More evidence that Blobbiness really does matter. Apart from the obvious health and
well-being factors, the consumption of the world resources by large people
(Bigger clothes, more food, more space - larger chair room on air planes for example ...
the list goes on when you think about it), is a major additional drain on the
worlds resources. Recent estimates suggest that currently its equal to at
least 1 billion additional people on the planet .... in other words another
17% added to of the population.
And here's a fact that might shake a few people - the USA represents just 6% of the worlds population, but accounts for over 30% of its obesity .... think on that, over 30% of the worlds fatties live in the USA, while Asia accounts for 61% of the global population, but it only accounts for 13% of the weight of the world due to obesity. In fact based upon World Health Organization data from 2005, its been calculated that the average global body weight was 137lb (62kg). But there were huge regional differences. In North America, the average was 178lb (80.7kg), while in Asia it was 127lb (57.7kg) ....
So what happens when the resources available no longer meet a societies needs?
Well obviously, initially scarcity and hoarding push up the prices, creating vast wealth for those who control and have the resources, while great suffering for those who don't, or who can't afford to get them .... then, if the supply issue isn't resolved quickly, and its food, petrol or drinking water that's in shortage, comes the fighting, as first nations, then individuals try to get enough of the resource to meet their actual or perceived needs. Famines, and societal collapses, would appear around the globe once the fighting broke into inter-communal, and individual family levels.
Then in the much longer term, a smaller race may emerge, with growth restricted by diets (rather than birth control, which humans rarely practise), with less protein and calories available .... there is evidence for this dwarfism happening to different mammal groups who experienced restricted protein for any length of time, with both the hobbit people of Indonesia, and the mini mammoths of the Cretan islands, where in both cases, restricted food supplies led to smaller and smaller individuals to keep the population numbers in tune with the resources available.
And here's a fact that might shake a few people - the USA represents just 6% of the worlds population, but accounts for over 30% of its obesity .... think on that, over 30% of the worlds fatties live in the USA, while Asia accounts for 61% of the global population, but it only accounts for 13% of the weight of the world due to obesity. In fact based upon World Health Organization data from 2005, its been calculated that the average global body weight was 137lb (62kg). But there were huge regional differences. In North America, the average was 178lb (80.7kg), while in Asia it was 127lb (57.7kg) ....
So what happens when the resources available no longer meet a societies needs?
Well obviously, initially scarcity and hoarding push up the prices, creating vast wealth for those who control and have the resources, while great suffering for those who don't, or who can't afford to get them .... then, if the supply issue isn't resolved quickly, and its food, petrol or drinking water that's in shortage, comes the fighting, as first nations, then individuals try to get enough of the resource to meet their actual or perceived needs. Famines, and societal collapses, would appear around the globe once the fighting broke into inter-communal, and individual family levels.
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| The Future, From Humans to Hobbit? |
Then in the much longer term, a smaller race may emerge, with growth restricted by diets (rather than birth control, which humans rarely practise), with less protein and calories available .... there is evidence for this dwarfism happening to different mammal groups who experienced restricted protein for any length of time, with both the hobbit people of Indonesia, and the mini mammoths of the Cretan islands, where in both cases, restricted food supplies led to smaller and smaller individuals to keep the population numbers in tune with the resources available.
If we carry on consuming the equivalent of 1.5 of the Earth's resources, resource famine for both humans and other creatures inhabiting this planet will be inevitable.
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