Most of you don’t know me…I own EnergyRefuge.com, and I rarely step down into the blogosphere to get involved in my bloggers’ posts, but I just wanted to present my views on Al Gore after reading Ethan’s story called an inconvenient discovery. While I allow my bloggers to have full freedom of expression, I feel it is my duty to let everyone know that I don’t always agree with their view points, even though we are still friends. Ethan and I have butt heads over carbon emissions, ethanol, Al Gore, and many other issues, but he has always been a great friend and insightful blogger. This being said, I have much different views about Mr. Gore that need to be voiced on this blog so as to give both sides of the story.
Many of us have always been involved in the environment, protecting wildlife, looking for solutions to global warming, and the many other eco issues that Earth faces. We have great leaders in our cause such as David Suzuki, but Al Gore has really shaken the world from slumber and shown us what his name and reputation can do for our cause. Until “An Inconvenient Truth”, John Doe next door did not know or care about global warming. There will always be people who turn a blind eye to global warming either for profit or due to selfishness and lack of responsibility, but Al Gore reached millions of people with an important message. As far as I am concerned, the man is more green than most politicians and celebrities are, and his voice has been heard. His Oscar award is a testament to America’s new awareness of global warming.
Ethan said that, “If you are going to be the “frontman†for the environment and global warming, then set an example for others to follow.” I believe that Al Gore has, has he not? I see green headlines everyday in major newspapers and websites that never showed too much interest in the past. Is this all due to Al Gore and his work? Probably not, but I guarantee that a good portion is. Given Mr. Gore’s political involvement, business, and leadership profile, he should not be expected to live 100% off the grid. The man has worked hard to become successful and wealthy, and his carbon offsets (I know you don’t agree Ethan) and use of renewable energy are admirable. In my opinion, the press release by the Tennessee Center for Policy Research was a smear campaign. They attempted to paint Mr. Gore as one who doesn’t “practice what he preaches”, but I don’t think for one moment that this smear campaign will taint his reputation or the respect that the green community has for him. After reading Ethan’s post, I immediately pulled up some links that I had saved months ago that detailed Mr. Gore’s green side. The Tennessee Center for Policy Research never spoke of the many great things he is doing in his own life and community. This is proof, in my mind, that they wanted to sling mud not the truth. The man is who he is seen to be in the documentary- a caring and concerned politician and human being. Period! I don’t think global warming is a political tool of his as Ethan believes it to be; rather, I think it is a passion and a cause that he wants to take to the White House. He is no different than any other environmentalist who would consider running for office. I believe his intentions are good, the work that he has done has changed many peoples’ views, and he will continue to make a real impact in the fight to stop global warming.
Let me know what you think about Mr. Gore. I am sure that many of you have different views, but I think we can all agree that, though it may not be biased in its operations per se, the Tennessee Center for Policy Research conducted an attack on Mr. Gore was baseless and low. They should have had the decency to present the WHOLE truth, not just the part they want voters and environmentalists to hear.
Well said. I agree.
For most people, living a green or sustainable life is not an all or nothing proposition. There are many shades of green and if we want our voices heard we need to work with all shades. Infighting, or exclusion “He’s not green enough” or “He’s a GINO Green In Name Only” does not further the cause and muddies the message.
Tom, I will not argue with you about this. I still question his motives. I do apologize for not presenting the other side of the story- I did owe Al that at least. As far as all politicians and politicians running for presidency, he is by far the greenest. I will give him that. I did not mean to come down so hard on him. Steve, I agree that my labeling muddies our message. I really do question Al’s motives, so that showed in my post yesterday. None of us are perfect, but only showing his electric bills and not discussing his “green” side did my readers and disservice. For that I apologize.
I agree with you, “Al Gore has really shaken the world from slumber”. Some people in my office saw the documentary and it started a buzz around the office. people started recycling more, car pooling, and my supervisor is going to get his wife a Civic hybrid. I wonder if the Tennesse center for policy research is a non profit branch of exxon? Ha Ha
I wish that every person with the ability to hold opposing opinions in their heads without exploding and still be able to form intelligent decisions would stop “personalizing” and politicizing the casue for which Al Gore has signed up. He gave the message freely, doesn’t receive a politicians pension so let’s look at the message and not in the horse’s mouth.
It’s a bout global warming! That’s all there is to it. So my prayer continues to be that we do what Gore said: Don’t wait for the politicians – do this in your own backyard, your garage, your driveway and your wallet! These are the most important voting tools nowadays – sad but true, yet effective.
StopGlobalWarming.org has great tips to bring about change in the microcosmic way and that will bear the grandest results in the long run. I followed about half a dozen (CF lightbulb, electric scooter, green power etc.) and am saving a good amount of money every month.
