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Old 05-04-2010, 02:25 PM   #1 (permalink)
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Al Gore bought another house - 6 fireplaces and 9 bathrooms. Hypocrisy at its finest

6 fireplaces, 5 bedrooms, 9 bathrooms and he will arrive by private jet

Laureate Al Gore purchased a $9 million mansion in the luxurious hills of Montecito, California, recently, and with the exception of the Los Angeles Times and Fox News, America's media couldn't care less.

You think it might be because the Gore-loving press wouldn't want people to consider the possibility that all of his global warming hysteria was really about lining his wallet and not saving the planet?

Formulate a response to that question as you look at what all that money the former Vice President is making off of spreading this myth can buy (h/t Doug Ross):

Sweet, wouldn't you say? (Readers are encouraged to view more pictures of this fabulous estate here.)

Certainly not bad for a guy who supposedly was worth between one and two million dollars in 2000.

Were the "Always Fascinated by the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" press interested?


Read more: Stunning Pictures of Al Gore's New $9 Million Mansion Media Totally Ignored | NewsBusters.org


Without a doubt - Hypocrite of the year. What a complete and utter phoney.

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Old 05-04-2010, 02:48 PM   #2 (permalink)
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Old 05-04-2010, 03:10 PM   #3 (permalink)
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These arguments are a bit like 'evolution is false because Darwin did X'. A vocal proponent who suffers from the human condition does not undermine the theory. I have mixed feelings about Gore himself, but there is no question that global warming is anthropogenic. Well, no question for most. Him making money on it really doesn't have any relevance. I thought that was the goal of capitalism, anyway?
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Old 05-04-2010, 03:31 PM   #4 (permalink)
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Al Gore lost any credibility with me when it made the news a few years ago that his monthly electric bill for his home in Tennessee was over $10K per month. This is just another case of the liberal attitude of listen to what I say, don't look at what I do.

Al Gore and the global warming crowd didn't do themselves any favors with their climate summit in Copenhagen with so many private jets that they had problems parking them, and so many limos that there was a limo shortage in Europe.

I may not be a liberal, but I at least try to help the environment by driving a 15 year old Geo Prism that gets 40MPG, keeping lights off when I don't need them, keep my heat between 60 and 65 in the winter, recycling, etc.
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Old 05-04-2010, 03:36 PM   #5 (permalink)
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Each one of us is a cause of global warming, but each one of us can make choices to change that with the things we buy, the electricity we use, the cars we drive; we can make choices to bring our individual carbon emissions to zero. The solutions are in our hands, we just have to have the determination to make it happen. We have everything that we need to reduce carbon emissions, everything but political will. But in America, the will to act is a renewable resource.
-Al Gore, concluding remarks, An Inconvenient Truth

He might be a hypocrite, but does that invalidate his fundamental message?
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Old 05-04-2010, 03:47 PM   #6 (permalink)
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Old 05-04-2010, 04:16 PM   #7 (permalink)
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I consider myself a liberal but Gore can go fuck himself. I'm not even convinced he would have been a better president than Bush had he won that last state simply because he's got such a crooked hypocrisy that he's obviously just a politician.

while he preaches the liberal agenda, he lives a selfish one i'd expect from the fat cat right wingers who love money more than people.
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Old 05-04-2010, 04:30 PM   #8 (permalink)
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He's a fucking politician - they aren't required to stand behind what they say. If he bought the line he's been mouthing he wouldn't have bought another house.
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Old 05-04-2010, 04:37 PM   #9 (permalink)
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Whatever Gore's character flaws are, it really isn't relevant to the global warming debate. If every time someone exploited a theory, idea or cause for personal gain we discredited the idea, we'd have nothing left.
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Old 05-04-2010, 04:39 PM   #10 (permalink)
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Originally Posted by Baraka_Guru View Post
Each one of us is a cause of global warming, but each one of us can make choices to change that with the things we buy, the electricity we use, the cars we drive; we can make choices to bring our individual carbon emissions to zero. The solutions are in our hands, we just have to have the determination to make it happen. We have everything that we need to reduce carbon emissions, everything but political will. But in America, the will to act is a renewable resource.
-Al Gore, concluding remarks, An Inconvenient Truth

He might be a hypocrite, but does that invalidate his fundamental message?
This is the message that you all need to take away from this thread.
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Old 05-04-2010, 05:37 PM   #11 (permalink)
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He might be a hypocrite, but does that invalidate his fundamental message?
There's no "might be" in there. He IS a hypocrite of the worst kind.

