Beer Bellies Waste Gas!!

I read a great article on how obesity contributes to an increased use of fossil fuels (and vice-versa). Here is an interesting thought: For each extra pound of passenger plus vehicle, on average, a vehicle consumes .000011 extra gallons of fuel per mile. I'm sure you'd agree this is a pretty small number. If the average person travels 14,500 vehicle miles per year, that means that we consume .16 extra gallons of fuel per person/per year/per extra pound. This is also a pretty small number. Statistics show that 60% of men and 50% of women in America are overweight or obese, resulting in the average American being 20 lbs. overweight. Multiply that by 210 million American adults . Now, if America lost that excess 20 lbs per person it means we would save over a half BILLION gallons of gas per year. That, my friends, is a large number. So, yes....the little things matter. One less pound, One less car, One less disposable cup per person per day and we have large scale changes. The full article on obesity and energy can be found here.