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10-26-2006, 10:48 PM #1Web Hosting Master
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It's not terrorism, it's not supply, it's not global warming, you're just fatter.
Americans are spending more on petrol because they are getting fatter, according to a new study.
Cars in the US are using about a billion gallons more fuel annually than they would be if drivers weighed the same as they did in 1960, the Washington Post reported.
Adults are now an average of at least 24 pounds heavier than they were then.
At recent petrol prices in the US that means 2.2 billion dollars are spent at the pump each year because of America's weight problem.
"What we have here is a relationship that exists between the obesity epidemic and fuel consumption," study co-author Sheldon Jacobson, a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, told the newspaper.
The average man in the US weighs 13 stone 9 pounds, 25 pounds more than in 1960, while the average woman weighs 11 stone 10 pounds, up 24.
Prof Jacobson, an industrial engineer, calculates that Americans could save enough fuel to run 1.7 million vehicles for an entire year simply by trimming down to the size of the 1960 counterparts.
"What we have here is a socio-economic implication of obesity," he said.
"If people decide as a nation to get healthier and lose weight and be fitter, not only will we have a healthier country but we're actually going to reduce our dependence on foreign oil very covertly, simply because we're going to be using less."
The study is due to be published in the journal Engineering Economist.
Source :: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/a...udy/article.do
I'm sure some of you have heard about the story already, it was doing the rounds here in Britain earlier today.
Opinions?? Comments??
Critic,Last edited by Critic; 10-26-2006 at 10:52 PM.
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10-26-2006, 10:59 PM #2Web Hosting Master
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Well, it just proves that there are endless benefits to being on a healthy diet..even economic benefits
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10-26-2006, 11:05 PM #3Web Hosting Master
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I'm fat and accept that.
But global warming is a factor tooBig things coming soon
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10-26-2006, 11:07 PM #4Web Hosting Master
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You mean Global Warming caused your obesity?
Sarcasm, the 6th Ponyman of the Apocalypse.
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10-27-2006, 01:55 AM #5Web Hosting Master
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Science has screwed our world up so much.... I can't wait to see what excuses they use to get out of this one!
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10-27-2006, 05:14 AM #6Disabled
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Originally Posted by joshcrick
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10-27-2006, 05:23 AM #7Web Hosting Master
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Originally Posted by FluffyTigger
But no--global warming is a bad thing but it didnt cause me to get fat. If anything, itd make me skinnier cuz it makes me sweat more in the summer.
/me is tired lolBig things coming soon
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10-27-2006, 08:49 AM #8Web Hosting Master
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I know.... but remember, calling them fat hurts their feelings.
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10-27-2006, 09:15 AM #9Web Hosting Master
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all fat american needs to go on a diet.
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10-27-2006, 10:00 AM #10Web Hosting Master
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I bet if you pull a list of the top ten fattest cities, and then the top ten poorest cities, the list will be almost exactly the same.
Like Cleveland; the fattest & the poorest. There's a direct correlation between the two in my opinion.
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10-27-2006, 10:09 AM #11CISSP-ISSMP, CISA
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I'm 141 lbs at the moment which makes me the defacto volunteer to crawl into small spaces at the DC.
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10-27-2006, 02:01 PM #12Web Hosting Master
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Originally Posted by Nick H
"So, global warming caused your fat"
Obesity wasn't a choice, it was the only option!Sarcasm, the 6th Ponyman of the Apocalypse.
Please do not inquire about Tim, the 5th Ponyman.
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10-27-2006, 02:04 PM #13Web Hosting Master
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Originally Posted by inogeniusSarcasm, the 6th Ponyman of the Apocalypse.
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10-27-2006, 02:57 PM #14Web Hosting Master
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Sure, carting around more fat == increased fuel consumption.
