AbstractGlobal warming and the rising prevalence of obesity are well described challenges
of current mankind. Most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic arose as a new
challenge. We here attempt to delineate their relationship with each other from
our perspective. Global greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil
fuels have exponentially increased since 1950. The main contributors to such
greenhouse gas emissions are manufacturing and construction, transport,
residential, commercial, agriculture, and land use change and forestry, combined
with an increasing global population growth from 1 billion in 1800 to 7.8
billion in 2020 along with rising obesity rates since the 1980s. The current
Covid-19 pandemic has caused some decline in greenhouse gas emissions by
limiting mobility globally via repetitive lockdowns. Following multiple
lockdowns, there was further increase in obesity in wealthier populations,
malnutrition from hunger in poor populations and death from severe infection
with Covid-19 and its virus variants. There is a bidirectional relationship
between adiposity and global warming. With rising atmospheric air temperatures,
people typically will have less adaptive thermogenesis and become less
physically active, while they are producing a higher carbon footprint. To reduce
obesity rates, one should be willing to learn more about the environmental
impact, how to minimize consumption of energy generating carbon dioxide and
other greenhouse gas emissions, and to reduce food waste. Diets lower in meat
such as a Mediterranean diet, have been estimated to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions by 72%, land use by 58%, and energy consumption by
52%.
Climate Change and Obesity
