Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Practice What you Preach

Neither Al Gore nor George Bush practices what he preaches.

Al Gore, who believes that global warming is the greatest threat to humankind - greater than nuclear war - consumes energy like it's going out of style.

George Bush, who is a global warming skeptic, lives as if global warming was an immediate threat.

Great post at Wizbang.

And if you - like me - are wondering what the hell 'carbon offsets' are, it basically means that someone is planting trees on your behalf. I suppose that's nice, if your ultimate 'solution' to global warming is that we all live like Al Gore, while some poor Africa nation plants trees three-deep like some crazy Japanese driving range.

If that's not your idea of a real response though, then Al Gore might seem like a bit of a hypocrite.

Update: Thinking about it further, isn't Al Gore essentially endorsing the old idea of selling indulgences? You get to engage in bad behavior, as long as you pay for atonement. Doesn't sound very responsible to me.

3 comments:

John Salmon said...

The lefty blogs are calling this a "right wing smear attack", which is interesting, since Gore can't deny the story. The numbers are public information.

Anonymous said...

Or you don't research a question before you publish it.

A spokeswoman for Gore said he purchases enough "green power" — renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and methane gas — to balance 100 percent of his electricity costs.

"Sometimes when people don't like the message, in this case that global warming is real, it's convenient to attack the messenger," Gore spokeswoman Kalee Kreider said.

Gore participates in a utility program that sells blocks of "green power" for an extra $4 a month. Gore purchases 108 such blocks every month, covering 16,200 kilowatt-hours and helping subsidize renewable energy sources.

The Editor at IP said...

You have to be pretty deep into Al Gore to defend such conspicuous consumption, and ignore the good example set by Bush at his Crawford ranch.

As a conservative, Gore's excesses are not something I would want anyone to emulate. His use of energy is extraordinary and the data show that it is on the rise - and that's even with the solar heating at his residence. And carbon offsets have been examined; they're a pretty inefficient way to address carbon emissions.

Look at the YouTube videos where Gore discusses how to address global warming: 'cut down energy consumption' 'use mass transit' 'use a little less' 'examine how you live...'

That's what he says. He lives something different. His lifestyle says the problem is solved if he simply pays enough money.