Stating the Burning Obvious

As time goes by and the human race grows and expands to more and more places on Earth, we must be aware of the fact that we are making more demands on the planet's natural resources, space and (indirectly) food. We all need to be aware of our footprint (no, not of the carbon verity, don't get me started on that!) and more to the point we all need to be aware of the things that are putting pressure on what we can't renew.

I was surprised to read an article on fat, written, in this very context. We all know that as we run, cycle, swim or move, we need to burn energy to do so. If we just sleep the entire day sleeping, the lungs still need to move and the heart still needs to beat so the body will still be burning energy (admittidly, not as much). They then go on to say that people of a larger girth burn more engery at rest then leaner people.

All this energy must come from somewhere and the extra calories used by larger people (they claim 18% more) means they will be eating more food which means more water to grow the crops, more space used for farming and so on. So the whole point of this is that (as the headline suggests) fat is an environmental issue and a healthy lifestyle isn't just for your benefit.

I mention this because it made me think, how a lot of things we don't usually associate with environmental issues do in fact effect the planet in ways that aren't at first obvious.