Happy Earth Day. If you’re looking for something useful to do today (other than picking up a free coffee), you might try checking if you can see your toes.
It turns out the world’s population is getting fatter, and that adds to the already heavy load on the planet, greenhouse gas-wise.
No, the problem is not excessive flatulence, although I expect that doesn’t help. The problem, according to British researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, is the fatter we get, the more likely we are to use our cars to get around and the more fuel those cars have to burn to haul our sorry butts around.
There is no doubt the species is increasing in bulk. Between 1994 and 2004 in England, the average body mass index (BMI) increased from 26 to 27.3 for men and 25.8 to 26.9 for women. I regret to report that anyone with a BMI of more than 25 is considered overweight, and over 30 is obese. In Canada two-thirds of the population is overweight and one-quarter is obese. South of the border, birthplace of the Big Mac, 40 per cent are obese.
The British researchers estimate one billion lean people will emit one billion fewer tonnes of carbon dioxide a year than one billion fat people.
So how’s that for an incentive? Lose weight; save the planet.
I confess I’ve already been inadvertently saving the planet. I started losing weight this January when I realized there was no way I was going to run the Vancouver Marathon in time to qualify for the Boston Marathon, the Holy Grail of marathons, if I continued to weigh in at a porky 205 pounds.
So now I weigh 179, with a BMI of 24.3. Mother Earth has yet to send me a thank-you card even though I check the mail every day, but I guess she’s pretty busy shouldering the increased load.
OK, maybe she won’t notice the reduction, but you’ve got to start somewhere. I have to admit I haven’t felt this, uh, bouncy in years. It may not be enough to beat four hours in the marathon on May 3, which is what I need to do to qualify for Boston, but lumbering around the streets of Vancouver for 26 miles at 205 pounds is no fun. For so many reasons, light is right.
So Canada, I dare you. Take the challenge: Look down. No toes? Then it’s time to get off the couch, get out of the car, and put one foot in front of the other. Take a load off Mother Earth … and yourself.