In my opinion he should walk the walk. Frankly he is a very poor spokesman for his fundamental message and though his hypocrisy does not invalidate the message - it certainly invalidates him. I'm all for success and reaping the rewards of your hard work, but does one really need a house with 9 bathrooms? For that matter, I believe this is Gore's 3'rd house. I seem to recall he had a 14,000 ft2 mansion in Tennessee and a house in NY somewhere that was about half the size. Now this makes 3 houses at virtually the 3 corners of the United States. I somehow doubt he rides a bicycle to commute between his palaces.

The cynic in me would say that Al is just an opportunist like so many other sleazeballs, whoops, I mean Politicians. He simply figured out a way to become a spokesman for an industry and make a shit load of money for himself in the process. In the end, that's what it comes down to with Gore - money and lots of it.

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Old 05-04-2010, 05:40 PM   #12 (permalink)
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Old 05-04-2010, 06:23 PM   #13 (permalink)
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I really don't understand the fascination with mansions. Does he really do that much entertaining? I hope he realizes the damage this does to his credibility.
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Old 05-04-2010, 06:47 PM   #14 (permalink)
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I have no problem with someone profiting from the green movement. The whole point is that there is a business model to be exploited. Remember that he has also invested time and money into Current TV and other enterprises beyond just his speaking.

That said, it's disappointing that he can't practice what he preaches. As a spokesperson for a movement, you really need to set an example.
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Old 05-04-2010, 07:00 PM   #15 (permalink)
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He could have at least brought over a bunch of German architects and contractors and built a zero-emissions/carbon neutral mansion.

Then he could say: "See! It is possible!"
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Old 05-04-2010, 07:01 PM   #16 (permalink)
 
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i really don't see the point of this thread. i don't see the logic behind the op. you imagine that democrats are not representatives of a faction of the dominant financial oligarchy because they speak a different rhetoric than do the republicans? if you think that then you don't know the first thing about us politics. and if you don't know the first thing about us politics, it really is of no consequence what you think of al gore.

personally i see him as having done some useful work in raising awareness about climate change. past that baraka guru and charlatan have summarized what i think a reasonable position is.
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Old 05-04-2010, 07:16 PM   #17 (permalink)
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rb... Al Gore matters beyond the US borders. His message is a global one. He was just here giving a speech that received a lot of local press. What he says and what he does is important in that he is seen as the figurehead of a movement.

I am not surprised that he continues to live a lavish life. I'm just disappointed that he isn't showing good leadership.
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Old 05-04-2010, 07:24 PM   #18 (permalink)
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Gore should have built a house like David Shepler's of IBM Research:
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Old 05-04-2010, 10:38 PM   #19 (permalink)
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Being a hypocrite absolutely and completely destroys his message. He's asking us to change how we live our lives for the greater good of the planet and yet he himself either can't or wont make those same changes? His inability to lead by example is really telling us that while his message is important, living a green lifestyle is too difficult, inconvenient and hard to put into practice, so give it a shot but when it proves to be to hard you can just give up or make excuses. In other words "Meh, saving the planet isn't all that important after all".

I don't know maybe I'm being to harsh perhaps I'm missing Al Gores point, its been awhile since I've seen his movie. Maybe he's telling us that saving the planet is great but private jets, gas guzzling limos, and houses that consume more energy then some small countries are even better! After all the important people can't be expected to be inconvenienced by saving the world...but if you aren't a jet setting, international global warming superstar then you should do the right thing and buy that electric car. Al Gore is super cereal about saving the environment as long as it doesn't make his life any more difficult. Excelsior!

In all seriousness I actually like Al Gore but failing to set an example really castrates his message to the point of near absurdity. People just aren't going to take him or his crusade seriously until he walks the walk and shows the world that it really works, is possible and everyone can do it.



.
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Old 05-05-2010, 12:42 AM   #20 (permalink)
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Being a hypocrite absolutely and completely destroys his message. He's asking us to change how we live our lives for the greater good of the planet and yet he himself either can't or wont make those same changes? His inability to lead by example is really telling us that while his message is important, living a green lifestyle is too difficult, inconvenient and hard to put into practice, so give it a shot but when it proves to be to hard you can just give up or make excuses. In other words "Meh, saving the planet isn't all that important after all".

