Elitists who "protect" the environment

When I was in 6th grade we had mandatory Ecology education. It was part of a Federal program that began in the Carter administration. Back then the thought was that our western lifestyle of over-consumption was going to bring on the next ice age. The curriculum produced incredible evidence that persuaded me to go home and convince my parents to stop using spray-on deodorant. After all, it was to save the earth.

I did not throw away everything they taught me in that ecology awareness class because it did emphasize how wasteful we can be. It helped me notice things like over packaging, recyclable materials, and leaving a smaller footprint around me. To this day I clean up litter whenever I see it and look for ways to reduce my garbage output. It is a personal mission of mine that feels right with my conscience.

What really annoys me though is that Hollywood elitists and even Al Gore preach the Gospel of Environmental Correctness only to be complete hypocrites. I remember Barbra Streisand put out a message on her website indicating that people should hang their sheets and clothes out to dry on lines rather than use their electric clothes dryer. All this while it was reported that she has a penthouse condo in New York City that used a climate control thermostat that kept it at a cool 60 degrees even while no one was staying there.

Similarly Al Gore's mansion uses tons of electricity and has been reported to be using 20 times the national average. Al Gore said at the Academy Awards that saving the environment is something we all could do and "wasn't very hard." Well I can see for him it isn't very hard.

What is funny about these elitists is they use a 15th Century method of excusing themselves from actually having to do anything meaningful for the environment. They buy what are called "carbon credits" where they pay for excess emissions that they use so that someone else can save the environment where they can't. In the middle-ages the Roman Catholic Church called this practice "indulgences." What was a complete lie back then, is a complete lie now.

I'm not going to pay someone else to do what my conscience tells me is the right thing to do. I am not going to ask someone else to do something that I'm not willing to do myself.

I personally do a number of things that are considered 'green' even though I know their impact is negligible. I routinely recycle and purposely buy things that use packaging that isn't wasteful. I commute on a motorcycle when the weather allows specifically to get 60mpg saving me money and using less gasoline. I drive a car with an 'ultra-low emissions vehicle' rating. My household consumes on average the equivalent of 10 gallons of garbage in a week. My personal goal is simply to reduce my consumption in an effort to not be wasteful.

Do I think I'm making an impact? I don't care if I am personally making an impact, it feels right for me to do it because I don't like being wasteful. Could I do more? Sure, but I'll evaluate that over time and act according to my own volition.

I don't believe global hysteria. Also, I don't listen to anything that some elitist blowhard says about our environment or the planet. In fact I'd be glad to take some of their money to 'off-set' their wastefulness. Email me if you'd like to buy an indulgence and I'll tell you where to send the money.