March 1, 2007

Gore and Carbon Offsets

Filed under: General Ranting, Politics — HDW @ 5:01 pm

Just too good to pass up. I’ve followed with some interest Al Gore’s crusade for cutting pollution and living carbon neutral lifestyles. I’m all for cutting pollution, but his practice of flying around the country and the World to speak on the subject that I find the most odd. How can he afford the carbon offsets that he assures us that he purchases? Simple, he is one of the owners of the company… That’s right, he buys them from himself.

The Profit of Doom

Gore is chairman of the firm and, presumably, draws an income or will make money as its investments prosper. In other words, he “buys” his “carbon offsets” from himself, through a transaction designed to boost his own investments and return a profit to himself. To be blunt, Gore doesn’t buy “carbon offsets” through Generation Investment Management - he buys stocks.

Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, The Virtuous Republic, Perri Nelson’s Website, The Random Yak, basil’s blog, Blue Star Chronicles, Pirate’s Cove, Stuck On Stupid, The Pink Flamingo, The Amboy Times, Cao’s Blog, Leaning Straight Up, Conservative Thoughts, Right Voices, and Pursuing Holiness, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

13 Comments

  1. What an improvisation of capitalism!

    Comment by eleses(Lee) — March 1, 2007 @ 5:54 pm

  2. It’s just too absurd to be believable isn’t it?

    Comment by HDW — March 1, 2007 @ 5:59 pm

  3. Gore annoys me, but he does have a point in one thing - global warming is a problem, and we are mostly ignoring it right now. How he goes about it is the problem here.

    Personally I think the carbon offsets are just a PR stunt. I don’t really see how they are helping in cutting back energy consumption, and emissions. I see them as sort of “get out of jail free” cards that let big businesses skip on implementing environmental friendly policies, and infrastructures.

    In fact we have two problems - global warming and peak oil. When the oil and natural gas production peaks and declines there will be mad dash to switch to alternative resources such as coal, and bio-fuels which unfortunately provide much less “bang for the buck” so to speak. We will be burning more fuels, and get less out of it. Furthermore we will likely discard all environmental concerns because failing to supply enough energy to keep out economy going will mean the collapse of the western civilization.

    Comment by Luke — March 2, 2007 @ 11:54 am

  4. I think there are problems, and we should work on these things. There are too many people though, like Gore apparently, who seem to have ulterior motives in this argument. People on both sides of the debate are claiming to be “right”, but also profiting from their position. makes it a difficult debate.

    Comment by HDW — March 2, 2007 @ 12:03 pm

  5. People on both sides of the debate are claiming to be “right”, but also profiting from their position

    Exactly - and that changes the focus of the debate every time. Instead of figuring out how to solve our problems, we start looking at political agendas, and checking who is profiting more from which policy and etc..

    Comment by Luke — March 2, 2007 @ 1:37 pm

  6. Personally I’m not a fan of Gore, but I thought he actually believed in his rhetoric. I gave him credit for standing up for his beliefs. This casts doubts on his… sincerity.

    Comment by HDW — March 2, 2007 @ 1:49 pm

  7. Well, chances are he might actually sincerely believe in it, and really think that these carbon offsets are making a difference. Making money by investing and promoting something you believe in does not necessarily make you a bad guy. But it does give plenty of ammunition to his critics and opponents on the other side of the isle. And this is unfortunate because it not only reflects badly on him, but also on his environmental activism.

    Comment by Luke — March 2, 2007 @ 2:00 pm

  8. I feel bad for real environmentalists, but not for him. He’s been in politics long enough to know better. He should have known that his behavior would reflect poorly on the very things he believes.

    Comment by HDW — March 2, 2007 @ 2:08 pm

  9. Indeed, he should.

    Comment by Luke — March 2, 2007 @ 2:11 pm

  10. What Everybody’s Talking About…

    Taking a look at what’s going on from my blogroll ….
    Anna at A Rose by Any Other Name has been published!!! Congratulations!!!
    Ol’ Broad Rambling has made some pretty astute observations about life. HA!
    Toni has some news over at Bear…

    Trackback by Blue Star Chronicles — March 3, 2007 @ 12:28 am

  11. The fact that Gore is a hypocrit should not be a surprise to anyone with the ability to think beyond sound bites. This new revelation reveals a bit more of what is really going on.

    Gore founded a company (Generation Investment Management LLC) in 2004 whose profitability is related to the extent of Global Warming hysteria. Gore then spends the next two years drumming up that hysteria.

    Is Al Gore the planet’s savior or is he another example of stirring up the masses for personal profit. Somehow, I can’t get Jim and Tammy Fae Bakker out of my head….

    Comment by Blakely — March 6, 2007 @ 10:41 pm

  12. The Jim and Tammy Fae Bakker angle wouldn’t have occurred to me, but I’m sure it will be stuck in my head now. Very appropriate.

    Comment by HDW — March 7, 2007 @ 8:59 am

  13. Your article makes sense extremely, I supports

    Comment by 上海鲜花 — March 20, 2007 @ 8:42 am

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