I don't know maybe I'm being to harsh perhaps I'm missing Al Gores point, its been awhile since I've seen his movie. Maybe he's telling us that saving the planet is great but private jets, gas guzzling limos, and houses that consume more energy then some small countries are even better! After all the important people can't be expected to be inconvenienced by saving the world...but if you aren't a jet setting, international global warming superstar then you should do the right thing and buy that electric car. Al Gore is super cereal about saving the environment as long as it doesn't make his life any more difficult. Excelsior!

In all seriousness I actually like Al Gore but failing to set an example really castrates his message to the point of near absurdity. People just aren't going to take him or his crusade seriously until he walks the walk and shows the world that it really works, is possible and everyone can do it.



.
First, it isn't "his message." He didn't invent environmentalism, the idea of global warming, or any sort of "living green" philosophy.

Second, is one hypocrite enough to destroy any message?
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Old 05-05-2010, 02:25 AM   #21 (permalink)
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First, it isn't "his message." He didn't invent environmentalism, the idea of global warming, or any sort of "living green" philosophy.

Second, is one hypocrite enough to destroy any message?
If Al Gore says that the environment is being damaged, that global warming is a problem, and that we need to cut back on energy usage, then proceeds to buy another huge home which uses lots of energy, why would I believe a word that he has to say about the subject. He has absolutely no credibility on the subject.

Now, since there are other people making the case for global warming, Al Gore alone does not destroy the credibility of the warnings about global warming. However, get enough hypocrites like him speaking out and the message might be distorted or diluted.
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Old 05-05-2010, 03:19 AM   #22 (permalink)
 
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all of which presupposes that this "hypocrisy" nonsense has some meaning.
gee, a national level politician in the united states is wealthy. what a fucking shock. and he disposes of his wealth in a way that were gore a conservative rightwingers would defend.

it's funny that this non-story is floating about now and apparently getting some traction in the rightwing press. it's certainly easier to froth about on this vital matter of infotainment---the Important Question about climate change of course being how al gore lives his personal life----given the disaster that's unfolding in the gulf of mexico, which seems to maybe---just maybe---have punched some holes in conservative anti-green posturing.

folk need to learn to recognize triage memes when they see em. this is about giving conservatives something to feel put upon about concerning "the environment" at a moment when their message, such as it is, has been atomized by reality again.
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Old 05-05-2010, 03:29 AM   #23 (permalink)
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You know what happens if you go out on the street to notice red cars? Even if you just say "red" to yourself before you leave the house. It's absolutely shocking how many red cars you see. It's like every red car in town lines up to drive past you that very day!
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Old 05-05-2010, 03:45 AM   #24 (permalink)
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Let's pretend Al Gore had a similar message but a number of decades ago. Let's pretend he had all this evidence that smoking was bad for you, and until then people didn't really know otherwise. Let's pretend he made a sensational film about it in an attempt to mobilize the world against the dangers of smoking. Let's also pretend that not only does Gore chain smoke but that he recently bought shares in Philip Morris.

Would that change the fact that we should probably quit smoking, that we should quit smoking around our children, that pregnant women probably shouldn't smoke?

Okay, he's a fucking hypocrite. But does that mean we should let him ruin a movement toward more sustainable global lifestyles?

I mean, should we let ourselves be bratty about it?

Are we just jealous of his wealth?

Okay, so Gore has failed to live up to his own words. He doesn't practice what he preaches. So tell him to fuck off. He failed to get his own message. Maybe his wealth was like a drug and he couldn't resist. So be it.

As for me, I'm going to continue to be concerned about out little biosphere. I don't know about you, but Gore's actions are of little consequence to my own thoughts on the issue.
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Old 05-05-2010, 03:57 AM   #25 (permalink)
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First, it isn't "his message." He didn't invent environmentalism, the idea of global warming, or any sort of "living green" philosophy.

Second, is one hypocrite enough to destroy any message?
I don't know about "one hypocrite" being able to destroy a message, but one individual can convince individuals to change, can also lose that ability for one reason or another.

