Obesity ‘requires climate plan’ is a perplexing headline from the BBC today. While we are only too aware that the fat people have to take more than their fair share of responsibility for the ravages of climate chaos, we couldn’t help wondering what a ‘climate plan’ for obesity might entail. Treadmills wired up to turbines? Something to do with blocking out the sun? Or with methane?
It’s hard to say, because Professor Philip James of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and chairman of the International Obesity Taskforce (duhh duh duh duhhhhhh, duh duh duhh duhh etc), and whose speech to the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science inspired the BBC’s piece, isn’t really very specific.
Professor Philip James said the challenge of obesity was so great that action was needed now, even without clear evidence of the best options.
Ah so that’s what he means – we need to take a lesson from climate policy, and run around implementing stuff for no apparent reason.
He also called for stricter rules on marketing and food labelling.
He doesn’t specify which particular rules. But they should definitely be stricter.
And that’s your rations. In fact, all we actually learn from what Professor Philip James has to say is that Professor Philip James is just another opportunistic purveyor of crisis politics whose message is being broadcast uncritically by just another opportunistic purveyor of crisis politics. And these people wonder why the rest of us don’t take them seriously. Sir David King, Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK Government, famously described climate change as a bigger threat than international terrorism. So, if obesity is as bad as climate change… erm… ‘International terrorism more frightening than fat people,’ anybody?
Correlation.
Causality.
It’s all the same in the crazy mixed up world of Anthrogenic Global Warmers.