When I wrote this post, I expected a discussion and I got it - so first of all, thank you for all of the comments. I find many of them well thought out.
In the past, Neatorama has been accussed of taking on a liberal bias, and now, a conservative one. It is not my intention to smear anyone or push any agenda - regular readers of the blog know this by now.
This story (whether it's newsworthy or not) is interesting: we have a public figure who just won an Oscar for his documentary about the environment and how we should do more (and consume less) for it being attacked for extremely high consumption of energy by a conservative think tank. Note that I did write that TCPR is a conservative think tank, even though it billed itself as an independent organization.
Now, on to the point of this comment:
While carbon-footprint and all that are fine and dandy, us regular folks don't know what the heck you're talkin' about.
But we know this: preaching conservation when you don't practice it yourself sounds hypocritical. Buying carbon credit, however valid the market theory (and practice) of it is, sounds like buying your way out of jail.
Some people said Al Gore has a big house, so he uses more electricity. To this, I said sure - but twenty times the national average? For a guy who espouses conservation? I may be wrong, but it simply sounds too high.
For those who said it comes from renewable source: electricity is electricity. Once it hits the network, you can't distinguish whether that kilowatt is coming from a gas-fired coal power plant or a wind turbine. You can't *choose* where that juice comes from. At times, there is no wind to power the turbine. But electricity still flows from your outlets. Plus, the act of generating that electricity is not 100% efficient, so even if that energy comes from renewable source, it doesn't mean it's an all-you-can-eat buffet.
All in all, I think Al Gore's environmental crusade is to be applauded. He probably does more good jetting around in a (wasteful) private jet talking about the environment than sitting in a dark room doing nothing.
Shep, thanks for bringing the issue of the authenticity the inscription on the James Ossuary. Reading the wiki article, it seems that everyone agreed that the ossuary is real but the inscription might have been added in recent times (some experts still refuse to certify it as a fake because no independent panel of experts ever got to examine it in person).
In the past, Neatorama has been accussed of taking on a liberal bias, and now, a conservative one. It is not my intention to smear anyone or push any agenda - regular readers of the blog know this by now.
This story (whether it's newsworthy or not) is interesting: we have a public figure who just won an Oscar for his documentary about the environment and how we should do more (and consume less) for it being attacked for extremely high consumption of energy by a conservative think tank. Note that I did write that TCPR is a conservative think tank, even though it billed itself as an independent organization.
Now, on to the point of this comment:
While carbon-footprint and all that are fine and dandy, us regular folks don't know what the heck you're talkin' about.
But we know this: preaching conservation when you don't practice it yourself sounds hypocritical. Buying carbon credit, however valid the market theory (and practice) of it is, sounds like buying your way out of jail.
Some people said Al Gore has a big house, so he uses more electricity. To this, I said sure - but twenty times the national average? For a guy who espouses conservation? I may be wrong, but it simply sounds too high.
For those who said it comes from renewable source: electricity is electricity. Once it hits the network, you can't distinguish whether that kilowatt is coming from a gas-fired coal power plant or a wind turbine. You can't *choose* where that juice comes from. At times, there is no wind to power the turbine. But electricity still flows from your outlets. Plus, the act of generating that electricity is not 100% efficient, so even if that energy comes from renewable
source, it doesn't mean it's an all-you-can-eat buffet.
All in all, I think Al Gore's environmental crusade is to be applauded. He probably does more good jetting around in a (wasteful) private jet talking about the environment than sitting in a dark room doing nothing.