See Tiger Woods for examples.
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Old 05-05-2010, 04:09 AM   #26 (permalink)
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all of which presupposes that this "hypocrisy" nonsense has some meaning.
Actually, it does. I've had discussions with people about low gas mileage cars and SUVs. Their comments to me were that as long as limousine liberals like Al Gore insisted on flying around in private jets and owned multiple large homes with huge energy budgets, they saw no reason to give up their cars or otherwise try to conserve energy.

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gee, a national level politician in the united states is wealthy. what a fucking shock. and he disposes of his wealth in a way that were gore a conservative rightwingers would defend.
Al Gore can spend his money however he likes. However, by doing things like this, he loses any credibility that he has. He's no different than any other shyster who tries to separate people from their money. In the interests of full disclosure, maybe Al should disclose how much money he's made off investments in energy conservation. Because, as far as I am concerned with Al, he's in a position to get publicity for his statements, and can steer people into whatever direction suits his interests.

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it's funny that this non-story is floating about now and apparently getting some traction in the rightwing press.
For me, Al Gore has had nothing to say of value about the environment for several years, since it was disclosed a few years ago about his home in Tennessee with a $10K/month + utility bill. This isn't new news.

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it's certainly easier to froth about on this vital matter of infotainment---the Important Question about climate change of course being how Al Gore lives his personal life----given the disaster that's unfolding in the gulf of mexico, which seems to maybe---just maybe---have punched some holes in conservative anti-green posturing.
Maybe we would have a few less oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico if Al Gore and his peers weren't flying around in private jets and otherwise wasting energy instead of conserving it.

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Old 05-05-2010, 04:27 AM   #27 (permalink)
 
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right. because al gore is personally responsible for the kind of levels of petroleum consumption that is built into the economic model that conservatives are cheerleader for the waste built into which props up an oil industry that is amongst the republicans bigger backers at whose beck and call the right has been ideologically on environmental questions for many years.

and because in the la-la land of the right, it is the democrats who are some Persecuting Elite. i forget about that particular aspect of rightwing paranoia in the fabrication of al gore as Persecuting Other. a bad bad man who is associated with the bad bad man bill clinton. bad bad bad.

if you want to play this game, i suppose we could also talk about people like koch industries and the other deep pockets whose money explains the continued presence of conservative-specific anti-climate change nonsense and whose infrastructure explains the circulation of this particularly pathetic bit of conservative meme triage.

how is it that we are not being treated to stories about how the koch brothers dispose of their massive incomes in their private lives. o wait: the koch brothers and their ilk have no political interest in exposing themselves to scrutiny. they just want to buy the capacity to direct it at others when it serves some political advantage. no problem with that. there can't be a problem with that. the koch brothers are conservatives.
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Old 05-05-2010, 12:13 PM   #28 (permalink)
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Guys, it doesn't change the overall message that global warming is a man made catastrophe and we need to take steps to fix it. It does by proxy of Al Gore being a poster boy for global warming severely weaken the message when its de facto spokesman not only doesn't live by his own word but also apparently goes out of his way to leave a larger carbon footprint then he really needs too. He's begun sending the message that global warming just isn't worth the effort to fix, and if something isn't worth the effort then how important can it really be? It provides fodder for global warming detractors and makes people on the fence about issue continue to question their position. If he's not destroying his own message he's certainly severely hobbling it.

To a lot of people Al Gore has become another greedy politician/businessman exploiting a tragedy for his own personal gain and until he starts to live by his own words people just aren't going to take HIS global warming message that seriously. If he really wants to help he either needs to change how he lives or step down and let somebody else move into the limelight. Personally I think global warming is a man made catastrophe and I try to do everything I can to help. I think Al Gore did a lot with his movie, his books, his lectures and he should be commended but at this point he's starting to cross the line into hurting his own cause and quite frankly becoming a bit of a joke.
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Old 05-05-2010, 12:23 PM   #29 (permalink)
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right. because al gore is personally responsible for the kind of levels of petroleum consumption that is built into the economic model that conservatives are cheerleader for the waste built into which props up an oil industry that is amongst the republicans bigger backers at whose beck and call the right has been ideologically on environmental questions for many years.

and because in the la-la land of the right, it is the democrats who are some Persecuting Elite. i forget about that particular aspect of rightwing paranoia in the fabrication of al gore as Persecuting Other. a bad bad man who is associated with the bad bad man bill clinton. bad bad bad.

