8.10.2006

An inconvenient hypocrite

Al Gore, while telling everyone else to change their lifestyle to save the environment, doesn't seem to want to change his own lifestyle. He:

* Flies in private jets
* Owns three large, energy-intensive houses
* Doesn't elect to take wind-powered electricity which is offered to him by his local utility
* Gets paid to allow a zinc mine that pollutes local rivers to be operated on his property
* Owns (or has owned) large amounts of oil company stock

Bonus point not mentioned in the article: he's not a vegetarian. Meat production is a huge contributer to greenhouse gases, both because of methane emitted by livestock and because of trees being cleared for grazing land.

I'm sure Gore will make some changes after being publicly exposed as a hypocrite. Switching to wind power is an obvious and easy one. And I've heard he may have already cut back on private jets after being exposed. But the point is, why didn't he look at the log in his own eye before criticizing the splinter in everyone else's? It's elitist arrogance. It's a trait shared by many limousine liberals, who criticize families for owning SUVs but burn much more fuel in their private jets than an SUV could ever burn.

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