• Me & the Future of the Planet

    May 22, 2008

    I am sure that you can’t tell from reading anything I have written so far that I am considered over-weight. Yeah, if you have met me in person, you will know but for those reading here - medically speaking I am considered obese. This is hard to admit publicly but in reality it is obvious when you see me. I don’t “feel” obese, in fact I have generally prided myself on my ability to pretty much be like the next guy activity wise (ok I may wheeze and pant a bit) but I have tried to live I guess you would say, in denial, but I would argue that I was aware of it but chose to try overcome the stereotype overweight kid.

    You would also notice that I am very Kingdom focused, including eco-consciousness and focused on living the whole of my life for the Kingdom. So, yes, while my family have been trying to save water, cut fuel usage, eat healthily and shop locally, it as quite a wake-up call to read this article that Brian at Curious in Ibiza linked to in his post about obesity, with some lively comments and discussion on obesity and flying, the poor etc.

    But it was the article on the BBC News site that has stopped me in my tracks to consider my life and in particular my casualness to my weight. The article has the headline “Obese blamed for the world’s ills” - which is enough to get you fired up! But then it goes on to say,

    Obese people are contributing to the world food crisis and climate change, experts say.

    Apparently it has been calculated that the obese consume 18% more calories than average, and are responsible for using more fuel,

    … which has an environmental impact and drives up food prices as transport and agriculture both use oil.

    The result is that the poor struggle to afford food and greenhouse gas emissions rise, the Lancet reported.

    It comes as the World Health Organization predicts the obese population will double by 2015 to 700m.

    The obese (including me apparently) consume a fifth more calories than normal with the higher than normal food consumption increasing the demand for food, driving up production, which uses more agricultural processes, using more oil to meet demand, contributing to the rising cost of oil, which is passed onto the cost of food. In addition, we are more likely to rely on transport more, straining transport, driving up prices and usage.

    So, while I agree with the gist of the article I must also agree with Dr David Haslam;

    But Dr David Haslam, of the National Obesity Forum, said it was “stretching it a bit” to blame the obese in the way that the study appeared to do.

    “Really, it is discriminatory towards obese people. They are an easy target at the moment, but I think the causes of climate change and rising food prices is much more complex.”

    However, getting serious about Kingdom living as a lifestyle and not just something I do compels me to take what this article says and consider how my life, obsesity and all, reflects the Kingdom. I have in fact wondered how the guys at The Dining Room, perceive me volunteering, serving them a hot meal, with some the only hot meal for the day. So, what I believe this article has helped me with is taking the problem of my obeseity from just being a health issue for myself and my family, but one that impacts the world around me, and not just my neighjbours, but the Planet! Scarey stuff indeed!

    Any thoughts?

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    • Recent Comments

    • smokinmags said...

      1

      I think it is an interesting topic Neal. Thanks for your honesty.
      Once you get into rising food prices, climate change issues I think you also have to look at meat eating, especially western country’s. Typically livestock uses more land to produce the same calories from grown food.
      Anyway one of the things that we try to do is only have one meat dish a week. Excluding fish.

      05/22/08 5:38 PM | Comment Link

    • Niall said...

      2

      Thanks for the comment mate. Much appreciated!

      Yeah - meat eating is one area that I have thought about and considered and while I am not yet prepared to become a vegetarian - grass fed beef and lamb is best - particularly if you can get it from local farmers or butchers that stock local farmers meat. I think I have found a butcher that does that, so while not cutting out meat it is helping cut down transport costs etc. But yes, I agree with you about the livestock and consumption problems.

      We try to eat a mix of red and white meat including fish etc each week. I am starting to turn-off pork though so we don’t have that very often.

      There are some great sites about all this and I am learning quite a bit about nutrition and the human body from doing the Gabriel Method - more on that later. I will also be posting about a great film I have just discovered that deals with our diet in the twenty-first century. More on that later.

      Keep commenting!

      06/6/08 5:33 PM | Comment Link

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