Weather wise
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.WE HAVE all been most unfair to the Americans on the topic of global warming, for it seems to me that there is one neglected aspect of the problem in which they have been making a small but consistently improving contribution. I refer to obesity.
If I understand the global warming debate correctly, one of the major greenhouse gases is carbon dioxide. Human beings lessen the problem by merely existing. Every person stabilises a small amount of carbon (only enough, they say, to make two lead pencils, but every little bit counts) that might otherwise turn into carbon dioxide. On the other hand, we all make a positive contribution to the amount of carbon dioxide in the air every time we exhale.
There must come a point when an individual has breathed out more carbon dioxide than he or she has stabilised. From that moment on, that person becomes a net contributor to global warming. And world-wide, as the human life span increases, our exhalations become more and more of a potential problem.
There are two ways out of this dilemma: the Eastern solution is Yoga, which can teach us all to breathe more slowly; the Western answer is obesity. Statistics show that Americans are fat and getting fatter. I may be wrong about this, but it seems to me that, perhaps subconsciously, they are doing this not out of gluttony or a love of junk food, but through a deep- rooted sense of ecological responsibility. Get fat; stabilise more carbon; and you can go on breathing out with a clear conscience.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments