"Fatties" and Global Warming

Blog posted by AccuWeather.com Meteorologist Mark Paquette

Hello, and welcome to my weekend blog. As I usually do, I search the web for an article that sticks out to me, and this one I heard about a month ago visiting family back in Massachusetts and I came across this "rebuttal" (pun intended) recently.

This article ridicules the original idea of overweight and obese people contributing more than the average person to global warming, and more specifically, to an individual's carbon footprint.

I've mentioned this before. 1) I do believe global warming due to man is occurring and 2) I think the original idea and story behind this article harms, rather than helps, the cause I believe in. I mean, how many people that really didn't follow the AGW debate would take my side of the debate seriously after reading this article? I'm pretty sure most people would take the opposite, non-believer side of the story, and this is exactly, 180 degrees opposite of what the intended effect was. Stories like this, or people who are a little too zealous for the cause (extremists) cause more damage than good, at least in my opinion.

What are your thoughts on this article? If you were completely neutral in this debate and then read this article, would you be influenced to one side or not at all? Do articles like this offend you? Why or why not? Is there any merit behind the original idea? If yes, what is believable or plausible? If no, why not?