Give Up Your SUV — And Other Nauseating Hypocrisy
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Give Up Your SUV — And Other Nauseating Hypocrisy | Editorial Blog at Motor Trend
Our own senator Dianne Feinstein wants us Californians to carpool and only run our dishwashers when theyre full both reasonable suggestions. But her motivation for our frugality isnt saving the earth — its to offset her many trips on her husbands Gulfstream IV. Aviation experts say that just one cross-country round trip on a GIV churns out between 83,000 to 90,000 pounds of carbon dioxide. Meantime, while the eco-moralizing Kerrys and Feinsteins are choking the clouds with private coast-to-coast jaunts, the average earth-raping American, on a per-capita basis, produces just 50,000 pounds of carbon dioxide from all activities including driving those shameful SUVs in an entire year. Let them eat carbon cake, John.
Indeed, the mere business of being green or at least appearing to be takes a nauseating toll. Of late, actor Leonardo DiCaprio has become a leading, high-profile spokesperson for the green movement because . . . well, hes pretty. Which is precisely why Vanity Fair, for its so-called “Green Issue” printed on high-quality, non-recycled paper, by the way flew Leo, photographer Annie Leibovtiz, and an untold number of assistants, makeup artists, and assorted hangers-on to Iceland to produce an earth-saving photograph of the Green Idol on a glacier alongside the polar bear cub Knut who in fact was Photoshopped in from Berlin. Puffed VF: “Now three and a half months old, little Knut has become a powerful if not controversial symbol of what this planet has to lose to global warming. Such ecological concerns are familiar to actor and environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio, so it seemed natural to pair these two handsome boys on Annie Leibovitzs cover for this years Green Issue.”
GIV
You can almost hear the exchange at the Vanity Fair editorial meeting. Junior art director: “What if we really make a green statement, and just drive Leo and Annie down to the San Diego Zoo in a Prius and take a polar-bear shot there?” Editorial green director: “What? No way We need to fly the entire crew halfway around the world and back and spend at least a few days hacking around on that precious ice to get the perfect green shot I want Now, call my secretary and get a limo; Im late for my lunch at the Four Seasons.”
I doubt the Vanity Fair team even realized the irony of photographing their handsome eco poster boy in front of a Cessna Citation private jet but, hey, it is a great shot.
Which finally gets around to my point: Our leaders and media pundits arent panicking about global warming and touting the bliss of going green because theyre actually worried about the future of the planet. Theyre making a fuss because they think global warming is going to affect them. Why, if New York City turns into Venice and LA dries up and Aspen melts, where are we going to host our gala save-the-earth benefit dinners? Why, I could even lose two or three of my six homes
How do I know this is true? Because, thus far at least, global warming is — as Al Gore actually gets right — inconvenient, not a true problem.
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