When the truth is inconvenient . . .

gadgetlady · April 3, 2007

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.

ANSWERS:

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 in the New York Times or the Washington Post. Indeed for Mr. Gore is "an inconvenient truth".

lisah25 · April 3, 2007

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.

ANSWERS:

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 in the New York Times or the Washington Post. Indeed for Mr. Gore is "an inconvenient truth".

I have to admit when I first read this, I thought Gore was learning the true meaning of "An Inconvient Truth"! :guess

faithmd · April 3, 2007

I read about this in Time as well. So it's not just "urban legend."

green · April 3, 2007

Has Gore responded to this inconvenient truth?

Carlene · April 3, 2007

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.

The Bush's ranch in Texas is not "the private residence" of the President. It's their vacation home, much like the trailer I used to own on Lake Tawakoni, only on a much grander scale. When Bush's term is up, I seriously doubt that he and Laura will live in Crawford, TX.

Carlene · April 3, 2007

Has Gore responded to this inconvenient truth?

1) Gore's family has taken numerous steps to reduce the carbon footprint of their private residence, including signing up for 100 percent green power through Green Power Switch, installing solar panels, and using compact fluorescent bulbs and other energy saving technology.

2) Gore has had a consistent position of purchasing carbon offsets to offset the family's carbon footprint -- a concept the right-wing fails to understand. Gore's office explains:

What Mr. Gore has asked is that every family calculate their carbon footprint and try to reduce it as much as possible. Once they have done so, he then advocates that they purchase offsets, as the Gore's do, to bring their footprint down to zero.

If Al Gore, or anyone else, can reduce the carbon footprint of their home to zero, they will have done their part for the environment - regardless of the size of the home. I say, let the millionaires build all the oversized mansions they want to, just limit the amount of fossil fuels they can use to power them.

lisah25 · April 3, 2007

The Bush's ranch in Texas is not "the private residence" of the President. It's their vacation home, much like the trailer I used to own on Lake Tawakoni, only on a much grander scale. When Bush's term is up, I seriously doubt that he and Laura will live in Crawford, TX.

And to be fair also, the Gore's home is also an office to both of them, and various staff. So it's not just a residence.

And really, doesn this negate his point in his movie?

Carlene · April 4, 2007

Is this a true statement? Where is their private residence? I don't see any reason why they wouldn't like to live in Crawford. They seem very comfortable going there when they want time away from the White House. I guess I'm confused by this.

For the last 13 years, Bush has lived in "public housing" - first the governor's mansion in Texas, then in the White House. George Bush is very happy to visit the little town of Crawford, TX (population 705) to get away from the stress of DC, but he just doesn't strike me as the Jimmy Carter type, retiring to a dot on the map and joining Habitat for Humanity. But we'll see.

Here are photos of the Crawford ranch, and the Bush vacation home in Kennebunkport.

mousecrazy · April 4, 2007

Hey, I don't care HOW MUCH power people use; just don't tell me how much to use. And don't try to sell me that poopie about carbon offsets. My moderate home houses an office also...of course, I drive a regular car and don't have to fly around in jets or use security. If you need that kind of thing, by all means, use it. But, dang it, don't be so preachy to the rest of us, when all you are doing to change your own personal lifestyle is...oh yeah, those carbon offsets. I do guess I qualify as a "right-winger" or a "right thinker" and I think I have those figured out.

I think I've said this before, but I rather admire and enjoy rich people. More power to those who can own vacation homes and jets. Enjoy them...don't assuage your guilt about it by telling the little people to turn off their lights, sell their SUVs and buy curly light bulbs. (Personally, I like the curly lightbulbs, but I'd like to decide that for myself.)

Carlene · April 4, 2007

I love the lightbulbs. Been buying them long before Gore shared his wealth of knowledge.
Thanks Carlene, I couldn't find anything on the net that said how many homes Bush might have. Frankly, I guess I'd live in the Governor's mansion and the White House if they offered it to me. But I think it's cool that he has his ranch house in Crawford and he seems to rather favor it as well. If I had his money, I'd probably go for the one in Kennebunkport as well, since my parents would live nearby. I have a brother who lives in Midland, Texas, in the oil business. His home in Midland is far more pretentious than Bush's ranch house and he now has a 3 story 'lakehouse' on Possum Kingdom. Imagine that, my brother, the one from the broken, dirt poor, conservative Christian home. Good for him.

Another curly lightbulb fan here. And I agree....good for your brother. He made his without daddy's help.

PS...I'd love to have a lake house on Possum Kingdom....even a little one.

anonemouse · April 4, 2007

Thanks Carlene, I couldn't find anything on the net that said how many homes Bush might have. Frankly, I guess I'd live in the Governor's mansion and the White House if they offered it to me. But I think it's cool that he has his ranch house in Crawford and he seems to rather favor it as well. If I had his money, I'd probably go for the one in Kennebunkport as well, since my parents would live nearby. I have a brother who lives in Midland, Texas, in the oil business. His home in Midland is far more pretentious than Bush's ranch house and he now has a 3 story 'lakehouse' on Possum Kingdom. Imagine that, my brother, the one from the broken, dirt poor, conservative Christian home. Good for him.

I think the thing with Bush is that he doesn't necessarily favor the Crawford place over the others. It's just that he wouldn't have the same "good ol' boy from Texas" image if he was vacationing often in liberal New England. And you know how much that image has helped him.

mousecrazy · April 4, 2007

Once again, whether it is considered merely ironic or clearly hypocritical, the idea of double standards does seem to exist.

If not that, then it's just Bush-hatred again. Or, it could be ignorance of Gore's background?

The point of the original post is not how many houses, or how big the houses are, or who the parents are or how much assistance in the children's success the parents gave...it is the media exposure to the TRUTH...thus, the "inconvenient truth" phrase.

Also, it is the arrogance of taking a message to the public without the ability to self-examine...can you not look at your life and lifestyle and think that it might not be examined and found somehow to be coming up a little short in the "role model" department as measured to your message? This is something that is hammered at time aftr time in people delivering other messages, specifically religious ones; when they fall short of their messages, the media absolutely delights in pointing that out. Why the double standard? Is it so difficult to even think about this, or do you have to buy the Gore message hook, line, and sinker...and hold him unaccountable?

mousecrazy · April 4, 2007

Another good point, Leatha.

I do think that expecting something near perfection out of anybody is a recipe for living a life of disappointment...

Hmmmmmm.

green · April 4, 2007

Those are interesting photos, Jack. I have often wondered why the office towers in my city are so lit up through out the night when no one much is using them other than the cleaning staff and yet my province has been pushing for their citizens to reduce our electric energy usuage. The additional tragedy is that a lot of birds are killed during the migration seasons; they crash into the windows, you see.

Carlene · April 4, 2007

re: ".good for your brother. He made his without daddy's help. "
.....you mean just like Gore did, right?........

My post had nothing to do with either Gore or Bush. It was just a congrats to Leatha's brother, who came from a broken home.

Al Gore, Sr did not die penniless, but he came from some pretty humble beginnings. He was the son of a farmer and attended public schools and graduated from a state college, before being elected to the US House of Reps and Senate.

Bush, Sr, on the other hand, attended the prestigious Greenwich Country Day School and Phillips Academy in Andover Mass.

After graduating from Yale University, Bush went into the Texas oil exploration business. He was given a position with Dresser Industries, a subsidiary of Brown Brothers Harriman, where his father served on the board of directors for 22 years.