In the '80s, rock musician Joe Jackson published a song called "Everything Gives You Cancer."
Recent assertions by England's Green Party parliamentary candidate Chris Goodall suggest that sometime soon, someone - maybe Al Gore sycophant Sheryl Crow - is going to write a hit song called "Everything Causes Global Warming."
As reported by the Times Online Saturday in a piece hysterically titled "Walking to the Shops ‘Damages Planet More Than Going By Car'" (grateful h/ts to all NBers and readers who forwarded this article for consideration, emphasis added throughout):
Walking does more than driving to cause global warming, a leading environmentalist has calculated.
Food production is now so energy-intensive that more carbon is emitted providing a person with enough calories to walk to the shops than a car would emit over the same distance. The climate could benefit if people avoided exercise, ate less and became couch potatoes. Provided, of course, they remembered to switch off the TV rather than leaving it on standby.
Absolutely amazing. But there was more:
The sums were done by Chris Goodall, campaigning author of How to Live a Low-Carbon Life, based on the greenhouse gases created by intensive beef production. "Driving a typical UK car for 3 miles [4.8km] adds about 0.9 kg [2lb] of CO2 to the atmosphere," he said, a calculation based on the Government's official fuel emission figures. "If you walked instead, it would use about 180 calories. You'd need about 100g of beef to replace those calories, resulting in 3.6kg of emissions, or four times as much as driving.
"The troubling fact is that taking a lot of exercise and then eating a bit more food is not good for the global atmosphere. Eating less and driving to save energy would be better."
Now, just imagine where this insanity could go:
- Gymnasiums and athletic clubs closed to slow global warming
- Jogging made illegal to slow global warming
- Golf banned to slow global warming
- All organized sporting events including amateur, collegiate and professional banned to slow global warming.
Is it becoming obvious the amount of control environmentalists seek over personal behavior all in the name of global warming?
If you doubted for a second just how far socialists around the world are looking to take this issue, doubt no further.
Talk to you all later. I'm heading to the gym to add some CO2 to the atmosphere, and consume a huge amount of calories after my workout to compensate for those burned during it.
Here's hoping you all do the same.
—Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters.
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
To all alarmists...
August 8, 2007 - 14:16 ET by rbchaffeStop breathing out your CO2 and leave the rest of us in peace!
There ya go
August 8, 2007 - 14:18 ET by drillanwrYet, another reason/excuse for me not to exercise. Thanks, mates!
Hillary
August 8, 2007 - 14:21 ET by tropicalreportFrom some rear-views of Hillary from the previous debates, one must admire her for being so earth-friendly, by refusing to exercise. I guess Pear-shaped is now a environmental statement.
drill, I didn't realize,
August 8, 2007 - 19:44 ET by Chris Normandrill,
I didn't realize, all along, that I too was helping to mitigate global warming. I'm a hero!
The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on.
- Arabian Proverb
Note to self: Work out more
August 8, 2007 - 14:24 ET by bassndudeNote to self: Work out more often. Up to 5 times a week. Maybe twice a day.
Save a SeAL, club a liberal!!
But there is a solution to
August 8, 2007 - 14:32 ET by dscottBut there is a solution to this walking problem: http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/2007...
The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane. Marcus Aurelius
How much does it cost to
August 8, 2007 - 21:01 ET by KhyrisHow much does it cost to manufacture these floorings, and how much AGW does that manufacturing process cause?
Oh this is not good.
August 8, 2007 - 14:42 ET by MidAmericaOh this is not good. I'm a cyclist. (a real cyclist, not just a bicycle rider) My idea of a good time is going for a century ride. That's 100 miles. After which mass quantities are consumed.
Damn!
August 8, 2007 - 14:53 ET by drillanwrI wish I had half your energy!
Wait! Are you buying the appropriate carbon credits from Algore's company for all you're contributing to GW?
I suppose I should be
August 8, 2007 - 15:10 ET by MidAmericaI suppose I should be buying my credits from a couch potato. So if there's any body out there who doesn't exercise let me know where I should send my money so I can ride guilt free. : )
Since I watch my favorite
August 8, 2007 - 15:17 ET by dscottSince I watch my favorite shows on Mondays and Fridays which glues me to the chair after work, I can sell you 2 days a week, you should be able to buy up the other three days for someone...
Oh, what a great scheme, we could sell carbon credit time shares. Of course, we could get real complicated and sell them by time of use for peak usage periods. I suppose 12 to 5 p.m. would be peak usage times, the unemployed could get in on this deal.
The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane. Marcus Aurelius
People not exercising is
August 8, 2007 - 14:46 ET by Darth DutchPeople not exercising is good because it lowers the amount of carbon that they exude into the air.
But then people will die sooner and that will cause more carbon to be released in the air as the body decays.
Sounds like they want it both ways!
Dutch
Not "both ways" Darth
August 8, 2007 - 16:52 ET by RJPeople dying sooner reduces the number of people on the planet, and that's one of the goals of the Greens....it's all part of the plan.....
Great example of how the left is intent on taking away rights...
