Lose Weight: Save the Environment
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign claim that fat people use more gasoline.
[...] scientists conclude that each extra pound of body weight in all of today’s vehicles results in the need for more than 39 million gallons of extra gasoline usage each year.
Due to increasing body weight, an extra billion gallons of gas go into vehicles each year.
How about:
- huge SUV's
- the large range of inefficient vehicles on the market
- laziness
- poor urban design that discourages walking and cycling
- more people driving
More like this in Weird
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I think that in a world where cars like SUVs and luxury cars that move a couple feet for every gallon are produced, that blaming fat people is pretty outrageous.
If there is good public transport in a city, you don't need a car. I haven't driven in years. I walk, bike, or take the bus. On the other hand, in the city where I grew up, it was impossible to take a bus or walk, and I drove everywhere. So make sure there is public transport + tax vehicles, esp. the gas guzzlers, higher, and the problem will be solved.
ReplyTo extend their logic, we should not carpool, since gas mileage will apparently get worse as you add people to your vehicle.
ReplySo fat people are to blame for global warming?
ReplyI wonder if fat people are driving bigger vehicles and that is part of the problem. I know some big people, and they aren't comfortable driving compact cars that use less gas, they either drive SUVs or very large cars.
I would also add, that even in a city with good public transit and urban design that would facilitate less car use, really overweight/obese people may not walk, bike, or take the bus, because they aren't physically able to walk to the bus stop, or they are embarrassed because they don't fit into average bus seats...
I agree though, that it is a stretch to blame global warming on fat people...
ReplyEqually...children are to blame for global warming.
The more kids you have...the more you have to tote them around in your cars.
Little tommy and sarah add 100 extra pounds to your daily commute! Shame on them!
Replygive me a break!
Seems impossible, but I guess it's true.
ReplyMy husband figured out that the amount of extra gas an obese person would use is only a very very small percentage more than what a normal-weight person would use. There are more factors that affect mileage much more than that....wind resistance, speed of the vehicle, etc. I think there is a valid point to the fact that larger people tend to buy larger cars with poor fuel economy. But there are SO many more factors affecting the fuel consumption issue that impact things more than your weight.
I will say though...with a motorcycle, fuel mileage is noticeably worse when two people ride than with one. I guess it's because they aren't designed to hold a lot of weight...ours only holds 350 lbs maximum.
ReplyReally obese people, the kind that can't fit into a bus seat and that require a large car (even though I have a cousin who is huge, I'm guessing 450lb? and he drives a regular sedan by choice, cause he is stinking rich and could buy any car he wanted) are a very small percentage of the so-called "obesity epidemic". Even at my largest, 230lb, when I was technically morbidly obese, I was still not fat enough not to fit into a bus seat, to be unable to walk, and to require a special large car when I drove. My husband had a Ford Ka, a tiny little doll car, and I fit in there with no problem. So when they say it is 60% or some other number that is overweight, obese, or morbidly obese, the morbidly obese make up a small percentage of that, and I'm proof that not even all the morbidly obese need special transport consideration.
ReplyThis offends me. Completely offends me on so many levels. First, yeah, I'm overweight. It's not something I consciously choose (I understand the psychology of it, and I fight it every day), but the fat is there. I drive a large pickup truck. Are the two related. Absolutely not. The car I drove before that huge pickup was a little-tiny Saturn coupe. Why the pickup? Because now I live on a farm and have a need for the hauling capacity.
Second - this "study" is further proof that obese people are the last people that it's politically correct to pick on. What would happen if the study was just a little different, and specified that women cause poor gas mileage? After all, it's "well known" that "women drivers" are the worst out there, and driving affects gas mileage, so it's safe to say that women drivers diminish gas mileage, right?
Wow. This has me so ticked off that i just want to rant for hours. I'll spare you that hideousness...
ReplyOkay, yeah, there's lots of reasons to lose weight... but I think they may be stretching just a tad here. :)
ReplyTo respond to Jan: I wasn't saying that people necessarily "need" special transportation, but that often the bigger people I know choose larger vehicles for comfort's sake. Also, I agree that most people (besides the extremely morbidly obese) are "able" to walk to a bus stop, but if you are so large and so sedentary that a 10 minute walk is extremely uncomfortable, you are less apt to take public transportation. A member of my family avoids almost all movement, because it causes her such discomfort at her extreme size, even though she knows even a bit more movement would do her a lot of good.
ReplyHmmm - you see why I put this under category "Weird". Sometimes I really wonder about the value of some of this "research".
Replypsychsarah, I know what you are saying and I completely agree. I was just making a point that a study like this is often coupled with the "obesity scare" statistics and that all of us, when we see something like that, picture the "needs help to go to the bathroom" cases of extreme obesity - but in reality, if you count just those and discount the ones that are total shut-ins already, how much of an impact do they make?
Laura, pick-up trucks, the kind used by people who actually need them, don't get that bad a mileage. Now, fancy SUVs, that is a whole other story...
ReplyI think you're missing the big point here - people gain weight because they are not active... Therefore, the more a person drives, the more weight they will gain from being less active! Alas - as people drive more they will use more gas due to BOTH the driving they are doing as well as their consequent weight gain. It's all a vicious circle. The only way out is for people to demand better city planning to allow for walking, biking, and a variety of other transportation options. We can choose to live in a place that has these options! We can't just stand by blaming society for making us fat, we can make our own choices! Be active, be proactive!!
