A research team at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine is pinpointing obesity as a key cause of global warming. Their argument is that it costs more in fuel to transport heavier people. Also, obese people require more food to sustain themselves.

The World Health Organization predicts that by 2015, more than 700 million people worldwide will be obese. The London-based research team feels this overweight trend will have a hefty impact on the environment as well as health.

The researchers found that people who are obese consume nearly 18% more food than their thinner counterparts. This can impact the environment by creating a higher food supply demand and by causing more food travel miles. Also, the researchers state that thin people are more likely to walk than rely on cars for travel. What do you think?

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Climatologists and those who monitor global environment conditions are mad as hell -- and they aren't going to take it any more.

More than 200 leading climate scientists basically demanded this week that global government leaders start taking "radical" actions now to stem the upcoming climate problems, hinting that every moment lost was just one step closer to oblivion.

At the same time, many of Asia's largest cities could be threatened by rising sea levels within a few decades. Miami, Florida is listed as the ninth city that could see tremendous issues due to rising sea levels.

Are greenhouse gas reductions the answer? That's pretty much a forgone conclusion. What are you doing to help? The more small things we can all do contribute to a much larger effort later.

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As a person, global warming leaves me wondering what the future holds for our planet. As a parent, it leaves me wondering what that future planet will be like for my children. That's a question that no one can answer right now, but the American Academy of Pediatrics recently released a report that claims that children are likely to be hit harder by changing climate than the rest of us.

The AAP is concerned that increased pollution will cause an increase in diseases like asthma, and that the increased rainfall will bring about more waterborne infections. In addition, as mosquito zones increase, so does malaria -- particularly dangerous to young children. The AAP has recommended that pediatricians add their voice to the issue by educating their local officials. You can find links to the actual report and the AAP's policy statement here.

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We've seen this before -- the Bush Administration seems to get hold of evidence of testimony related to global warming and evidently puts it through the meat grinder before public release.

In the latest edition, the White House is accused of severely editing congressional testimony given this past week by CDC's director on the impact of climate change on the country. Specifically, the CDC addressed issues like the impact of global warming changes on human health -- which were apparently removed from the documents for unknown reasons.

While it's hard to take this at face value, the agendas of different Presidential administrations always edit things of this nature depending on who's looking. While global warming has its supporters and detractors, the truth is, well, still lurking in the shadows somewhere.

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Being a steward of our natural resources is a gratifying adventure. Whether global warming is a theory you embrace or dismiss, most of us are varying shades of green when it comes to the footprint we leave on the environment. Maybe you are an avid recycler, drive a hybrid, a Sierra Club member or simply grow heirloom tomatoes in your garden. Each and every decision makes a difference.

Even the fitness clothing we purchase can impact the earth's natural resources, depending on the philosophy of the clothing manufacturer. Design, durability and use of recycled materials go a long way to lessen the stress on our planet.

Based in Boulder, Colorado, GoLite is a leading manufacturer of lightweight outdoor adventure clothing and gear. Their designs use less raw materials, incorporate recycled contents where feasible, and they even offer a lifetime guarantee on every product to reduce consumerism. Other on-line clothing manufacturers to consider are Gaiam, Patagonia and Timberland. Check out this recent article summarizing the philosophies of these four eco-friendly sources for fitness clothes and gear. GoLite and Go Green!

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It's been a busy day for heart health matters, but in a new report from Sweden, heart health was found to be possibly affected by that constant media item, global warming.

That's right -- in addition to melting glaciers and changing the composition of the world's oceans, global warming may have the capability to drastically affect global cardiovascular health in the next 50 years.

It's interesting to note that the report referenced the European heat wave four years ago when tens of thousands died due to extreme heat. The death rate was much higher than medical officials estimated -- so what caused all those extra deaths?

An interesting verbal comparison was made by a Johns Hopkins physician, who said "The hardening of the heart's arteries is like rust developing on a car ... rust develops much more quickly at warm temperatures and so does atherosclerosis."

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Have you been making an effort to eat locally? Why? There are lots of reasons, but one of the biggest ones is the thought that the shorter the distance food travels to get to you the smaller the carbon footprint it leaves in the way of consuming fossil fuels. But measuring the environmental impact by "food miles" alone can be surprisingly misleading. Once other factors like production, water use, and harvesting techniques are put in the equation suddenly local isn't always better.

Case in point: lamb raised in the lush fields of New Zealand and shipped across the ocean by boat to England use four times less energy and environmental resources than lamb raised in British pastures, because there the fields are exhausted and the farmers use feed. And meat isn't the only product where it may be more energy-efficient to buy it from across the globe than from across town, similar situations were found for dairy and fruit.

