Bush has a White House and a “green house”

I came across this page on snopes.com, and I thought it was very interesting. This is an email that has been going around, and according to snopes.com, it is true.

Look over the descriptions of the following two houses and see if you can tell which belongs to an environmentalist…

HOUSE # 1:

A 20-room mansion (not including 8 bathrooms) heated by natural gas. Add on a pool (and a pool house) and a separate guest house all heated by gas. In ONE MONTH ALONE this mansion consumes more energy than the average American household in an ENTIRE YEAR. The average bill for electricity and
natural gas runs over $2,400.00 per month. In natural gas alone (which last time we checked was a fossil fuel), this property consumes more than 20 times the national average for an American home. This house is not in a northern or Midwestern “snow belt,” either. It’s in the South.

HOUSE # 2:

Designed by an architecture professor at a leading national university, this house incorporates every “green” feature current home construction can provide. The house contains only 4,000 square feet (4 bedrooms) and is nestled on arid high prairie in the American southwest. A central closet in the house holds geothermal heat pumps drawing ground water through pipes sunk 300 feet into the ground. The water (usually 67 degrees F.) heats the house in winter and cools it in summer. The system uses no fossil fuels such as oil or natural gas, and it consumes 25% of the electricity required for a conventional heating/cooling system. Rainwater from the roof is collected and funneled into a 25,000 gallon underground cistern. Wastewater from showers, sinks and toilets goes into underground purifying tanks and then into the cistern. The collected water then irrigates the land surrounding the house. Flowers and shrubs native to the area blend the property into the surrounding rural landscape.

HOUSE # 1 (20 room energy guzzling mansion) is outside of Nashville, Tennessee. It is the abode of that renowned environmentalist (and filmmaker) Al Gore.

HOUSE # 2 (model eco-friendly house) is on a ranch near Crawford, Texas. Also known as “the Texas White House,” it is the private residence of the President of the United States, George W. Bush.

So whose house is gentler on the environment? Yet another story you WON’T hear on CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC, MSNBC or read about in the New York Times or the Washington Post. Indeed, for Mr. Gore, it’s truly “an inconvenient truth.”

So what do you think? I have seen President Bush mocked constantly in the green community but it seems as though he does deserve some props for greening his home. I may not agree with everything that President Bush does, but his home is greener than most people’s, and they should consider that. Share your thoughts below…Does Bush do one thing and say another? Do his energy policies contradict his “green living” at the ranch? Share your thoughts!

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Ethan K.

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12 Comments

  • What gets me is that not once has President Bush touted his home as the wave of the future, not once has he used the bully pulpit to argue that homes should be made more energy independent and efficient. So I have to judge him just as hypocritical as Gore. Both do one thing and say the other. Which one is more wrong? I say it is even.

  • I think that Bush has a green house because it suits his simple way of life. He is still a politician though, and all politicians should be watched like a fox in a hen house. Gore is the same way. He could live in more modest digs if he chose to. I know everybody says that Gore uses carbon offsets, but that is a poor way to balance out your actions. Carbon offsets are just a way of saying, “Hey I consume a lot, so here is some money to plant some trees that I will eventually kill with more of my consumption.”

  • Wow. Just when I think GWB can’t do any wrong, I find out he lives in a “green” house. I was expecting the whole thing to be coal and oil powered! Dern yer hide, dubbya!

  • If Bush is so interested in Green Why does he use so much energy (fossil fuel) flying so much
    He uses more Energy flying than a Thousand familys.

  • Last time I checked, Bush was the president. Do you expect to see him peddle on a bike everywhere? Sorry, but I find it hard to even take your comment seriously.

  • I don’t condone Al Gore’s actions at all, and I think his home is proof of my theory that everyone searches throughout their lives for the one thing they cannot do for themselves. We’re all natsy little hipocrites when our desires intersect with our beliefs.
    Bush, however, as the leading Republican voice in the country lambasted the need for eco-conservatism, even though he knows in his heart it’s the right thing, both economically and morally. Great, he’s reduced his home’s energy use by 75%; does that make up for encouraging wastefulness in the population by gainsaying global warming, failing to set stricter automobile standards, and running thousands of army vehicles over to Iraq to kill for oil, which we are only bringing back to America to continue the CO2 parade?
    Good for Bush, he has the money and invested wisely in his home, yet his failure to use this knowledge to inform and revolutionize America’s approach to energy resources is impardonable.

  • I believe Bush believes the principle, lead by example. Unfortunately the media would rather talk about the 9 attorneys being fired (as compared to Janet Reno firing all 93). Bush could solve world hunger and all the media would focus on is that he stole the election on 2000.
    This article proves the point, lots of media props for gore, none for bush despite the obvious difference.

  • Who is the environmentalist? I don’t think it is really Al Gore.
    He buys his carbon footprint, buys green electricity. That is just for looks!!
    Please his home shows what he is really like. Just the opposite of an environmentalist.
    Talks the talk..BUT doesn’t walk the walk!