As a global warming obsessed media have been fawning over Nobel Laureate Al Gore in a fashion that is almost sick-making, it was rather surprising to see a column by the Harvard Crimson's editorial page editor mocking the former Vice President's hypocrisy concerning climate change.
After all, though the Global Warmingist-in-Chief certainly talks the talk, he far from walks it.
Such was remarkably pointed out by Peter W. Tilton Monday evening in an article wonderfully titled "Gore and ‘Green' Goonies" (emphasis added throughout):
Hypocrisy is rampant in today's environmental movement, and Hollywood has provided us with enough stars who are talking the talk-now we need one who will walk the walk.
[...]
Many Americans would naturally assume Gore follows the green lifestyle he widely promotes, and they would be wrong. Gore and his wife Tipper, whose children all live elsewhere, reside in a behemoth 20-room mansion outside of Nashville that used nearly 23,000 kilowatt-hours last August, more than twice the annual-yes, annual-energy usage of a typical American home. Gore's preferred mode of transportation between stops on his international publicity tour is his private jet, which spews out CO2 emissions at the rate of a small army of SUVs.
Though 100 percent correct, this is certainly not something you'd expect to read in a college newspaper. Maybe even better was the following surprisingly accurate description of the carbon credit canard:
These celebrities and politicians justify their unnecessary consumption by purchasing carbon credits, which many of the nouveau-conscious acquire in order to offset their excessive energy usage. Carbon credits were established by the Kyoto Protocol, which established limits on carbon emissions for most countries (incidentally the United States has still not signed this agreement even though it is the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases). Countries and companies who fall below their established limits are free to trade their credits in the global emissions market to other parties-including individuals-who have exceeded their emissions limits. When celebrities today buy these credits, they are allowing themselves to continue their disproportionate consumption while somewhere else in the world carbon emissions are reduced by other societies to make up for American excess.
While these superficial efforts by stars to offset their consumption are admirable, they are not a lasting solution. The average American household would have to buy $276,000 a year in carbon credits to counteract their carbon emissions, a price tag few Americans would be able to afford. Moreover, even if every American household could afford carbon credits, the result would be that Third World countries would bear the burden of our excessive lifestyles. While carbon credits are a viable short-term option for industry and an important step toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the corporate sector, they are not practical for American families.
Extraordinarily refreshing from someone not scheduled to graduate college until 2010, wouldn't you agree? Yet, what makes this article most uplifting is that the author clearly is green, and believes that global warming is a serious problem:
Our planet is disintegrating, and unless we begin to change our ways-and not just talk about changing them-those $10 million dollar Malibu homes will no longer exist for Hollywood's celebrities to frolic in.
Frankly, regardless of whether one believes this hysteria, the fact that someone who does is also willing to logically analyze and expose the fallacy not only behind some of the current advocates, but also the trendy solutions being offered is nothing short of spectacular.
Think about it: if there are green college students at our finest universities that are willing to discuss this controversial issue so candidly and honestly, the debate that folks like Gore disingenuously claim is over will most definitely be reopened.
Bravo, Mr. Tilton. Though I don't agree with your calamitous concerns, I enthusiastically welcome your much-needed input.
