Just one more thing for environmentalists to judge you by. Heaven forbid that you’re fat with five kids or you would be run out of town on a rail:
The fact is that lean is green, and larger people leave larger carbon footprints on the world. A few examples:
Food consumption
There’s an old joke about a mother telling her son to finish the food on his plate because there are starving children in Africa. The smart-aleck’s response is, “Got a stamp?”
What’s not a joke is that there is a finite amount of food in the world, and it is growing scarce. Recent food riots Haiti, Sudan, Yemen, Mexico, Egypt, and other countries are a stark reminder that many people do not have enough to eat. The cost of staple foods such as corn, rice, and wheat are at record highs across the globe, and some can’t afford to feed their families.
Meanwhile in the United States, obesity is at an all-time high; two-thirds of adults in the Land of Plenty are overweight or obese. Obesity is perhaps the ultimate symbol of resource consumption; it’s visible proof that overweight people already has more than they need-and take more anyway.
[...]
Air pollution
Overweight people create more air pollution than thin people do. It’s simple physics: Extra pounds translate into extra fuel in automobiles and airplanes. Extra fuel means increased energy usage, oil drilling, and air pollution.
posted May 1, 2008 at 8:01 am
“Fat People” (with apologies to Randy Newman)
“Fat People got no reason
Fat People got no reason
Fat People got no reason
To live
They got pudgy hands
And little ol’ eyes
And they walk around
Tellin’ great big lies
They got big fat noses
And big fat teeth
They wear squashed down shoes
On their poor little feet
Well, I don’t want no Fat People
Don’t want no Fat People
Don’t want no Fat People
Round here
Fat People are just the same
As you and I
(A Fool Such As I)
All men are brothers
Until the day they die
(It’s A Wonderful World)
Fat People got nobody
Fat People got nobody
Fat People got nobody
To love
They got big fat legs
And their bellies hang low
You got to stretch your arms
Just to say hello
They got big old cars
That go beep, beep, beep
They got great big smiles
But they weep, weep, weep
They got big fat bottoms
And food on their mind
They’re gonna get you every time
Well, I don’t want no Fat People
Don’t want no Fat People
Don’t want no Fat People
‘Round here”
posted May 1, 2008 at 10:23 am
It’s easy to say that people are overweight in the United States because we’re greedy pigs lining up at the trough at the expense of the world. “Just look at all the fat people,” this article is saying. However, one thing that hardly gets much attention is the fact that a higher percentage of our foods (and they’re the foods that are more affordable to working families) are loaded with fats and syrups than in years past. With the cost of groceries going up steadily, people are going to continue choosing these more affordable foods. I don’t know many actual binge eaters, but I do know several people that are affected by the cost of groceries.
posted May 1, 2008 at 11:26 am
Precisely. The corn shortage? Everyone looks at ethanol.. but now much is going into ‘High Fructose Corn Syrup’? And that is in EVERYTHING. Things it certainly doesn’t need to be in, just adding unnecessary calories.
And the foods with the most of that in it, as noted, are the cheap foods. The foods the poor can afford.
posted May 1, 2008 at 2:06 pm
It looks like some environmentalists are going to get sat upon and squished.
posted May 1, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Guess that means Al G. will have to buy more carbon offsets, seeing as to how he’s a good bit chunkier these days, now that he’s the “king of green” (I keep forgetting he invented the environmental green movement, or was it the environment itself, or just the color green? I can never remember)… wonder if the author told him in advance?