Actions are Better than Offsets

In the category Walk the Talk, or Actions are Bettter than Offsets, or Politicians Make Bad Crusaders, or as Snopes titles it: Glass Houses (h/t: Dad Payton). Also here.

HOUSE # 1


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 Midwester n 'snow belt' area. It's in the South.


HOUSE # 2


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.




Now the interesting payoff:

House #1 (20 room energy guzzling mansion) is outside of Nashville, Tennessee 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.

The lesson: clean up your act before becoming a international spokesman for a cause to avoid the appearance of hyprocisy. Also: simplify, then buy offsets (and don't talk about it).