August 8, 2007 - 15:11 ET by pmohbuckit's really becoming personal and i hope this sways the tide away from the ridiculous notion that man can control the universe.
if exercising contributes to global warming ... then one should assume a ted kennedy fart would melt half of greenland
Vegitarianism Causes Global Warming
August 8, 2007 - 15:18 ET by mattmThe vegetarian diet leads to higher degrees of flatulence causing an increase in greenhouse gases and thus Global Warming... So, we'll have to discard the American classic:
Beans, Beans the musical fruit
The more you eat, the more you toot
The more you toot, the better you feel
So eat those beans at every meal
See that pillar of dirt rising into the air
August 8, 2007 - 15:30 ET by drillanwrThat's the GW Cultists spinning this topic right into the ground. Anyone on the fence about this is about to jump off ... and NOT onto their side.
eat meat ... don't eat meat ... eat meat
walk ... drive ... walk ... drive
breathe ... don't breathe ... breathe ... NO! Stop breathing!
Do the math?
August 8, 2007 - 16:00 ET by Carbon SasquatchChemistry class was a long time ago, but could someone explain how the
chemical reaction goes that produces more pounds of CO2 than the
hydrocarbon fuel source weighs? Surely the 'typical car in the
UK' gets around 20 mpg, gas is lighter than water which weighs about 8
pounds per gallon, so three miles would consume just slightly more than
one pound of gas. I have long suspected that 'pounds of
greenhouse gas emitted' in any real-world activity was an entirely made
up number.
Thank you. I had the same
August 8, 2007 - 16:15 ET by danboThank you. I had the same thought. I was running though in my head mpg and what was the weight of 1 gallon of gas.
All I can say. This is an example of global warming science and math. This must be how consencus science is different from real science.
"There is a clear attempt to establish truth not by scientific methods but by perpetual repetition."
- Richard S. Lindzen, Ph.D. Professor of Meteorology, MIT
GW
August 8, 2007 - 16:03 ET by conantAt last a solution. If FatAlbert and the greenies really want to save the world all they have to do as follow Jim Jones to the cool aid. They can feel good about doing the right thing. The rest of us will remember them fondly. The world will be saved. Win, Win, Win
Maximun human power output is about 6/10 of a horsepower / hr.
August 8, 2007 - 16:04 ET by upcountrywaterSo 6/10 hp creates more heat than a 120 hp toyota prissy.
New laws of thermodynamics? Human heat is worser than car heat.. by a factor of 200 TIMES cool, opps hot! sweet?
Entitlement over infrastructure every SINGLE time.
Are you saying it takes 120
August 8, 2007 - 16:37 ET by dscottAre you saying it takes 120 hp to move a toyota under all driving circumstances? Unless the car is loaded down to haunches, driving up a hill fully loaded or driven at top rated speed, the maximum horsepower rating of the engine will never be used.
But you missed the guy's point, it's not just the energy consumption of the person, it's also the cow, the ranch equipment, the cattle truck transportation, the slaughter house, transport to the grocery store (refrigerated after slaughter), and grocery store refrigeration (meat display case) where energy is consumed. The argument is if there is no demand for the product, hence no energy would be expended at each stage to process and transport the product along the entire chain. But realistically the same claims could be made for veges and fruits as well. Unless you're picking the products off the plant, your using lots of energy.
The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane. Marcus Aurelius
Everythng causes GW - even warm stuff?
August 8, 2007 - 16:27 ET by Gary HallEverything causes GW - even warm stuff?
Noel, the question begs to be addressed. Leaving the silly CO2 thing aside, what about all the heat we create? No, not just the heat you put off while working out, but all of the heat created by things not natural like pavement and rooftops, all machinery, appliances, factories, engines, light bulbs -- ahh the heat island effect.
All of this heat is enormous. The earth's atmosphere does act like a greenhouse, i.e., it does keep heat that is collected from the sun from escaping into outer space. How does it figure that the one thing, CO2, which is not necessarily that warm is being blamed for the warming of the earth, yet not that which actually creates the heat, the sun and all of the heat island effect contributors?
Yet somehow it seems to be completely discounted. Here's what the EPA says:
So. Let's get that straight. This heat created by the city, a part of which is the heat created by the air conditioner being turned on, does not add to the earth's warming - rather it's only the emissions of CO2 gas created by the power plant that creates "heat" as a by-product of burning fossil fuels to generate the power requitred to run the heat generating air conditioner needed to cool off that are a part of global warming.
I'm so glad that in August, it's only 73 degrees here right now.
Leave my clubs alone, Al.
August 8, 2007 - 16:32 ET by Dave RFirst, they wanted to come after my grills. Now they want my golf clubs, too.
This means war.
Help Fred defeat everybody.
From your cold, dead hands
August 8, 2007 - 20:56 ET by drillanwrFrom your cold, dead hands ...
Poor Hater. What's a pud
August 9, 2007 - 12:19 ET by Roger the ShrubberPoor Hater. What's a pud like him supposed to do?
He hates "fat chicks", yet exercising helps destroy the earth!
Poor little fella.