I was blown away when I read this quote in the New York Times:
This year, two nutritional scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Rachel N. Close and Dale A. Schoeller, took a unique twist on the calculations to determine what “supersizing” a fast-food meal costs society. Paying 67 cents to supersize an order — 73 percent more calories for 17 percent more money — adds an average of 36 grams of adipose tissue. The future medical costs for that bargain would be $6.64 for an obese man and $3.46 for an obese woman. “The hidden financial costs associated with weight gain from upsizing a value meal may help convince people it is not a bargain,” Mr. Schoeller said.
It makes you think about the hidden costs in all of our activities, as consumers. For instance, the cost of violence in the Mid-East fueled by our appetite for oil in the United States. There's been a saying I've written about that strikes a cord with me, "Do Well by Doing Good." That could be tweaked to "Do Well by Using Less."
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