Wow, what a mess. How are we supposed to know?

Via Slashfood

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When you think of ways that one might draw attention to global warming, the first thing that comes to mind may not be standing on top of a glacier...naked. But that's what several volunteers will be doing when Spencer Tunick -- who is famous for other naked-people-in-public-places pictures -- gathers them together for a photo shoot to highlight the shrinking Swiss glaciers.

The photo shoot was requested by Greenpeace, but before you run out to buy those plane tickets so that you can participate, you may want to reconsider. Because this is meant to be a green event, sponsors ask that participants use public transportation to get to the event and don't fly. I guess that means that any Americans who want to take off their clothes in the name of global warming will have to do so somewhere else!

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A vegetarian lifestyle will help with the global warming problem, according to Paul McCartney, who says that "Livestock farming is one of the biggest destroyers of the planet ... When you see the Amazon being cut down for hamburger cattle, that's pretty obvious." So he wants us to all go veggie, which I think is a great idea, although at the moment the thought of giving up chicken wings for good is enough to send me into a mini-panic attack. But I think he's right, and if we could all put aside our meat cravings, our planet would be healthier.

Paul McCartney has been using his star-power to better the earth for some time now, and I think that he's done a lot of good.

What do you think of Sir Paul and his environmental crusading?

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Thanks to Al Gore, we're all getting a little more aware of CO2 emissions and global warming. But here's another threat to our earth, and it comes from the garbage dump: Methane. Methane is produced by landfills, that place where most of your garbage is probably going. And methane in the atmosphere traps more heat than CO2 -- by a lot.

If we all took steps to reduce the amount of garbage our family produces -- by recycling, re-using, composting and buying products with environmentally-friendly packaging -- I think it would be a major step towards making this earth livable for future generations. Don't you agree?

Via Fitsugar.

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Are the changes being brought on by global warming already affecting human health? That was the question up before more than a dozen Asian countries yesterday.

Flooding, drought, heat waves and other weather-related maladies (like mosquito-borne illnesses) are the topics at hand as these countries meet, and the World Health Organization (WHO) has even said that climate change has already directly or indirectly killed more than one million people since 2000.

Those are mighty harsh estimates to be honest, but with half that number happening in the PacRim area , the motive to plan for the fallout from more global weather effects is no small matter? Want more? How about urban air pollution killing more than 800,00 each year?

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Vehicle idling is a huge contributor to this big scary global warming thing, and though climate change might seem very far removed from your life, it's not -- it affects all of us and we need to take action to make our world a healthier place.

For starters, here's a quiz on Idling your car the contains some interesting facts. In the winter, for example, you only need to warm up your car for 30 seconds before you drive it -- no need to leave it idling in your driveway.

A word of warning about the quiz: When you click on Answer, it shows you the answer to all the questions, not just that one. So if you want to really test yourself, wait until the end to look at the answers.

What did you get?

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A diet that shrinks your clothing size and your impact on the environment? Sounds too good to be true but a new book by American chef Laura Stec and environmental expert Eugene Cordero called the Global Warming Diet attempts to do just that, and I think it's a great idea -- obesity and climate change are two of the most important issues out there these days and this seems to be a sort of 'kill two birds with one stone' kind of endeavor. Let's face it -- we could all use with a wake-up call that encourages to work on both our health and our environment.

However, I haven't actually read the book. Have you? If so, what do you think?

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I can't decide what I think about Lewis Gordon Pugh's plan to swim in record-cold waters at the North Pole this summer. He'll be doing it in the name of global warming (as little as 10 years ago it was ice, not water), the big day is July 15th, and this would be a seriously life-threatening endeavor for most people because no human has ever swam in waters this cold before. Ever. And although 37 year old Pugh has experience with cold-water swimming he has still been training for this extensively by increasing his weight and spending time swimming in a specially designed ice pool. Awesomeness or craziness? All I know is it doesn't sound fun!

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Is the planet consistently becoming warmer? Scientists the world over have evidence of global warming, yet the methods that produce this kind of environment are being ignored in many ways. Even if the planet is not warming up, is it a good idea to cut the emissions of greenhouse gases?

Don't tell this to the U.S. Senate, which defeated a proposal yesterday that would have required the Army Corps of Engineers (CoE) to consider the impact of climate change in designing water resources projects. This is a big deal, since the CoE designs massive lakes and rivers used in many states.

I'm not sure of the possible political nonsense that caused a proposal like this not to be passed (what could be the reason, I wonder), but designing a "green" lifestyle and trying to reduce the amount of contribution to possible warming of our planet still sounds like something all people and organizations should be involved in, right?

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