Obesity has been in the headlines a lot recently, with health care dominating discussions in Washington most of the focus has been on the health considerations and how it seems to be permeating American culture. There was even some controversy when President Obama named Dr Regina Benjamin, a clinically obese woman, to be the nation’s Surgeon General.

And while the health considerations are important, especially if the US adopts some sort of single-payer health care system, I’m here to talk about the environmental impact of an obese population.

A report out of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (man I wish I had a more prestigious sounding source) claims that a lean population such as that of Vietnam would consume 20% less food and produce fewer greenhouse gases than a country with a 40% rate of obesity. The report went on to say that if taken into account, the lessened energy costs of transporting thin people as opposed to overweight individuals could save 1 gross ton per person in annual carbon emissions.

The news that a heavy person has a larger carbon footprint than a normal person has made a few waves in the media, leaving some to question whether we should really be ‘trying to make them feel even guiltier than they already do’. I will make sure to use that excuse the next time I fire up the G4.

Michael Moore should make a documentary about this. Oh that’s right.

Read the rest of this entry »

A report released by 1E, an IT energy consultant, says half of US workers don’t power down their PC’s at night resulting in energy wastes upwards of $2.8 billion US Dollars. The figures are equally disturbing in some of the other countries polled with wastes in Germany alone at over one-billion Dollars.

It would seem that many people don’t want to wait the three minutes in the morning it takes for their PC to start up. Or maybe some still think it’s bad for the computer or somehow energy inefficient to power down at night. While that may have been true in the early era of personal computing, it hasn’t been the case for the last fifteen years.

If you personally turn off your computer when you leave the office but are concerned about your coworkers habits, you should try to petition your company to install some type of energy reduction software on the computer network.

But before we get ahead of ourselves here, while it seems like a win-win to just turn off the computers at night therefore saving money and reducing carbon emissions, that would clearly be a shortsighted solution as it fails to take into account the three minutes of the American worker’s time which, unlike our environment, can’t be replaced.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Indian minister of the environment recently rejected scientific claims that the country’s Himalayan glaciers are melting saying things like ’science’ and ‘facts’ couldn’t replace the knowledge gained by local experience. The scientific community however is maintaining its stance asserting that a large number of the glaciers may disappear entirely by the year 2035 [1]. To stress the importance of the issue, in total the Himalayan glaciers feed rivers that supply water to about 40% of the world’s population.

This comes as the developed world continues to push for more action from developing nations to curb emissions. The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, recently appealed to India to embrace a low carbon future and not repeat the mistakes of the developed world in seeking fast industrialization. India has so far rejected the first world’s overtures, joining Brazil and China in refusing to agree to any cuts or curbs to the growth of future emissions.

Read the rest of this entry »

At the beginning of the year the People’s Republic of China imposed an outright ban on thin-grade plastic bags. It was widely hailed as a sign of environmental progress in the traditional thinking China, however some were skeptical that the ban might simply be ignored as some other previous ones such as the ban on wooden chopsticks have been.

Seven months later having just come from mainland China I can tell you that the ban is mostly being ignored. On several occasions I was offered thin plastic bags at grocery stores without having requested them. However one place that has taken the ban to heart is Papa John’s. One customer who expressed displeasure at being forced to pay two-Renminbi for a cloth tote bag had this to say when asked to comment: ‘who gives a fuck about the environment?’

In neighbouring Hong Kong the local government has recently implemented a fifty cent surcharge for each plastic bag used in the territory. It seems to be working quite well with a lot of people now carrying their own bags to the store. However it’s only been implemented at large chain stores, meaning the local and smaller stores are continuing to offer plastic bags at the same pace as before.

Read the rest of this entry »

An article ran in Men’s Health this month entitled ‘The Truth About Bottled Water’, needless to say I was intrigued to read its sordid tales.

To summarize the contents of the article:

One. Basically bottled water is just tap water but without the government oversight. Twenty-two percent of the brands tested by the Natural Resources Defense Council contained chemical contaminants above state mandated health limits.

Two. If you store bottled water above room temperature for long periods of time chemicals from the plastic might seep into the container’s contents.

