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RE: Apples and oranges
He is doing what he says. And he has made his house into precisely the model he proposes for sustainable, renewable resources - zero net emissions.
I don't necessarily disagree completely with you--but eventually the 'carbon offsets' are going hit a point of zero net effect. Someone, somewhere is going to need to do all of the things necessary to actually reduce their net emissions; not just 'buy' an offset. Since Al Gore is not exactly poor, why couldn't he use his home as a model for making *all* homes highly energy efficient, which would give him offsets he could 'sell'. Then, encourage builders to create similar homes; which would give them offsets they could sell, and those who buy those homes would have have offsets they could sell, or use to reduce the cost of their loans. The effect could snowball until, eventually, a majority of every home, building, car, boat, plane, train, etc.. is creating offsets. I know that there will be millions of homes, buildings, vehicles, etc. out there who will need those offsets, until/unless they are replaced or modified. This is where those 'offsets' would help. How about some low-interest loans for people who own their home and want to modify them to make them more efficient? Tax breaks are great, but some people need a way to remake their homes.
I would agree that we can live in and enjoy the modern world and not emit greenhouse gasses. I just think that those who propose to lead should lead by example; especially when money isn't really a deterring factor. I read where he's starting to do that, and I actually applaud him. Now, about that zinc mine...
RE: Apples and oranges
I find Scott's defence much more convincing than the attack. The market economics apprach to carbon emission reduction is as good as we are likely to get in a selfish America.
However, I don't accept the given facts about relative consumption at face value.
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RE: Apples and oranges
As I said to LordDilly - I think your logic is flawed. You say Gore shouldn't ascribe to the "do as I say not as I do model" and that he "should be setting up his home as *the* model for sustainable, renewable, resources".
I say, he's doing exactly that.
It's you (and apparently LordDilly) who seem to think that what he should be doing is reducing his own carbon production, but that's not what he's saying we should be doing.
His position isn't focused on gross carbon production, but net. He's saying, "look, we don't have to live like cavemen, or even tree-huggers on a hippie commune somewhere - we can enjoy the benefits of the modern world, but we have to properly compensate for the effects of that". To that end, he proposes to better incentivize people and businesses to become carbon neutral with a trade in offsets.
The proposal is essentially to decide what our "budget" is for carbon emission. We can make it bigger by planting trees or other "net negative" activities. We use it up with our emissions. We harness this whole thing to the engine of capitalism - by dividing our carbon budget into "shares" (a.k.a. "offsets") and auctioning them off. In order to have a net positive emission, you have to buy the rights to do so. Anyone with at net negative emission effectively gets some free shares they can sell.
This gives businesses the incentive to reduce their emissions (because they'll have to buy fewer offsets), or even create net-negative operations. As a society, we get to control our net contribution to the problem.
Now, I happen to think the basic plan is sound. I don't know enough of the details of his specific proposal to know if there's some real obstacle to implementing it, but the basic idea sounds great.
You may disagree - and that's certainly your prerogative. But it's wrong to cast Gore as a hypocrite when he's doing exactly what he says. His home's emissions may be high - but he offsets that by effectively paying for the cost of undoing the damage.
He is doing what he says. And he has made his house into precisely the model he proposes for sustainable, renewable resources - zero net emissions.
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