The AP has a gem of a story entitled “Fighting fat and climate change,” where the author combines two of today’s more popular scare stories.
The science doesn’t seem very rigorous: “The average person walking half an hour a day [instead of driving] would lose about 13 pounds a year.” Were I to follow this advice, I would apparently disappear from the face of the earth after about 13 years.
Alas, the piece is pessimistic about the people using their cars less and eating less red meat. Scientist Kristie Ebi laments that “It turns out changing people’s habits is very hard.”
She’s right. And I’d appreciate it if she’d stop trying. Thousands of people still die of malaria every year. Over a billion people do not have access to clean water. And Ebi gets worked up about… using less gasoline. Priorities, please.
Inertia Wins! 