Does Al Gore Need to Go on an Energy Diet?

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Christine Hall, 202.331.2258               

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Washington, DC, May 24, 2006—As former Vice President Al Gore’s documentary on global warming fears debuts today, a new video from the Competitive Enterprise Institute tracks Gore’s own “carbon footprint.”  CEI’s 70-second video points out that Gore himself is a big user of the hydrocarbon fuels that produce carbon dioxide when combusted.

 

Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” asks, “Are you willing to change the way you live?”  The Gore documentary and new book of the same name go on to suggest ways that people can reduce their carbon footprint, yet Mr. Gore has clearly not taken his own message to heart.  He even says in the documentary that he has given his global warming Power Point slide show more than 1,000 times all around the world. 

 

The CEI video, which may be viewed at: http://streams.cei.org/, includes footage of Gore and his constant air travel with two CO2 meters running at the bottom of the page that compare Gore’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions with those of an average person. 

 

“All the evidence suggests that Mr. Gore is an elitist who passionately believes that the people of the world must drastically reduce their energy use but that it doesn't apply to him,” said Myron Ebell, CEI's director of energy and global warming policy and the creator of the video.

 

“While the CEI video pokes fun at Mr. Gore's profligate consumption of the world's petroleum resources, we don't begrudge his lifestyle that requires using as much energy as a small village in America or a medium-sized town in Africa,” Ebell explained.  “The mobility that jet fuel and gasoline provide is a good thing and the benefits of abundant energy should be available to all people, not just the elite.  CEI calls on Mr. Gore to stop preaching against the petroleum products he uses so lavishly and instead join us in promoting access to energy,” Ebell concluded. 

 

Some examples of Gore’s recent travels: In promoting his movie in mid-May, he and his entourage appeared at a gala preview screening in Atlanta on Monday the 15th , at an even more glamorous preview in Hollywood the next night, and at another lavish preview in Washington the night after that.  That's two cross-country trips in three days.  By the end of last week, Mr. Gore was at the Cannes film festival in France, where it was reported that he and his entourage used five large SUVs to travel 500 yards.

 

The CEI website also contains two brief CEI public service advertisements that point out the enormous benefits we derive from hydrocarbon energy, which provides approximately 85% of global energy needs, and the biased media coverage of the scientific debate over global warming.