There is never going to be a peaceful (r)evolution for the sustenance of this world as long as the debates fly high and the actions slumber!
I’m glad that he passes the message about ecological living but he definitely should do something with his enlectricity consumption. He uses way too much.
Al Gore is a dangerous man. He cares about something important and has the courage and connections to make a difference. That scares a lot of people who have been doing just fine, thank you, with the status quo. Now some group calling themselves the “Tennessee Center for Policy Research,” which sounds pretty darn important to me, prints allegations attempting to prove the emporer has no clothes. The only real surprise is that it’s taken so long to for a hit piece to appear. Maybe this is a good thing. Maybe it’ll give us a little practice wading through the crap. Or at least in separating fact from fiction.
I think Mr. Gore is doing the right thing by laying low in regards to “08. Stash the Oscar, accept the Pulitzer, enjoy the concerts, and let some of the other candidates slug it out for a while. Stay above the fray. But most importantly, he remains less vulnerable to these sorts of attack. The gloves come off when he announces.
Right now I’m thinking Gore/Obama, maybe Gore/Pelosi ’08. But you never know.
My husband and I had a long discussion about this last night, trying to figure whether Gore’s (supposed) large use of electricity makes him a hypocrite or not. For the record, I’m a huge Gore supporter, environmentalist, and I live in a could be using much more energy, but he’s installed some solar panels, he probably turns off the lights a lot, uses surge strips, and so on. He also has green power, buys carbon offsets, etc. So it seems to me that the main problem is that he lives in a mansion. Compared to the “average” American home of approx 2000-2500 sq.ft., of course his mansion is going to take a lot more to heat and electrify.
We checked out climatecrisis.net last night to see if Gore advocates buying smaller homes or living in apartments, and not surprisingly, he doesn’t. So if people are going to take issue with any of this, they should criticize him for living in a mansion, not for the total amount of energy he uses. What I’d really love to see Gore turn to next is urban planning–pushing for mixed use development and greater mass transit options around the country (and higher CAFE standards). While the personal aspects are important and are useful in getting people to care, they’re not as important as changing the social structure of the country (to the extent that it’s possible, which is probably a pretty low extent).
My personal feeling is that Gore should get enough solar panels, little rooftop turbines and geothermal heat to get his mansion off the grid, and then he can tell everyone to stick it.
Nah. You’re not on target here. Gore had eight years to do the right thing when in office, yet he sat on his hands – putting his political future in front of the global future. Apologists will scream that the VP has “no real power.” Tell that to Bush Sr or Cheney. Further, Gore’s movie did not at all address what a concerned citizenry should DO about climate change – or even point out WHO is responsible (many of Gore’s former paymasters, for starters). Yes, the film did great work, but it was Laurie David and others who conceived of the film, not Gore. We should offer accolades for what THE FILM did, not so much Al Gore.
Speaking of which, info on the SEQUEL can be found at my site (http://www.todbrilliant.com)
Gore has done an exemplary job getting people to think about their impact on the environment.
Cheney is President right now, is there any doubt? VP has as much power as the Prez gives them.
The movie did what it was meant to do. It informed people of what is happening with the environment. If they had diluted the message of the movie with finger pointing or recommendations (which could be several documentaries in itself) no one would have sat through it.
And of course Al Gore did not make the film himself, but would it have been such a success if John Smith had starred in it? The film was great, and Gore did a great job in the film.
Actually gore has been behind environmental legislation for years, when he was in office, both as a vp and when he was a senator. The movie was not created to teach people what to do about global warming. What its meant to do and does very well is convince people of global warming, especially business leaders, and convince them that doing something about it is very important for the future.
I agree whole heartedly.
If we are going to take this argument to its logical end, then I suppose the only true “greens” are street people who live entirely off the grid.
I might be interesting to compare the Gore’s home to the homes of other rich people, not just to the average person.
While I think Gore and his wife should attempt to minimize their impact on the environment, I don’t expect them to move into a log cabin to show their environmental commitment.
Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain — and most fools do.
-Dale Carnegie
ianqui made some good points about the size of homes.
High density is of course much less energy and carbon intensive.
In London, UK, where I live, Richmond upon Thames has one of the highest recycling rates in the country and lots of people there like to buy local food etc.
However, most of them live in big houses and therefore, despite having very green lifestyles, there ecological footprint per capita is in fact one of the highest in London.
Gore doesn’t need to move house, he should just get some lodgers in.
Gore has already “let some lodgers in.” He has a live-in security detail and a fulltime staff.
But you bring up a good point.
Brothers and sisters, when are are we going to actually join the world and get with the program? The environmental movement will not remake society overnight. It will take a generation or two to really make things happen in the West.
