Experts Consider Rationing System to Reduce Energy Use/Global Warming. --WITH POLL--

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: BD2003
You want to criticize him for being rich, thats your prerogative. That has nothing to do with his message...we have an energy problem here. And when it comes down to it, this is all about luxury - its only a crisis because we don't want to get sent back to a uncomfortable pre-industrial age, it's NOT life or death for the majority of us.

I'm not criticizing them for being rich. I'm criticizing them for being hypocrites who ask others to do what they themselves won't. Another example - The Kennedys in Congress who don't want a windmall farm built on the Bay where the Kennedy Compound is located because it may obstruct their view.

And you're right, we do have an energy problem but that is only because of people like Gore who don't want us to explore for more oil domestically even though Cuba is giving China the right to explore 50 miles off the Florida coast. People who don't want us to build more nuclear power plants (or any power plant for that matter), don't want more refineries, etc etc etc. You don't solve an energy problem by trying to artificially force demand down.

And you don't solve global warming by drilling for more oil either.

You take any single person, and you can find something about them to accuse them of hypocrisy. You could make a great big laundry list of the negatives, and ignore all the positives.

This reminds me of Katrina. I remember people crying over how insensitive the reporters were...there they were in the midst of it, they had all the food they needed, and rather than doling their food out, and physically giving a helping hand when it was most needed, they just stood there with full stomachs, reporting the situation. And while anyone could say they were hypocrites for calling for help, while giving none themselves, in the grander scheme of things, their reporting had a larger impact in getting aid there as soon as possible, than any single pair of hands or few meals could have made.

So if Gore requires a private jet to get him around as easily as possible, or a SUV to conduct business in the back of, or anything likewise, I see no problem with it. Clearly he's part of the solution, and not the problem.

I don't know where you get your info, but as I've said, I've heard from his own mouth that him and his family drives hybrids. He could easily be driving hummers.

Given that this is essentially an issue of *sustainable* luxury, the answer to our problem is not drilling for more oil, since that is not sustainable, and conservation is only a short term solution...otherwise it wouldn't be true luxury. We need nuclear power, we need solar power, we need all the power we can get that doesn't damage our earth any more than it already is. I'm fine with $3.50 a gallon, or the equivalent price or more for a renewable source. I don't like it, hell I wish it was free, but if thats what it costs, so be it.