Al Gore - Carbon Credits

[justinrr1]

Got a bunch of right wing idiots pissed off at Al Gore's Nobel Peace Prize. They keep harping and so does the local conservative talk show host idiot about Al Gore owning part of the company that he pays to offset his carbon usage. Anybody know the full and true story on this? I cant believe that Al would receive profits from a company that he pays to offset his carbon output. Thanks.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

1. tell them that's an old talking point from February, it's been debunked and they need to get current

then walk away, shaking your head and giggling. :evilgrin:

Feb report was in worldnutdaily...

debunk is here
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/viewstory.asp?Page=/Nation/archive/200703/NAT20070307a.html

[Buzz Clik]

2. The debunking is in CNS? LOL! Well, the knuckledraggers will be forced to accept it.

[justinrr1]

3. bump

Bump for more debunk info

[Buzz Clik]

4. It seems that Gore buys carbons offsets and he's involved in the company he buys from.

I don't think you're going to get a "clean as a whistle" designation on this one.

[pnutbutr]

5. my little bit on Gore and the environment

He's definately not squeaky clean.

Al Gore has done a lot to bring environmental issues to the forefront but is doing nothing in his life to live up to his expectations of everyone else. He buys carbon credits to make himself feel good about helping the environment without having to change his lifestyle. Carbon credits allow the wealthy to pay another company to perform or carry out environmental friendly tasks such as planting trees. There is a catch, just like all the shortcuts. Logging companis pay private landowners to be able to cut down old growth forests on their property. Carbon credits then pay for the logging company to replant trees on that property. This is the same thing that Bush's clean air policy allows over polluting power plants to do. If they plant trees, then not meeting the clean air standard is overlooked. They plant trees in the same manner.

Gore has established a company called Generation Investment Management which is who he pays for his carbon credits. The money is invested in companies that provide the environmental services for the credits. He makes money off his carbon credits. He is also chairman of The Alliance for Climate Protection which is a non profit organization that promotes the services and companies that Generation Investment Management invests in. He a just a businessman making money so who cares about all this? In my opinion it dilutes his message and maks me think he is doing it more for money than anything else at this point. What's even better is he is donating all his Nobel prize money to The Alliance for Climate Protection.

I mentioned earlier that he has done a lot to bring attention to environmental issues which he has. I however do not agree with everything he is pushing. Ethanol for example is not in any way sustainable or capable of eliminating our need for foreign sources of fuel. Not to mention the $10 gallon of milk. It is however a cash cow for those who invest in it. Guess who's been giving investment tips? You got it, Al Gore.

There's more. In 1997 Gore, a close frind of Occidental Petrolem's chairman convinced Clinton to sell 47,000 acres of public land to Occidental in Elk Hills California to be drilled for oil. The same day the sale happened he gave a speech on global warming and our overuse of fossil fuels. Occidental also was assisted by Clinton and Gore in it's quest to drill in the Andean Cloud Forest in Columbia. Land owned by the U'wa people for thousands of years. The drilling eventually happened despite a massive protest by the U'wa people and even a threat of mass suicide of 5000 tribe members. The well dried up in 2002 and Bush started helping Occidental in it's quest to drill elsewhere in rain forest. The drilling on U'wa land brought guerillas and drug traffickers and virtually destroyed their way of life just as they said would happen during their protests. Gore still makes money off of Occidental oil.

[polichick]

6. That last paragraph is especially disturbing. nt

[NYCGirl]

7. Generation Investment DOES NOT sell carbon offsets. They purchase them

from this company:

http://nativeenergy.com/about_us.html

Gore does not make any money from Occidental Oil:

"First things first: I talked to some of Gore's people today, including Kreider, about the specific charges. Suffice to say, they're false. Gore receives no royalties from the mine, which shut down in 2003. (USA Today actually printed a correction about this, way down on page 10A.) Gore owns no stock in Occidental, and never has (his father did; it was all sold over six years ago). Gore does in fact take advantage of the green power options his utility offers, and was in the process of adding photovoltaic solar cells to his house when the article came out. He pays for his own personal carbon offsets, in addition to the institutional offsets purchased by Paramount (movie distributor) and Rodale (book publisher), which make both the book and the movie completely carbon neutral."

http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2006/8/17/133652/848