Al Gore Green: Just a Different Shade?

Al Gore has recently bagged the big one. He has, if you have not heard, garnered nothing less that the Nobel Peace Prize for his environmental efforts. He is lauded world-wide as a "climate warrior", a champion of all that is good and green and earth friendly.

Well, that and his invention of, you know, the Internet.

Here is a question. If a man works tirelessly to change the world. Spends time lecturing on environmental issues, explains how to minimize your carbon footprint and then drives off in his eco-friendly hybrid car to eat veal chops and South American strawberries in his 10,000 square foot traditionally powered, energy guzzling home (Or maybe he heads off to one of his other two, large, electric homes...either way.) is he an environmental champion or a modern day carpet-bagger ?

What an inconvenient truth.

As of February 2007 The Gores were reported to have been working to make the switch to green energy, moving away from electric and gas bills that were in the thousands of dollars a month, averaging $1080.00 per month for 2006. The kilowatt hours used in August 2006 are reported to be 22, 619-twice the use of the average American household for one year. The amount of energy that they use doesn't really matter, however, because they say they off set their carbon use by giving to causes that are working to find solutions to global warming.

It's all good. Part of the house is used for offices. You can't really compare the energy use of a house that holds home offices to the average American's house, can you? I mean average American's don't even have home offices, do they?

They do?

Before one word was written this information was checked in several places including Snopes and found to be true. Hard to believe.....Oddly funny...but, yes...sadly..true.

The Tennessee Center for policy research investigated and has divulged that the Gore's 10,000 sq ft Tennessee home uses 20 times more power than the average American.

Thank God he uses those energy saving flourescent lights.

O.k..so he and Tipper are working to get their houses in line and putting up solar panels. These things take work, and money, and time. I am skeptical about the timing of the changes but let's assume that he wasn't making those changes based on all of the negative publicity, as a way to soothe the public back into submission.

Interesting to me that he has full control as the exectuor of his father's estate of hundreds of thousands of dollars in Occidental Petroleum. Oops. Oxy has a nasty habit of drilling in environmentally sensitive areas. Double oops. In fact, I 'd give that a full SHAZBOT.

Turn the page. Until 2003 the Gores were picking up an estimated $20,000 a year in royalties from a little company called Pasminco Zinc, which happened to be mining zinc on his property. The state of Tennessee cited them numerous times over dumping large quantities of barium, zinc, and iron in a nearby river.

Terrible that those pesky right wing conservatives misrepresent him like that.

It's true. Having horses and spending time cleaning barns has given me a bit of insight that I would like to pass on. If it looks like manure, if it smells like manure, don't taste it because odds are that it really is manure.

Hypocrisy is defined as pretending to be what one is not. When the entire world population is being encouraged to simplify, pare down, use less, be careful, make sacrifices, why is the Gore's lifestyle so different from the rest of us? When exactly is Tipper going to appear on the veranda with an airy "Let them eat cake?"

Bush is a war-monger. His family has made money in oil and gas. He rarely discusses global warming, as if he had other things on his mind. Hmmm...ever wonder what kind of opulent lifestyle his family is living?

Well, the family home in Crawford, Texas is around 4,000 square feet. Geothermal heat pumps circulate water to heat the house in the winter, and cools it in the hot, Texas summers. This system uses about 1/4 of the energy traditional systems use. An huge underground cistern collects rain water from the roof run off as well as graywater which is then purified and used for irrigation of the property's xeriscape, and native plantings. The native plants further support the local environment by providing habitat and food for local species.

For thermal mass the walls are made with a local stone, called Leuder's limestone. The tops and bottoms of the stones have a mix of colors and it is only the cream colored centers that most people want. The ends are cut off and are discarded. This material, which would otherwise have found it's way into a dump, was used to build the walls of the bush's Crawford house, very inexpensively.

But you don't hear much about that.

When people are in the political arena, and that bright shiny light is shoved in their faces they can say and do things that they might not normally say and do. While Gore is getting the word out about the environmental issues, maybe it is time that he took a year off and got his own life in order? I am just saying, is all. The proof is in the pudding. And I still don't think it's chocolate.