Three. Seventeen million barrels of oil are used annually in the production of water bottles. Eighty-six percent of these bottles will be thrown into the rubbish bin instead of being recycled and it’s there they will begin their half-millennia path to decomposition. Now if you can imagine that but multiplied by the worldwide annual consumption rate of 89 billion litres, it’s clear that we simply don’t have enough space in our landfills for all of these plastic containers.

So please everyone, do the earth a favour and drink from your taps occasionally. If that’s not an option due to rusty pipes or you’re living in a country without strong water health regulations, try reusing five-gallon water jugs.

Read the rest of this entry »

Many of you know the mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, as one of the nation’s most progressive leaders on the environment. His crusades have seen him squaring off against everything from smoking to street congestion.

Earlier this year he strengthened the city’s anti-idling laws to restrict cars from idling for longer than three minutes, however the AP claims that Bloomberg routinely violates his own policies and leaves his official city SUVs idling for hours at a time. See whenever Bloomberg travels around the city he either uses his official SUVs or is trailed by said vehicles. So even when the mayor takes the subway in an attempt to seem in touch with the working man, he’s still trailed by the SUVs. And thanks to the AP’s stalking it would seem that whenever the mayor gives a speech or stops at an official function, his vehicles stay idling.

Hopefully after getting slammed by the AP all of this idling business will stop. I still like Bloomberg for all he’s done, however if hypocrisy were a crime he would be in jail along with the rest of us, and Al Gore.

Read the rest of this entry »

The U.S. Energy Secretary is currently in China in an attempt to encourage the nation to set 2050 emission standards. The US wants China and other developing nations to join the US and Europe in efforts to significantly decrease emissions by the mid-century mark. China for the most part has rejected these demands on grounds that developing countries started polluting first. Now while that sounds like an air-tight argument, keep in mind, this would also justify slavery and nuclear warfare.

Meanwhile this is all taking place as China seeks to develop the world’s largest green industry, albeit while using some market protectionism. China already lays claim to the world’s largest solar panel industry and is fast on Europe’s tail in the wind turbine market. However when China has authorized renewable energy projects in its own country they have sought to exclude European and American companies from the bidding, either outright or through various technicalities. This has elicited cries of protectionism from the west.

China has countered the claims saying their nation wouldn’t make such a large investment in renewable energies, which are more expensive than coal, if it didn’t also mean significantly building up their own local green industries.

To me it seems as if the west would like China to become a greener country, but if their companies can’t make any money off the transition their enthusiasm quickly dissipates. Personally I’m ok with market protectionism if that’s what China needs to man up and start taking responsibility for its own emissions.

Read the rest of this entry »

Police are currently investigating a possible link between Jessica Alba and vandalism on the dark and dirty streets of Oklahoma City. As if being a criminal wouldn’t be hot enough, the alleged crime is that she defaced public property with posters of great white sharks in an attempt to raise awareness of their declining numbers.

Whether her campaign will be met with any form of success isn’t yet known, but one thing is clear… Hayden Panettiere can suck it!

Read the rest of this entry »

The war of words between Canada and the European Union escalated recently when the Canadian governor general gutted a seal and then ate its heart. When asked to comment, an official European Union spokesperson declared that the events were ‘too bizarre to merit a response’. It remains to be seen how the European Union will respond to such a flagrant affront, but if I were a betting man I would soon expect to see a maple tree massacre on the pages of Le Monde.

Read the rest of this entry »

The European Union Parliament recently voted overwhelmingly to ban the importation of all seal products from Canada, as a protest to Canada’s widely criticised seal hunts.

For those of you who don’t know, every spring Canada opens its hunting season on seals, with an annual quota of 350,000 animals. The seals are then brutally slain by fishermen brandishing nail boards. Adding to the barbarism, the seals targeted are the baby seals as they have a white coat which can be used for fur products. The official claim is that the hunt helps subsidize off-season fishermen’s income and therefore is important to the country’s economy. But the truth is, fishermen in Canada receive less than 2% of their yearly income from the hunts.

It remains to be seen whether the EU ban on seal products will have any effect on Canada’s longstanding tradition. However, it is a step in the right direction.

Read the rest of this entry »