if you want to play this game, i suppose we could also talk about people like koch industries and the other deep pockets whose money explains the continued presence of conservative-specific anti-climate change nonsense and whose infrastructure explains the circulation of this particularly pathetic bit of conservative meme triage.

how is it that we are not being treated to stories about how the koch brothers dispose of their massive incomes in their private lives. o wait: the koch brothers and their ilk have no political interest in exposing themselves to scrutiny. they just want to buy the capacity to direct it at others when it serves some political advantage. no problem with that. there can't be a problem with that. the koch brothers are conservatives.
rb, this is how I see it. This isn't anything more than the conservatives saying anti-gay things and finding them with men. It's not much different than that.
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Old 05-05-2010, 12:46 PM   #30 (permalink)
 
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cyn---i'm not sure i understand your point.

i should say as an aside that i don't particularly care for al gore. i find him astonishingly wooden. one of those folk that makes me cringe just a little that he's on my side. or i am on his. whatever. on this issue anyway. what i'm reacting to in this thread really is the ad hominem character of this whole thing. and it's timing, which seems more than passing strange. but mostly the former. and there's little comparison between the tactics used by the american right insofar as sustained personal attack as a way of trying to delegitimate a political message is concerned.
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Old 05-05-2010, 12:51 PM   #31 (permalink)
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I just realized that Gore has nearly twice as many bathrooms than I do rooms.

For the record, I've been listening to the messages of David Suzuki long before I even knew who Al Gore really was.
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Old 05-05-2010, 12:52 PM   #32 (permalink)
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rb, this is how I see it. This isn't anything more than the conservatives saying anti-gay things and finding them with men. It's not much different than that.
I agree and at that point whatever message the homophobic congressmen had built a career spewing out is pretty much moot when it comes from him. Are his followers really going to continue taking his anti gay message seriously when he makes a speech about it in the future?
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Old 05-05-2010, 01:00 PM   #33 (permalink)
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cyn---i'm not sure i understand your point.

i should say as an aside that i don't particularly care for al gore. i find him astonishingly wooden. one of those folk that makes me cringe just a little that he's on my side. or i am on his. whatever. on this issue anyway. what i'm reacting to in this thread really is the ad hominem character of this whole thing. and it's timing, which seems more than passing strange. but mostly the former. and there's little comparison between the tactics used by the american right insofar as sustained personal attack as a way of trying to delegitimate a political message is concerned.
This is pretty much what I mean:
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I agree and at that point whatever message the homophobic congressmen had built a career spewing out is pretty much moot when it comes from him. Are his followers really going to continue taking his anti gay message seriously when he makes a speech about it in the future?
How about the preacher/politician saying family values only to be caught with a mistress?

rb is this something that you don't see the hypocrisy? It's schadenfreude at minimum, hypocrisy at maximum.
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Old 05-05-2010, 01:06 PM   #34 (permalink)
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Yup same idea Cynthetiq, did anyone take Jimmy Swaggart seriously after he was caught in a hotel with a prostitute? That level of hypocrisy is hard to recover from.
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Old 05-05-2010, 09:15 PM   #35 (permalink)
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I don't have to change, YOU have to change.
A big plus one Cynthetiq.

Al Gore to earthlings: Follow my instructions, not my example.
If everyone else would change, I could be an even bigger hog.

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....what i'm reacting to in this thread really is the ad hominem character of this whole thing....
And speaking of ad hominem:
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....if you think that then you don't know the first thing about us politics. and if you don't know the first thing about us politics, it really is of no consequence what you think of al gore.
Maybe we all need to pass some kind of examination before our opinions matter.

