Medieval Corruption

Wow, Charles Krauthammer pulls out all the stops to whip on the "Limousine Liberals" and their ostentatiously pretentious posturing on the subject of global warming. Their purchase of indulgences - er - carbon credits - to "offset" their voracious usage of energy is the subject of this blistering column in Time Magazine.

Remember the Leonardo DiCaprio and Al Gore global-warming pitch at the Academy Awards? Before they spoke, the screen at the back of the stage flashed not-so-subliminal messages about how to save the planet. My personal favorite was "Ride mass transit." This to a conclave of Hollywood plutocrats who have not seen the inside of a subway since the moon landing and for whom mass transit means a stretch limo seating no fewer than 10.

Leo and Al then portentously announced that for the first time ever, the Academy Awards ceremony had gone green. What did that mean? Solar panels in the designer gowns? It turns out that the Academy neutralized the evening's "carbon footprint" by buying carbon credits. That means it sent money to a "carbon broker," who promised, after taking his cut, to reduce carbon emissions somewhere on the planet equivalent to what the stars spewed into the atmosphere while flying in on their private planes.

In other words, the rich reduce their carbon output by not one ounce. But drawing on the hundreds of millions of net worth in the Kodak Theatre, they pull out lunch money to buy ecological indulgences. The last time the selling of pardons was prevalent–in a predecessor religion to environmentalism called Christianity–Martin Luther lost his temper and launched the Reformation.

A very few of the very rich have some awareness of the emptiness–if not the medieval corruption–of ransoming one's sins. Sergey Brin, zillionaire founder of Google, buys carbon credits to offset the ghastly amount of carbon dioxide emitted by Google's private Boeing 767 but confesses he's not sure if it really does anything.

Which puts him one step ahead of most other eco-preeners who actually pretend that it does–the Goracle himself, for example. His Tennessee mansion consumes 20 times the electricity used by the average American home. Last August alone it consumed twice as much power as the average home consumes in a year. Gore buys absolution, however. He spends pocket change on carbon credits, which then allow him to pollute conscience-free.

This one is a must read. Especially the description of what is happening in Uganda as a direct result of the Gorezilla Memorial Carbon Trading Racket™, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the First Church of the Presumptuous Assumption of Global Warming®. The "little people" who are falling for the Gorezilla spiel simply do not understand that they are being used and will be kicked aside when no longer needed.

But they'll get to stand by the roadside, no longer able to drive their own vehicles and watch the limousines roll by. Gorezilla won't wave, however.

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  By K T Cat, Saturday, 17 March , 2007 @ 8:40 am

  Thanks for the tip! I wouldn’t have seen this other wise. I’ve been posting about this lately as well, but with a slightly different take.

  I’ll throw you a link, too.

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  By jon spencer, Saturday, 17 March , 2007 @ 9:44 am

  Will buying the stock of Weyerhaeuser or Georgia-Pacific count for carbon credits?
  I think that they are among the biggest tree planters around.

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  By Gaius, Saturday, 17 March , 2007 @ 9:50 am

  I try to recover as many legit comments as I can, you just have to be a little patient. The spam filters are extremely tough because of past problems.

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  By ted goldman, Sunday, 18 March , 2007 @ 8:25 am

  Carbon credit purchases profit Al Gore’s corporation.

  Who actually confirms that any carbon reductions occur? No one.

  Carbon reduction is a scam.

Other Links to this Post

1. JammieWearingFool — Saturday, 17 March , 2007 @ 8:34 am

2. The Scratching Post — Saturday, 17 March , 2007 @ 8:42 am