An Open Letter to Al Gore
Al, you are a hypocrite
I believed in you, I voted for you, and I made excuses for you. I cringed but forgave you your “I invented the internet” gaff. It might have been a slip of the tongue. You were never glib.But, this goes to the heart of the matter. If you can’t walk the walk then shut up. Don’t try to bullshit me about your purchase of “carbon offsets”. I wasn’t born yesterday, I didn’t just get off the boat…you sir are no shining example of what you preach. You are not even a dull example of what you preach. You are a disgrace to the environmental movement. If you have any dignity, any belief in what you espouse, then crawl back into your hidey-hole and don’t come out until you have looked within and found that which you ask of others.
Hi Dennis, posting the rebuttal research and information from David Roberts. Please respond in your post at algore.org. Thank you.
ReplyDelete---------------
Talking points on the Gore pseudo-scandal, The Grist, Posted by David Roberts at 3:51 PM on 28 Feb 2007
1. It's nice to see the conservative media taking the message of conservation and energy efficiency seriously. Hopefully they will hold their own leaders and readers to the same high standards.
2. The Tennessee Tax Dept. does not consider the "Tennessee Center for Policy Research," which roughly no one had heard of before this, a legitimate group. It's run by a long-time right-wing attack hack, and its only registered address is a P.O. box. Why is everyone in the media taking what it says about Gore's electricity use at face value?
3. Gore's electricity company has no record of being contacted about his bills.
4. The "average" home electricity use quoted by TCPR is a national average that includes apartments and mobile homes. In Gore's climatic zone, the East South Central (Dept. of Energy PDF), the average is much higher, thanks to hot, humid summers and cold winters. Within that zone, Gore's usage is three (not 20) times average, and his per-square-foot usage is squarely average. (More here.)
5. The Gores are not an average family. He's an ex-VP with special security arrangements, and has live-in security staff. He and his wife both work on their many business and charitable undertakings out of their house, so they have space for offices and office staff. All that would be tough to cram in an average size house.
6. Gore buys the maximum allowable green electricity from the program offered by his utility.
7. Most of the electricity in TN comes from hydro and nuclear, and so doesn't generate all that much CO2 anyway.
The larger point, which probably won't work well as a cable-show soundbite but is nonetheless true, is that Gore has done heroic work making global warming a top issue for governments the world over. He has prompted more individual and collective action on this issue than anyone else alive. The changes he has wrought outweigh his personal carbon emissions by many orders of magnitude.
They know Gore's message is winning. They know they are losing. Even if they're successful in tarnishing Gore, it won't change that.
Dennis, also:
ReplyDelete1. Did you check how many people use that house?
2. Or what is the per capita consumption in that house?
3. Did you check what is the average consumption in Gore's climate region?
The "average" home electricity use quoted by TCPR is a national average that includes apartments and mobile homes. In Gore's climatic zone, the East South Central (Dept. of Energy PDF), the average is much higher, thanks to hot, humid summers and cold winters. Within that zone, Gore's usage is three (not 20) times average, and his per-square-foot usage is squarely average.
4. Why did the utility tell Olbermann that there are smaller houses in the area which consume even more? Keith Olbermann's fact-check on Gore's home energy usage: youTube
5. Do you know what is the per sq foot consumption? It's lower than average. See here
6. Did you check what is the source of the energy? Gore pays 4$ more for every 150 kwh to get 100% green power.
7. Do you know how much Gore has paid for offsets?
8. Do you know what the energy is actually used? It's not just a home. It has two offices with staff plus security measures which a former veep deserves but an average person does not need.
9. Has Gore every told you to live in a small house? No.
10. Is your carbon footprint smaller than Gore's per square foot? probably not.
Adopted from elender