A recent Lancet article argued that obesity is contributing to global warming because the obese consume more calories.
Since making food releases carbon, that means an obese person, on average, is worse for global warming than a skinny person. (Not to mention the extra methane the obese might release, but that is my father’s area of expertise, not my own.)
Just to put these arguments into perspective, I made some simple calculations for the United States.
Let’s say that food production is responsible for 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions — although I suspect that is too high. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2006 were the equivalent of roughly 7 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide. If food production accounts for 20 percent, then food production resulted in the emission of 1.4 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide.
According to Wikipedia, the social cost of a ton of carbon dioxide is $12. So the greenhouse gases released to make the food Americans ate in 2006 had a social cost of $16.8 billion.
There are about 300 million Americans who consume about 1,500 calories per day. If my calculations are correct, then the appropriate global warming tax would be about $1 for every ten thousand calories consumed.
According to the Lancet article, the obese consume about 400 extra calories per day. So the appropriate tax on the obese to account for their extra global warming impact would be a little over $1 per month.
In other words, the effect is too small to even be talking about.
But as long as we are having the conversation, if we want to blame the obese for global warming, those who engage in recreational exercise like jogging or biking for pleasure should surely be discouraged from doing so because of global warming.
Someone who jogs an hour per day burns an extra 1,000 calories daily … far more than an obese person. Such wasteful burning of calories must be discouraged if we are to save the planet.
I hereby call for the next president of the United States to pass legislation imposing a carbon tax of 10 cents per hour on all recreational burning of calories. To save the planet, we must encourage people to sit at home and burn as few calories as possible.
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FYI–this from an article in Slate today:
According to a study published in Animal Science Journal last August, creating a pound’s worth of beef releases the same amount of greenhouses gases-the equivalent of 36.4 pounds of carbon dioxide-as driving a car 155 miles at 50 miles per hour. And that’s an underestimate of the industry’s total impact, since the study didn’t account for emissions from farm equipment or the fuel expended on transporting product from killing floor to supermarket.
I still can’t believe that people can publish things like “obesity is contributing to global warming” with a straight face.
I’ll throw in my $.02 by saying that I consume way more calories in shape than out of shape. That being said suggesting that fat people are aiding global warming ridiculous. That’s like saying that there are too many people and suggesting that we off some fat people to make up the balance.
Trying to get people to lose weight to curb global warming is treating a symptom of the problem. We need a major shift in our society and culture to cure this problem. A few one off things like hybrids and diets aren’t going to solve the problem. They will most likely do nothing and at best slightly delay the inevitable.
All of your figures are WAY off. 1500 calories/day is not close. Maybe 2500. Few adult males could survive on 1500 calorie/day diets. In the caloric restriction society, where members purposefully starve themselves to reduce aging, most men eat at least 1800 calories/day.
And jogging 1 hour/day does not burn 1000 calories unless you are jabba the hut. Maybe 500 for a light man, depending on various factors.
Works for me! Forget the Marathon I’m training for – I need to save money and the environment by sitting at home!
Well, let’s add that one to the list of things that are contributing to global warming.
Heck, let’s just simplify it and just say that our existence is contributing to global warming. Occam’s Razor, amirite?
Food production is a huge contributer to global warming, especially the way we produce meat in this country.
Read the book Omnivore’s Dilemma, gives a really good look at just how destructive factory farming and corn are on the environment.
Think how much carbon is produced in the growing, refinement and shipping of cotton. If we all just moved to the tropics and ran around naked, we’d severely cut carbon emissions. And we wouldn’t need as much electricity for entertainment either!
1000 calories per day for an hour of running…
isn’t quite correct. According to calorielab.com (sited in the shangrila diet book) it depends on what kind of running were talking about. You can dip below 600 if your just “gereally jogging”.