Wes Mantooth

I don't know, maybe its just me but the major renovations to his house here in Tennessee didn't actually start until he got called out by the media, I hardly find that commendable. If nobody had noticed would he have done anything at all? He's been talking about global warming for decades, but only does something about his home 3 or 4 years ago after his integrity is called into question?

And lets not forget not only does Al own a house in California (need those fountains and heated pool Mr Gore?) he also owns one here in Nashville, one in Carthage, TN (family farm and home to the zinc mine) and another in Arlington VA, and I beleive a condo at one point..all for him and Tipper...four homes. Hardly a shining example of the necessary consumption he ask out of all of us, but I'm sure he's working hard on making them all green before the media discovers anything.

But that's just the surface of the ice burg for old Al. Couple the houses with his zinc mine which was responsible for polluting the Canary Fork River (sited as late as 2000 by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation for violations, closed in 2003 again after winding up in the media). Of course right along side this zinc mine was the "Gore Dump" which Al himself denied existing until the local news shot footage showing dripping oil filters, aerosol cans, unrecycled aluminum and old tires (also leaking into the Canary Fork)...but we'll forgive that one since it was in the early 90's. Gore is now allowing Dow Chemical (yeah really) to sponsor Life Earth in an attempt to paint itself as a green company, pissing off environmentalists everywhere. He's notorious for flying around in a private jet and traveling in a limo (hardly necessary or easy on the environment), he "forgot" to turn off the floodlights around his Nashville home during Earth Hour last year, wont stop eating meat despite calling out the farm and meat industry for their impact on the environment...

...This is just the stuff off the top of my head, if I got my facts wrong I'll stand corrected. Al's done a lot to turn people on to the problems we face today with global warming but if the above isn't glaring hypocrisy I don't know what is. He could own a modest, yet comfortable home as a model of green efficiency...he doesn't need three mansions and a heavily polluted farm. He could be setting an example by making appearances via satellite instead of jetting around the world for every appearance but chooses not to. He seems to have no problem consuming all the energy and resources he needs to live his life the way he wants to yet asks us to do the exact opposite. Dire situations call for drastic measures, or at least according to Al Gore and drastic measures take effort, lots of it. Not leaving a carbon footprint the size of Cleveland, off setting it with carbon credits (from a company he chairs none the less), only making changes when called out by the media and then going right back to life as normal. That's not setting an example, that's not leadership, that's not the actions of a man who believes we are an eyelash away from an environmental catastrophe.

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