Al Gore loves the planet...and big houses...and pizza rolls

Former Vice President Al Gore is now the reigning champion in the pseudo-documentary category of the Academy Awards (taking his place along side Micheal Moore) and is well on his way to a Nobel prize for the same work. His mockumentary (I know he intended it to be factual), An Inconvenient Truth has been proclaimed as the savior of the environment if only we rubes (read Americans) take its truths to heart. Unfortunately for his future political aspirations, the cracks in his facade are beginning to show. His film touts potential raises of the sea level of 20 feet, which would indeed be a serious problem for much of Florida and coastal communities worldwide. His Climate Crisis website claims that sea levels will rise 20 feet but he gives no time frame, thereby implying an immediate danger. His source is Washington Post staff writer Juliet Eilperin's story which states that this 20 foot increase will occur over "a couple of centuries." Eilperin in turn sites Michael Oppenheimer, an advisor to an environmentalist advocacy group. This means Gore is quoting a journalist who sites a man whose living is based upon the continuation of the global warming scare. Stay with me on this. The newly released summary by the International Panel on Climate Change, the UN's 6 year old study group (who also make their livings from the climate change scare) claim that this sea level rise (7 meters) will probably occur, if their projections are accurate and if the increase occurs for a millennia. Do you see how dishonest this all is? It goes from being an inevitable disaster if we don't go Prius to a 1000 year process that is kind of likely with a lot of ifs within 3 degrees of separation.

Then there is the issue of "practice what you preach." Gore is the owner of at least 3 possibly 4 homes of which the largest is in the Nashville, TN area. The Tennessee Center for Policy Research has released a statement regarding Gore's energy usage (public documents) at this particular residence, saying that "Last August alone, Gore burned through 22,619 kWh—guzzling more than twice the electricity in one month than an average American family uses in an entire year." I don't know about you, but $30,000 a year in annual gas and electric bills for only one of his houses seems not to be the "energy neutral" lifestyle he trumpets that we should follow. Of course he utilizes the green-chic concept of Carbon Offsets to buy down his carbon footprint. Let me translate that for those of you who have showered this week.

First you pollute a bunch by having a part-time home that costs $30,000 to heat/cool/run. Then you calculate how much pollution you create. I know this doesn't really seem eco-friendly yet, but stick with me. Then you give more money to companies within the environmental movement to assuage your guilt; the more you pollute, the more you give. That's right folks, apparently if you have the money for a $30K utility bill you then have to money to throw away on green companies. That's great for millionaires, but I have trouble meeting my standard bills in my 1000 square foot house. I am not opposed to wealth, but I don't take kindly to someone like Gore polluting prodigiously and then preaching to me about a "carbon neutral lifestyle" simply because he is rich enough to throw his money away.

Thanks for the laugh, Al but you can can blow it out your tailpipe (and I won't even check it for emissions).