Dan Rather was not involved in this blog post
Aug 14th, 2007 by Jesse Moore
This was sent to me as an email forward, which I don’t use give much weight. I checked this against Snopes.com though, and it checks out, so I consider it a very worthy post:
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 this residence consumes more energy than the average American household does in a year. The average bill for electricity and natural gas runs over $2400. In natural gas alone, this property consumes more than 20 times the national average for an American home. This house is not situated in a Northern or Midwestern “snow belt” area. 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 is 4,000 square feet (4 bedrooms) and is nestled on a 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 the winter and cools it in the summer. The system uses no fossil fuels such as oil or natural gas and it consumes one-quarter 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. Surrounding flowers and shrubs native to the area enable the property to blend into the surrounding rural landscape.
HOUSE #1 is outside of Nashville, Tennessee; it is the abode of the “environmentalist” Al Gore.
HOUSE #2 is on a ranch near Crawford, Texas; it is the residence of the President of the United States, George W. Bush.
An “inconvenient truth.”
Oh, I love it!
While full of haha-oh-look-irony this comparison isn’t terribly fair. I won’t make any excuses for Al Gore, but I’d argue that this doesn’t wreak of hypocrisy as much as the article would lead one to believe. The Gore mansion is both a residence and a place of business and is certainly far from an average household. Doesn’t that count for something?
I was thinking about this last night and had a few thoughts of my own I wanted to share…
I couldn’t verify that the pictures were actually of the houses in question, but I can believe that House #1 is one of Gore’s primary residences, while House #2 looks like a ranch house of Bush’s - probably not his primary residence.
I don’t think that this negates the point though - and I hope that everyone gets the subtlety of this point and doesn’t just chase their emotions.
Simply said, Gore is throwing a lot of environmental rocks for living in such an industrious house. A rebuttal from Gore’s camp doesn’t even refute the data - only that he’s taking measures to make the residence more e-friendly (see rebuttal HERE. Bush doesn’t get any love from the “environmental” movement, though as a hunter and rancher and (now as we can see) as homeowner, time and time again he demonstrates stewardship of the land.
It just makes me shake my head that this doesn’t get press. Reminds me of THIS POST (scroll to bottom of page for article on buried Russian jets in Iraq).
I get the irony. I do. It is even funny. Every consevative I know, all 3 of them, has sent me this email. Don’t worry, this is getting plenty of attention.
Now the rebuttle.
1) Gearge Bush was quoted only a few years ago saying, ” Global warming doesn’t exist.”
2) To down play the global warming scare the Bush Administration renamed global warming to sound more friendly. Climate Change sounds so much nicer don’t you think?
3) George Bush removed the United States from the Kyoto Protocol http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_Protocol many years ago. This mulitnation UN supported initiative has been signed by 169 countries. Clinton had us moving forward withthis, but Bush in his infinate (earthly) wisdom removed our nation from the list.
4) The Bush administrations Oil Based Energy Policy has created more green house gasses than Gore’s house in a million years. This same policy has been used to start a war that has killed thousands of Americans to stabilize an oil rich region. All the while Bush was able to line the pockets of his old chums in the oil industry.
5) Steward of the land my ass!
And one more thing. It snows in the south.
I would rebut the previous comment but i feel the best course of action would be to shut down the comments on this post. I know Jess would agree with me.
Brandon — I don’t get it.
Marty and I have gotten into it a time or two in the past. i feel that responding would only create tension and that is not the purpose of jesse’s blog. Thus I suggested the comments be stopped for this politically controversial post.
You see, that’s the problem. We’re so afraid we’re going to offend somebody that we refuse to discuss big issues of the day. God forbid we offend somebody. Let’s just bury our heads and pretend nothing is happening (insert whatever you are thinking here). Now to the original cause that started this blog string: Gore vs. Bush and their living habits. We’re all so intent on pointing out that Gore is liberal and living the life of a hypocrite (as pertains to global warming). We’re also intent on painting Bush as the most idiotic, despotic, and environmentally inept president we’ve ever had. The truth is actually somewhere in the middle. Is Bush always right? No. Thats clear. But neither is Gore. Both are prone to making human mistakes. That’s partly what makes this subject ironic.
Bush isn’t an idiot for not joining the Kyoto treaty. In fact, I believe he’s rather smart for it. First of all, the treaty isn’t applied equally across the world board. Why let countries like China and India, fully developed industrial complexes, skate on their emissions when they are the biggest offenders of pollution in the world today. Not only that, there are signers of the treaty (Russia) that are completely ignoring the ratified rules. And there is nothing in place to enforce Kyoto. Do you honestly believe that the UN is going to do this? They can’t even manage themselves (case in point: WMD were found in their NY offices this week and they tried to hide it from everyone).
Bush, as he demonstrates in his ranch house, believes in personal responsibility when dealing with the environment. We need to take care of these things on a personal level first. Isn’t that what Gore is partially espousing as the “Inconvenient Truth”? Bush is doing this so why skewer him on it? Doesn’t make sense to me. The difference is that Gore and his tribe believe that government should be able to mandate the change and force people to comply. When did governmental compulsion ever work to the benefit of the people (USSR, anyone)?
I write this as a springboard to generate more thought and to keep the conversation going. I’m curious to see how others respond. Ciao.