Check out this broastcast about global obesity:
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2006/09/28/midmorning2/
The rise in obesity in China has been shown to be directly related to the rise in the number of cars in that country.
ReplyI meant to add that I think it's completely ironic how we are blaming fat people for using extra gas when in fact it's really the extra driving we're now doing that's making us fat - and it's the *increase in driving* that's using extra gas!
ReplyWhile I agree that generally this is fairly silly, I *have* known people who choose to buy those HUGE gas guzzling SUVs specifically because they are extremely obese and need more room in the car. But the critical thing there is the gas mileage of the car, the amount of extra body weight is trivial in comparison to the additional weight of the chassis.
ReplySusan-thank you for pointing out the basic statistical truth that correlation does not equal causation! If more people understood this, much of the "research" headlined in the media would be interpreted more appropriately and perhaps there would be less confusion about nutrition, weight loss etc.
ReplyThis is so ridiculous! Next we'll start putting a limit on the number of children people should have because that adds extra weight to vehicles and increases gas consumption. There are so many factors that add to our gasoline consumption. And really, what is 25 pounds of someone's excess weight to a vehicle that already weighs 2000 pounds? It's negligible. So ridiculous.
ReplyAnd in response to those of you who commented that we should be walking more and driving less. Where I live, it's not possible. The only jobs are 20+ miles away from the housing I could afford. Could I move to somewhere that's cheaper to live and maybe find a similar job? Yes. But then I would be moving myself and my husband and children hundreds if not thousands of miles away from our parents/grandparents and that's something I choose not to do. And with my work schedule, my husband's work and school schedule and the kids pick up and drop offs at two different schools/daycare, public transportation isn't feasible. I choose to get my exercise by walking, biking, swimming and hitting the gym. My kids are active in sports and daily play and see mommy and daddy exercising and know it has to be part of your every day life.
ReplyHeather, public transport isn't feasible for a lot of people, but in many cases, if there were an adequate system in place, it would be. That is my point. There are only a handful of cities in the world with a decent public transport system. Isn't that sad?
ReplyWhile I agree that "correlation does not equal causation" there is truth to the fact that we're sitting more as a society - and the more we sit (i.e. working at computer, driving in a car, sitting in front of the TV), the bigger we get as a society.
Heather, I agree that it is important to get exercise even if you can't walk/bike to work, stores, etc. However, wouldn't it be nice if our environment were designed in such a way that DID allow us to do this?!
ReplyI have been obese for ten years. These ten years have been the most active of my life. I have no car - use no fuel, and I have regularly ridden a bycicle during these years. While riding that bike, slim people drive by in their empty fuel consuming trucks and laugh at me. What arrognace. What is most perplexing is that I was slim my whole life and thought of fat people the same way. I feel sick with shame at my own past discrimination ignorance. I do not eat more than I did when I was 115 pounds. I starting gaining for what were purely emotional reasons - marital breakdown - then poverty. As the public abuse got worse the wieght increased even more. People and especially doctors should think about what they say to fat people. They are indeed a part of the problem.
ReplyComment to Jan with regard to pulic transportation. You are right on the money. Bus commuters are gawked at and hurried by impatient drivers while freezing and walking which adds to the many discomforts of inconvenient commuting. The connnections are usually uncomfortable and inefficient. Job performance and reliability are at risk when we are dependant on hit and miss transit systems. Just 'arriving' to work should not be such a dilema. It should feel more like a priviledged choice to take the bus instead of a discriminatory one. We all want to be comfortable - it is not just fat people who hate misery. Thin people who are often more likely spoilt and pampered, also prefer their comforts.
Replyhaha thats a funny name psychsarah
ReplyWho are they gonna blame next Mcdonalds, China?
ReplyFunny, Lissa
ReplyWE ARE ALL RESPONSABLE for global warming when you dont take action to prevent something your allowing it to happen. You have to ask yourself why are so many people overweight, what are we doing wrong, why would anybody choose to consciously wake up in the morning with the risk of having a heart attack. MARIE ! u got it. how can we care about the earth when we dont even care about ourselves or eachother. let me tell you im only 18 but i can asure u ther is no difference between us and the earth with out trees an plants we dont exist. everybody's resposible frum oil companys to sumbudy hoo chose to drive to the corner store instead of walk don't look at wrongs or rights as big or small just wrong or right .
Replyevery single thing on this earth and universe is connected in one way or another when you live on a giant sphere, if you walk 12 feet in one direction to get away frum ur problems by ignoring them. 1 you just got 12 feet closer to that problem in another direction. you can't avoid it. think of 'you' as the human race . we really are all 1. and by not getting to the root of that problem , or leaving it an unsolved issue, these things will eventualy eat at you and koz u more problems.
Replyi am obese i used to drive apontiac grandam until the motor went out . i just feel more comfortable in something like a ford windstar or or i can fit behind the wheel of a regular vehicle if they would place the steering wheel higher up like in an astro van i love those but i cant afford any vehicle right now due to finances. but noone can blame the obeseon rising gas mileges.
Reply