“Fatties Cause Global Warming”
Great news – they’ve found yet another stick with which to beat the unsuspecting fattie. This time, it combines prejudice with another contentious and highly divisive issue where we’re just dying to lay the blame at someone else’s doorstep. Epidemiologists have concluded that fatties cause global warming. And you can just imagine the headlines that have followed! Asked onto a network radio station as patron of the National Obesity Forum, I suddenly found myself under attack for almost single handedly precipitating glacial melting, rising sea levels and holes in the ozone layer. On the face of it, the science looks interesting, of course. The rising number of fat people throughout the world demands more food production — a major cause of CO2 gas emissions warming the planet, melting polar ice caps, raising sea levels and killing rain forests. Added to that, overweight people might be more likely to drive, adding to environmental damage. In fact, according to the researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, each fat person is said to be responsible for emitting a tonne more of climate-warming carbon dioxide per year than a thin one! But it’s plainly ridiculous to suggest fat people are causing universal catastrophe. The real truth behind nonsensical headlines like “Fatties Cause Global Warming” and “Fat Tax To Save The World” is that obesity and global warming are caused by the same thing – over consumption. Our bodies are just smaller versions of this planet – and both are suffering due to negligence. To find that the two are so closely linked is in one way, obvious and simplistic. In another way, it’s almost spiritual. The clear way to look after ourselves – to slow down, remind ourselves that the important things in life are health, loved ones, and altruism, get out into the fresh air and enjoy the world – well, isn’t that the same way to look after our planet? When I was researching for my book about the global obesity epidemic (Winning The Fat War), an Australian doctor told me the story of Nauru, the Pacific island just south of the Equator. Its people were, until recently, the fattest in the world. Phosphate mining made them rich - in fact, Nauru boasted the highest per-capita income in the world, but its people were suffering from appalling health - heart disease was rife and diabetes a big killer. Finally, about ten years ago, the phosphate mines ran out – and the island was left with no industry and few skills. The people have had to learn to be fishermen again. Their health – and their waistlines – are now returning. To many medics, it’s been a revelation. Meanwhile, our Western culture continues its intolerant attitude towards fat and body image with the furore over the woman the Mirror decided to dub “The Middle-aged Hairy Angel” – Susan Boyle, the newest star of Britain’s Got Talent. I thought it outrageous that those three judges, Simon Cowell, Amanada Holden and especially Piers Morgan, thought it even acceptable to flaunt their prejudice – openly admitting to an audience of millions that they never expected real talent to come out of a body – LIKE THAT! They were truly shocked. They could barely believe that a woman without make-up, magic underwear, breast implants and hair colour, could still sing like a nightingale and boast a personality to boot! Isn’t that shocking? I dread to think what they are going to do with her. Of course, the makeover will only be allowed after they have milked every last drop of publicity from the shock value of the hairy housewife look. It’s this sort of upside-down thinking, obsession with image instead of reality, that generates the hot air which causes global warming. Not the extra pound or two of flab around the waist of Susan Boyle nor any of the rest of us. This article was first published in Nursing Standard |
