A Global Cooling Diet?

Slightly weird news:

Obesity contributes to global warming, too.

Obese and overweight people require more fuel to transport them and the food they eat, and the problem will worsen as the population literally swells in size, a team at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine says.

But don't most healthier diets increase methane production?  Trade-offs.

At least the article gets the demand/quantity demand thingy right:

"Promotion of a normal distribution of BMI would reduce the global demand for, and thus the price of, food."

Comments

[Wy]

Well, considering that meat production has much higher amounts of methane production than equivalent grain production, maybe env-econ's solution can be ...

Eat Less Meat?

:P (Or price in the greenhouse gas emissions and raise the cost of meat)

[David Zetland]

Yeah -- that methane comment is a red herring. I doubt that 3,500 cal/day of McD's produces less methane than 2,500 cal/day of salad bar...

Fat people are creating another externality (besides visual pollution) -- tax 'em! (Wait, are they already taxed via higher insurance premia? They sure should be...)

[DOUG ECKENROD]

Maybe the heavens gate folks figured it out for us. Mass suicide!!!!!!!!!Wait, MY WILL CALLS FOR CREAMATION. Darn, more carbon release.....You know Ill be really pissed of this new global cooling theory pans out. I planned on investing in AL's company before the IPO. I guess it really is LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION.

[DJ]

I think the "methane" comment refers to what happens when we switch from eating meat to eating beans...

On a more serious note, I've been trying to find reliable info on the global warming impact of eating meat (both ruminant and non-ruminant). So far, the hard data I can find is outdated and disputed. I have no doubt that factory-farmed beef is less eco-friendly than eating veg, but how to compare backyard free-range chicken or eggs (or goat or pork for that matter) with factory farmed pinto beans?