We need to meet people where they are. We’re not Jesus, calling his disciples to sell their worldly possessions and follow after him. And people generally won’t, even if we ask.
Not are corporations going away anytime soon. I’m sorry if you don’t like Wal-Mart messing up your cozy little neighborhood co-op by getting into organic goods, but The People ™ shop at big-box stores. Let Wal-Mart sell organics and get healthier food to the masses.
The Gores live in a house large enough to be considered vulgar. But they probably like it, they can afford it, and they’re doing what they can to reduce their footprint. That’s enough.
The Revolution *will* be televised, and you’ll not be in a starring role if you’re busy browbeating the cast and audience. A step at a time, people …
In this case, I say we shoot the messenger but not the message. I believe Al Gore is sincere. It’s been his one big issue since before he even became VP. But does he do enough? No, so it hurts the message. He’s rich, so his responsibility should be way above the average American’s. He also hasn’t made very many sacrifices. Paying more money for electricity doesn’t mean much when you can easily afford it. Or giving slide presentations when you already have all the time in the world (i.e. no real job). As for the TCPR, I make it a personal point to take anyone who bashes the messenger without tackling the bigger issues with a grain of salt. It’s obiviously political. Unfortunately, in the end, looking like a hypocrite hurts the message more than any amount of “carbon offsets” you buy. I mean, how many Christians would there be today if Jesus lived in a mansion overlooking Jersulem? And one more thing: Gore didn’t work hard for his money, he inherited it.
Peter said:
Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain — and most fools do.
Clearly Peter implies that ONLY fools criticize, condemn and complain. A bit of an erroneous position.
The quote was meant to come off as a nugget of wisdom betowed upon us by mediocre industrialist. Pure foolishness, this.
Al Gore is a “do as I say, not as I do” sort of guy. Whupeee he drives a Civic. Has a solar panel. Uses 25 times as much electricity as me every year.
He’s important, I’m not. I’ll turn down my thermostat another notch,be part of his carbon offset, and freeze my a*** so he can continue to live in luxury. Give me a break. He’s a sincere hypocrite with an agenda that’s making him money and making him famous. No one knew his name when he was VP.
Some politicians come from Hollywood, others go there when their political careers are over.
I’m far more of an environmentalist than Big Al. I live in the woods, heat my house with corn or wood, and drive a pathetically underpowered Toyota. I have flourescent lights in all five rooms of my shack. I do it because I am cheap, not because Al Gore “woke me up”.
Steve,
Underpowered Toyota? I thought that only Fords were underpowered? : )
Ethan – I have a 1993 Ford F 250 4X4 that gets about 12 mpg and it has enough power to pull my 21 foot boat to the lake. The boat burns about 5 gallons per hour. I drive my Ford about 1500 miles a year and mostly use the 5 HP trolling motor on the boat. I can, with clear conscience, use my Ford and boat once in a while thanks to the carbon offset I get with my 2001 Corolla commuter car 🙂
Al Gore’s response to his own “inconvenient truth” is outrageous. Simply because the man has bought into green energy as an “offset” does nothing for his case. It’s as if he is telling us that he can continue to run up his credit card bill because he is continually making deposits into his savings account. I say WAKE UP! Just because you’ve “offset” your energy consumption does not replace the fact that you are still using the energy from fossil fuels. And in the case of fossil fuels that are not replaceable it’s a credit card bill can NEVER be repaid. But don’t worry…just look at my savings account balance. Please. If Mr. Gore does not want to be considered a hypocrite he needs to live by his own advice. Sure he uses (one of) his homes as an office as well. I don’t know about anyone else, but I bet if you took the energy most of us use at the office during a year and added that to our home electric bills it still wouldn’t come close to the 20x average that Al and Tipper are running up!
Al Gore
I condemn you!
I declare you guilty as charged for promoting and provoking terror amongst childhood in the world by spreading your global warming threats.
Your “Doomsday†is nothing else but a “convenient truth” for your political and economical purposes; therefore, I declare you guilty of actions, which violate the most basic rights of human kind: peace of mind.
José Luis Belmar
Mexican
and citizen of the world.
I like the fact that a great many of the bloggers herein recognize that most of green talk is really just puffery. We will be dependent on coal until it is depleted and Nuclear will provide the lion’s share of the rest of our energy needs. The rest is, well, inconsequential. When the juice isn’t worth the squeeze…,you know the rest.
I wrote a somewhat unpopular book about the tax farms (IE Wind energy). I shouldn’t cut myself short, the book is completely unpopular, and equally failing to sell. I take that as success, because it is chock full of the facts nobody wants to know.
Anyway, keep up the good blogging and turn the lights on, too. We need that peak load.
albert gore u have inspired me with your movie
i will for sure do something about it