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Old 05-06-2010, 03:18 AM   #36 (permalink)
 
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how is this the same?

the guy bought a house. a house is not a belief that is at cross purposes with stated positions.
for all you know it's the greenest of green houses with swedish toilets that use no water and passive solar heating.

what you're reacting to is the number of bedrooms. and the price. what allows you to connect that to climage change is some notion that dealing with climate change will involve renunciation as if the current petroleum-crazed was of doing things is absolutely necessary and no alternatives are imaginable so if that way of doing things is creating problems the response is necessarily to subtract elements so make do with less not develop alternatives (think o i dunno the idea that youd have to do without cars as opposed to the idea that a system-level response to climate change might be to underwrite the development of solar-powered cars or something)
so the idea is that you cannot imagine an alternative set of consumer lifestyle possibilities to what exists now. and you imagine that sustainable practices involve sleeping on planks and wearing a hair frock while you eke out some miserable existence.
i have no idea at all where that stereotype---if it's even that--comes from.
but it's clear that it's a conservative mythology that functions to delegitimate concern for the environment by setting it up as a way of being that wants to take something away from righteous amuricans.

from there the link is in your head to al gore buying a house. but unless you accept the implicit characterization, the connection is arbitrary.

so this is nothing like the attitudes of a homophobic conservative congressman or the special problems created by jimmy swaggart employing hookers.
unless you assume that conservative packaging of "environmentalists" as persecuting Others represents some kind of fact about the world.
which i think ludicrous.
and so's this "controversy"
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Old 05-06-2010, 04:09 AM   #37 (permalink)
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how is this the same?

the guy bought a house. a house is not a belief that is at cross purposes with stated positions.
for all you know it's the greenest of green houses with swedish toilets that use no water and passive solar heating.
Sure. And all the trees used to build this house were cut down by had so no hydrocarbons were consumed, that all the trees that were cut down to build this mansion were replaced with equal or better quality trees. All mining of concrete and steel was done with carbon-neutral technology. He's flying around on a solar powered private jet Right.

The amount of resources consumed in this mansion are far beyond what most people use.

If Al wants to be an environmentalist, let him live the lifestyle to the hilt. If he wants to be a wealthy hypocritical limousine liberal then let him live that lifestyle.

He can't be both.
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Old 05-06-2010, 04:34 AM   #38 (permalink)
 
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dogzilla proves my point, in case there was any doubt.
thanks for that.
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Old 05-06-2010, 06:16 AM   #39 (permalink)
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dogzilla proves my point, in case there was any doubt.
thanks for that.
I don't know rb, Ed Begley Jr. seems to do just fine walking the talk. He's a point of view that I can respect and understand. He's not just talking it, he's living it.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/20/ma...domains-t.html
May 20, 2007
Domains: Ed Begley Jr.
Hollywood and Green
By EDWARD LEWINE

His green roots: It started in 1970, because of the first Earth Day. As a Boy Scout I’d had exposure to the outdoors, and I grew up in very, very, very smoggy L.A. in the ’50s and ’60s. You’d have trouble breathing. By 1970 I said, “I’ve had enough.”

The house when he moved in: There was nothing green about it, except it was small enough not to be an energy burden. There was no insulation. No double-pane windows. My ex-wife picked it in 1988, because we were living out of L.A. and I was commuting in to do “St. Elsewhere.” The show was canceled that year.

First green innovation: I took out the water-sucking lawns front and back. We live in a desert, and you don’t waste water. I now have drought-tolerant California plants like lavender and ceanothus. We also grow produce, which is more efficient then trucking it in using fossil fuels.

Morning routine: I am horizontal. Then I am awake. It’s about 6:30 a.m. I bring my wife, Rachelle Carson, her coffee. I bring my daughter Hayden, 7, her juice. I have tea. My wife and I divide the paper, then I Xerox on 100 percent recycled paper the crossword, the jumble and the Sudoku.

His obsession: I started with solar hot water in the 1980s. In 1990 I put panels on the roof and ran electric off them. The only problem was the type of energy they generated. My answering machine and stereo buzzed. The clocks ran fast. The VCR time was kerflooey. I needed a better device to convert the electrical current, which I got, and things have worked flawlessly ever since.

Favorite gadget: I have nine solar panels on a tracker that follows the sun. At night it goes to the eastern-facing position and runs all day westward. I got it in 1997.

Showing up at the Oscars: I attend each year because I am an Academy governor in the actor’s branch. I take my electric car. Fifteen years ago people thought I was nutty. Now you have Edward Norton, Leo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz taking similar vehicles.

Intense recycling: When I get busy I just put all the recyclable stuff in the blue bin. But sometimes I am able to separate colored paper, white paper and junk mail. This material goes to a special recycling plant that converts it into facial tissue, paper towels, office papers.

