Global Warming Caused By Obesity

Well, partly. MichaelM. sends this--

Obesity Takes A Toll On The Road

Chew on this next time you're idling in the drive-thru line: Cars on U.S. roads must burn nearly on billion additional gallons of gas a year because of overweight drivers and passengers. That was the conclusion of University of Illinois computer science professor Sheldon Jacobson, who, with colleague Laura McLay, used a mathematical model to combine federal data on gas consumption and weight gain from 1960 to 2002. They found that the average American's weight jumped by more than 24 pounds over the period and that as a group, we now pump at least 938 million more gallons a year than we did in 1960. A relative drop in the gas bucket (about three days' worth of passenger car consumption), but it's unnecessary. Want to do something today to boost fuel economy? Eat fewer cookies.

Hm.

Might want to lay off the pork chops there, bud.

posted by Ace at 05:25 PM

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