The earth’s population has grown to over seven billion people. This has led to evaluation of the real impact such a huge population has on the Earth’s resources. However, noting that it is people’s weight that determines the food supply, scholars have diverted their attention to the weight and not the number of people. This is based on the effect of weight on energy demands and emission of green house gases. Studies have shown that people are increasingly becoming fatter and according to Edward and Robert (2009), the increasing weight of the overall world’s population has an effect equivalent to that of adding one billion extra people to feed.
In the study, Population adiposity and climate change by Edward & Roberts conducted in 2009 established that the total food energy consumption increase with increase in Body Mass Index (BMI). That is, more energy is required to move a much heavier people than lighter ones. Therefore, with the increasing amount of flesh; there will be an increased demand for food leading to need for increased food production which subsequently leads to increased emission of greenhouse gases. For example, there is an emerging ‘car culture’ since heavier people are most likely to use motorized transport rather that walking. Moreover, huge people will require more space and thus more motor vehicles and the related energy. With such factors, the increase in the emission of green house gases will be inevitable (McGrath, 2009).
As observed, when people gain weight, it leads to increase in food intake due the increased energy needs and vise versa. Weight gain leads to increased respiration as the body breaks down the additional food into absorbable products. The increased food demand thus results to increased production of biomass coming out of increased wastage of food. Due to high energy demands for heavier people, more food production and transportation energy is needed which results to increased emission of carbon dioxide. This is directly opposite of what happens when there is a reduction in weight loss (Edwards & Roberts, 2009).
In conclusion, it is evident that increased population’s Body Mass Index has a direct impact on the earth’s resources. This is shifting the concern from that on the number of people to the weight of people when it comes to analysis of the impact of the world population on the earth’s resources.