Favorite cooking tool: My solar oven. It is an insulated box that sits in the yard and gets up to about 375 degrees on a sunny day. You can make rice and beans or soup in it. It’s the best use of the greenhouse effect I have ever encountered. I’ve got a regular oven, but why waste beautiful methane to boil water?

Worst thing about being green: When you don’t have a recycling bin nearby and you have to carry garbage around in your car to get it home.

Good fences: My white picket fence is made of recycled plastic. The wood fence always needed repainting and replacing. The good thing about the plastic is it never breaks down. The bad thing, it never breaks down. You have to be in it for the long run.

Least green holiday: There’s no question about it, Christmas. There’s all that packaging. For years I wouldn’t buy a real tree. Now we get a regular tree, and it is fully composted.

First green ride: I bought a Taylor-Dunn electric car in 1970. It was essentially a golf cart. It had canvas doors. It had a tiller instead of a steering wheel. I drove it around L.A. and got the reaction I deserved. People thought it was pretty nutty.

What he drives now: A Toyota RAV4. It’s a little S.U.V. It’s fully electric, and I charge it at my house off the solar power. It has a range of 80 miles on one charge. For longer drives I borrow my wife’s Prius.

Burial plans: I’m going to be composted in the backyard. Just kidding. The craziest thing to me is to take 205 pounds of perfectly good organic matter, which is me, and fill it with formaldehyde. I want to be buried with a cardboard box and a sheet and put in the earth.

Going off grid: That means you don’t need power from the utility company. I’ve never been totally off, because the houses around here are too close together and my solar panels are shaded. When I was single I was down to $100 a year of company power. With a wife and daughter we use $600. One learns not to fight.

Second career: I market a line of nontoxic cleaning products, Begley’s Best, as a way of raising money for charity. It is kind of like what Paul Newman does, with Newman’s Own.

His transportation choices: First, walking; second, bike riding; third, public transport; fourth, electric car; fifth, the Prius. When I have to, I will fly. But normally I’ll take the time to drive to where I am going in an energy-efficient car.

Saving water: I collect rainwater with a large barrel connected to the rain gutters of my house. I had to fight my wife to get it in the yard, because it is bright orange.

Bathing routine: My showers are short. The women take longer.

Next big purchase: I am going to dig out an area in the backyard and put in an underground rain cistern. The runoff from the rain gutters will be plumbed to my cistern. There is no aesthetic drawback, and we’ll offset our water use.

Evening routine: If I’m working I take off my makeup. I make dinner, or we go out to eat. Then I get on the computer and pack up the day’s orders for Begley’s Best in an environmentally sound way using shredded papers from the house. I’m in bed by 11 p.m.

Favorite recent gift: My electric bike from Izip. It’s a light bike and you can pedal, but if you need some assistance going up a hill, the power kicks in. It is a perfect way to get more comfortable biking.

Least green habit: There are moments when we get takeout. The containers are not always recyclable, and you don’t want to use a ton of water to clean them for recycling.

Exercise routine: Every stationary bike in America is plugged into the wall the wrong way. They are using power! Mine does the reverse. I generate enough power from 15 minutes of biking to run my computer all day.

Favorite family memento: My father, Ed Begley, was an actor. I have the Oscar he won for best supporting actor in 1962 for the film “Sweet Bird of Youth.” I keep it on the mantel.

Favorite food: I’m a vegan. I make a real nice veggie curry.

Favorite career memento: My lab coat from “St. Elsewhere.”

Reason for optimism: I am hopeful. Look what we did in L.A. We’ve cleaned up the air so much. Look what we did with the ozone layer. We have to get aggressive, but we can make big changes. There’s reason for hope, but you can’t sit by.
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Old 05-06-2010, 06:57 AM   #40 (permalink)
 
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you know what i think is hypocritical?

conservatives whose political machine carries shit for agribusiness and petrochemical concerns acting as though green politics are something inflicted on them by some "liberal elite."
so money is somehow associated with greens and not with the conservative political machinery that's been paid for by agricorporations and petrochemical concerns.

well, that's a kind of structural hypocrisy really.
i don't see individual conservatives as hypocrites on this.
i see them as chumps.
that's different.

to be clear, i don't care about al gore one way or another. he has not been constructed for me as a boogeyman by some combine that fabricates political viewpoints so you don't have to take the trouble to think things out for yourselves. what i object to is the logic that underpins this entire thread.
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