But the study's conclusions are awfully simplistic. As other studies have shown, obesity affects disproportionately the less well off than the affluent. The affluent also happen to drive more, substantially more as a matter of fact according to stats from the EIA and BLS http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/rtecs/chapter3.html
Annual household income of $50,000 or higher, when coupled with the presence of teenagers of driving age in the household, boosted average vehicle-miles traveled per household to 40,200 miles in 1994. By comparison, in those households with annual income below $10,000, vehicle-miles traveled averaged only 13,200.
http://www.bts.gov/publications/nati...ble_01_32.html
Since the early 80's vehicle weights have expanded a lot more than our collective waistlines. The explosion of sales of vans and SUVs accounts for much of this. Thanks to the OPEC embargo in the 70's there was a dramatic move to small, light, cars. Detroit couldn't compete with offshore builders, and, thanks to free flowing and cheap oil, they decided to design heavier vehicles - trucks rebranded as "fun", the SUV, and promote the heck out of them. Since 1980 the mix of heavier vehicles has steadily increased. Roughly 40% of vehicles were under 3,000 lbs back in 1980, and fewer than 20% were > 4,000 points. As of 1997, fewer than 20% were < 3,000 lbs; 40+% > 4,000 lbs... completely flipping weight around.
People are driving a lot more, in much heavier vehicles.
History shows that consumers will tend to make the wrong choices, based on influence from marketers. Few people really need a big, heavy, truck or truck-like vehicle, but they've been buying them like crazy for 20 years.
Seems we only use our common sense when we are pushed to by a crisis. Stay tuned, its only a matter of time.
All in all, its totally unsustainable. Within our lifetimes we'll see not enough fuel to go around and then we'll all panic... we've built up our cities over many decades believing that the car would always be there... "car culture" is very strong in North America. When the fuel starts to become scarce, we'll be forced to change, and it will be hugely disruptive.Last edited by mwatkins; 10-27-2006 at 03:01 PM.
“Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under
considerable economic stress at this period in history.”
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10-27-2006, 03:07 PM #15Web Hosting Master
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Not really, it's not that difficult for us to switch to electric cars. We'll have a few decades to start doing that.
Sarcasm, the 6th Ponyman of the Apocalypse.
Please do not inquire about Tim, the 5th Ponyman.
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10-29-2006, 05:38 PM #16WHT Addict
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Wow... had no idea there was a correlation between the poorest cities and the fattest cities! FluffyTigger, do you have a link for those?
I'd always heard that we have ca. 10 years before global warming really gets out of control... Where do you derive your logic that we have a few decades to switch to electric cars?Kevin Owocki
http://www.owocki.com/
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10-29-2006, 06:35 PM #17Web Hosting Master
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It was on one of those 30 seconds nightly news clip. But you can google it and it'll return a lot of research materials on it.
Global warming has never been out of control nor will it ever be. The switch to electric vehicles is simply an economics switch due to lower oil supply. Right now we have over 100+ years of known reserves left, the number keep fluctuating so I don't base it on that, but at a certain point gas vehicle and the operating costs will be high enough that a significant portion of the population will switch to electric cars. As more and more people switch the economy of scale for electric vehicles deployment will increase, thus lowering the average cost and attracting even more people.
What you'll have will be kind like what happened when automobile first came out, it'll take a few decades for the gradual change to occur. Don't worry about it, the impact on your lifestyle will be very little as batteries get better. It'll be very gradual, one day you'll just drive an electric car, see everyone else has them too and reflect that 20 or 30 years prior people started buying em and now everyone got one.Last edited by FluffyTigger; 10-29-2006 at 06:40 PM.
Sarcasm, the 6th Ponyman of the Apocalypse.
Please do not inquire about Tim, the 5th Ponyman.
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10-29-2006, 07:17 PM #18Disabled
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I heard about this earlier this week. I always had an idea that it probably was a factor, but never choose to open my mouth about it.
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10-30-2006, 12:29 AM #19Web Hosting Master
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Originally Posted by mohamoud
No, you're wrong. All fat people need to go on a diet.
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10-30-2006, 04:22 AM #20Web Hosting Master
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No, you're wrong. All fat people need to go on a diet.
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10-30-2006, 06:43 AM #21Web Hosting Master
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Yeah forgot about that. What makes me laugh is when, especially women, think they can loose weight with just a diet (or starvation).
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10-31-2006, 02:32 AM #22Web Hosting Evangelist
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Originally Posted by FluffyTigger
That being said, I'm not fat and obese people sicken meHostingChoice - Shared and Reseller Hosting
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