those on the plump side







K&R :)

[AndreaCG]

14. I'm fat and a vegan

So my carbon footprint's way smaller than you meat eaters.

[Warpy]

33. Thank you

same here, although I do eat an occasional piece of fish. Most of my diet is very low on the food chain.

[Fireweed247]

39. my husband is super skinny and eats more than me

We eat low on the food chain, but I do all the cooking from scratch so we can avoid processed crap...who has the smaller carbon footprint?


They are using global climate change as a divide and conquer tactic. Nothing we do as humans could ever equate to the amount of pullution being dumped into the atmosphere by the corporations. They want us to blame ourselves, attack each other, they plan on charging us for our 'carbon footprint' but the big polluters will go on doing as they choose.

Al Gore, for all his knowledge on global climate change, pushed for NAFTA and the WTO allowing our companies to move elsewhere where they can pollute freely. How much sense does that make?

[woodsprite]

16. Why don't we add "menopausal women contribute to global warming." n/t

[TXRAT2]

48. Why don't we add "menopausal women contribute to global warming." n/t

LOL

I think a pretty good argument could be made.

[Bluzmann57]

17. Thin blowhards don't help the situation

They spout hot air endlessly by making fun of others because of their own deficiencies, mental or otherwise. It took a long time to get this big, it may take a long time to get down to a weight the skinny (presumably) asshole who wrote this article wants us at.

[WriteDown]

18. Shouldn't you direct your rage toward...

the researchers and not the author of the story?

[zbdent]

19. wonder what the carbon footprint of a deep-fried frozen Twinkie is ...

pre and post digestion ...

[goforit]

20. CO2??? I think they need to be more concern about the Methane that is emitted.

But on a personal level... I think I need to think about how all this
gas isn't good for you inside and out.

What you eat and what the bacteria in your colon does with it has
alot to do with how much gas is emitted.

[Matariki]

21. I'm wary of posting anything from "The Sun,"

Except flamebait is just *TOO* much of a temptation to pass...

[dipsydoodle]

23. What Rubbish. Being fat just causes

smaller feet which wear pavements out less.

[FudaFuda]

24. Any vegetarian with a private jet is 500x worse than a single fatboy. nt

[Hannah Bell]

41. yep.

[AndyTiedye]

25. If You Go to the Gym and Burn Off the Fat, Does That Make The Carbon Impact from the Food Go Away?

[Nikia]

50. Actually that would make things worse

You are exhaling more carbon dioxide when you exercise. The only exercise that might be beneficial to the environment is walking, running, or biking instead of driving. Driving to the gym and exhaling more carbon dioxide than you would sitting on the couch is definitely worse for the environment.

[damntexdem]

26. Hey, but what about all the diets they go on?

Don't the low calories mean less warming? ;-)

[southernyankeebelle]

27. WHATEVER WORKS - PEOPLE ALWAYS BLAME THE

FAT PERSON. USUALLY THEY ARE VERY NICE PEOPLE. THEY DON'T GO BOTHER ANYONE. I HAVEN'T SEEN FAT PEOPLE IN THE MILITARY SHOOTING PEOPLE. THIS KIND OF STUFF IS NONSENSE. FIND SOMEONEELSE TO BLAME.

[WriteDown]

31. Are you saying...

they're jolly? :eyes: There may be a reason there are no obese people in the military. Its called boot camp.

[Missy Vixen]

28. Actually, people who insist on having children make a much larger carbon footprint

but I sure don't see this choice attacked as much as I do the fat. After all, that's a sacred cow, isn't it?

In the meantime, Yaaaay! More fat bashing at DU! :woohoo:

[omega minimo]

29. Fatheads who pretend to be progressive can go to Hell. It's real warm there

:evilfrown:

[formercia]

30. Fat people sequester Carbon

Last time I heard, it was a good thing.

I sequester Carbon.

Put that on your T-shirt.

[Warren DeMontague]

34. Funny, I thought this was a 4-20 thread.

:shrug:

[walldude]

36. Skinny peoples shit don't stink?

Wow I'm shocked. Next I'll hear how poor people are a burden on the environment too. OMG Run for your lives, here come the fat and the poor, and there goes all our air! It'll be a fart massacre!!!!! Then they will run us over with those cars that they drive everywhere!!!!


BTW I am not fat or skinny, just average, and laughing at the absurdity of people actually taking this serious.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

43. ROFL!

That is too damned funny!

At the end of the day, you could find a way to blame everyone and everything for the problem. That's why I say fuck it all. Smoke 'em if ya got 'em and fire up that juicy fucking steak goddammit!

:toast:

[ohio2007]

44. It takes a big man to brag about beating the odds

[KamaAina]

45. I thought most of the crop was organic

:smoke:

[denem]

47. The Sun is a MURDOCH climate change denial paper

The write this stuff to stir up and divide people.

[Indy Lurker]

49. Oh... that kind of fattie