Green as Gore

The dis-oriented author is as green as Al Gore. I am not an environmental crusader like the former vice president. Unlike Gore I have not won the Nobel Peace prize for my environmental activism. But I am greener than Gore.

Living in a modest house in the suburbs, even with my family of ten, I have a smaller carbon footprint than Gore.

It's kind of cool, I am black as Barack and greener than Gore. For all his talk of carbon footprints and sustainability, Gore is a hypocrite.

I don't know how many people live in Gore's house but my household of ten manages in a 2300 square foot ranch home. Gore lives in a 10,000 square foot 20 room 8 bath mansion.

According to the Tenessee Center for Policy Research:

Gore’s mansion, located in the posh Belle Meade area of Nashville, consumes more electricity every month than the average American household uses in an entire year, according to the Nashville Electric Service (NES).

The average household in America consumes 10,656 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year, according to the Department of Energy. In 2006, Gore devoured nearly 221,000 kWh—more than 20 times the national average.

Last August alone, Gore burned through 22,619 kWh—guzzling more than twice the electricity in one month than an average American family uses in an entire year. As a result of his energy consumption, Gore’s average monthly electric bill topped $1,359.

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Gore’s extravagant energy use does not stop at his electric bill. Natural gas bills for Gore’s mansion and guest house averaged $1,080 per month last year.

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In total, Gore paid nearly $30,000 in combined electricity and natural gas bills for his Nashville estate in 2006.

Of course Gore's publicist responds that his energy use is consistent with the square footage of his house. True, if all of us had 10,000 square foot homes we would all have a carbon footprint like Gore's. The problem is we don't. In fact based on real energy usage I am greener than Gore. On a square footage basis our usage may be comparable (actually my usage is less because Mrs Dis-Oriented Author keeps the thermostat high in summer and low in winter.) But I manage to support 10 people on that footprint. Of course these numbers do not take into account Gore's two other homes.

BTW, the last time I went to the grocery store, I rode my bicycle.