How Green is Obama's Hawaii Vacation?

Consider this - If you tote up the Obama's campaign's carbon footprint as of Oct 30 2008, it comes out to 77,894 tons of carbon. Compare that against the average 2 person household which consumes 5.5 tons of carbon per year. And the Obama camp did not pay for offsets. The only thing in their favor was that the Air charter company they used was paying offsets on its own. What we're working out here is whether they're doing the same thing for his vacations.

The new Prez, Barack Obama, is more tuned to the green revolution than any other President in recent history. During the campaign, he made extensive promises to promote green policies and force reductions in carbon emissions. Plus, he's assembled a top-notch team of conservationists to formulate and implement the promised energy policy.

One would think that being so in tune with tree-huggers would make Obama himself more of an environmentalist in his personal lifestyle choices. I mean, when Jimmy Carter came into office, he had a solar water heater installed, which Reagan yanked off and had stored.

Said solar device, along with a lot more solar energy products, again ended up on the White House roof when Bill Clinton assumed office. So after 8 years of Bush-Cheney energy policy written by Big Oil lobbyists, its natural to assume that Barack Obama's Presidency would mean an extensive green makeover of the White House, and its occupants' lifestyle.

That assumption would be literally correct, since Obama has given assurances of minimizing energy usage at the White house. Question remains about the Obama family's vacations. Right now, they're in Hawaii, in Kailua Beach, enjoying the warm weather and the surf and the white sandy beaches, while snow storms blanket the mainland from Coast to Coast, and holiday travelers are left stranded at closed airports on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning.

Indeed, as the above picture taken by coconut wireless (via flickr - creative commons) shows, Kailua is a stunningly beautiful place. But to keep it that way, everyone has to chip in with their own fair share of sustainable tourism practices.

For example, I just read today that San Francisco International Airport is setting airport kiosks to sell certified carbon credits to environmentally aware flyers. You can enjoy fully green trips, which include stays at eco-friendly San Francisco hotels like the Orchard Garden and the Triton.

Plus, the SF CVB provides extensive resources for making your trip completely green, including a list of activities, organic restaurants, and so on.

Point being that its quite possible, even for a President and his entire entourage, to keep the vacation almost entirely carbon-neutral. Yes, even in Hawaii. Is Obama's vacation carbon neutral? Not really.

First of all, they again chartered a plane, instead of using a private jet. Assuming that the same company (North American Airlines) as was used during the campaign provided the plane, they'll have compensated for the flight, but the rest is all uncompensated for. Here's a brief list of what's left:

1. SUV motorcade from the Obamas' Chicago residence (Kenwood-Hyde Park) to the airport, and another motorcade after they landed in Hawaii.

2. Their beachfront vacation rental in Kailua. This is the main guzzler, considering its a luxurious compound at the end of Kailuana Place, on Castle Point. The compound includes three multi-million dollar 5000 sq. ft. homes, each with its own lagoon shaped swimming pool. Each home is worth about $10 million and one of the homes is even advertised as a vacation rental - $3000 per night.

The Obamas, along with friends and entourage, are the only ones at present in the compound. You can rest assured there's no carbon chits going around anywhere to compensate for the emissions. If they had been paid, the Obama guys would have been putting out press releases touting his green vacations in Hawaii. In fact, I couldn't even find out who is paying for the vacation, and how much.

3. As for their activities and dining, again, there's no special effort made to ensure a green trip. They're just doing what everybody else does - Enjoying the local cuisine, hanging out on the beach, and playing golf. Obama teed off at the Olomana Golf Links in Waimanalo. I poked around trying to find if the course is eco-friendly, but there's no mention. Again, from my experience at trying to find these things, if some tourism service provider is eco-friendly, its stated in bold.

I'm sure there's lots of things which can be added to this list, but the point is that the Obamas are not making any special effort to ensure a green vacation. Not a single item which we can point to, like for instance the eco-friendly Bio-Beetle rental cars, and say that the Obama family chose this specifically because it was environmentally friendly.

Well, they didn't. Neither their transport, nor their lodging, and certainly not their activities, can be said to be eco-friendly choices in a positive sense. Apparently, the change we need doesn't apply to the Prez's vacations. Or maybe, it doesn't begin until Jan 20, when they move into the White House. Either way, I look forward to his next vacation to see if he's going green, or its just all talk.