After writing about watching the movie "An Inconvenient Truth" I got a funny email. I had a good laugh when I read it. I'll let you read it first before I comment...
LOOK OVER THE DESCRIPTIONS OF THE FOLLOWING TWO HOUSES AND SEE IF YOU CAN TELL WHICH BELONGS TO AN ENVIRONMENTALIST.
HOUSE # 1: A 20-room mansion (not including 8 bathrooms) heated by natural gas. Add on a pool (and a pool house) and a separate guest house all heated by gas. In ONE MONTH ALONE this mansion consumes more energy than the average American household in an ENTIRE YEAR. The average bill for electricity and natural gas runs over $2,400.00 per month. In natural gas alone (which last time we checked was a fossil fuel), this property consumes more than 20 times the national average for an American home. This house is not in a northern or Midwestern "snow belt," either. It's in the South.
HOUSE # 2: Designed by an architecture professor at a leading national university, this house incorporates every "green" feature current home construction can provide. The house contains only 4,000 square feet (4 bedrms) and is nestled on arid high prairie in the American southwest. A central closet in the house holds geothermal heat pumps drawing ground water through pipes sunk 300 feet into the ground. The water (usually 67 degrees F.) heats the house in winter and cools it in summer. The system uses no fossil fuels such as oil or natural gas, and it consumes 25% of the electricity required for a conventional heating/cooling system. Rainwater from the roof is collected and funneled into a 25,000 gallon underground cistern. Wastewater from showers, sinks and toilets goes into underground purifying tanks and then into the cistern. The collected water then irrigates the land surrounding the house. Flowers and shrubs native to the area blend the property into the surrounding rural landscape.
Scroll down for the answer
HOUSE # 1 (20 room energy guzzling mansion) is outside of Nashville , Tennessee . It is the abode of that renowned environmentalist (and filmmaker) Al Gore.
HOUSE # 2 (model eco-friendly house) is on a ranch near Crawford , Texas . Also known as "the Texas White House," it is the private residence of the President of the United States , George W. Bush. So whose house is gentler on the environment? Yet another story you WON'T hear on CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC, MSNBC or read about in the New York Times or the Washington Post. Indeed, for Mr. Gore, it's truly "an inconvenient truth."
Added information. Just to be sure, I checked this out on Snopes. It is true. http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/house.asp
Things that make you go "hmmm", right?
Sometimes I feel out of place in the "birth community" because I am a pretty conservative Christian. I tend to vote Republican although I side with the Democrats on a lot of issues too. I always feel like I am picking the lesser of two evils when it's election time. Yeah, I voted for Bush. Twice. LOL
I was just talking to a friend (a bleeding heart liberal as she calls herself) about how a lot of midwives, doulas, and natural birth advocates are more liberal. I guess it's not as noticeable here in the Bible belt South, but everywhere else it's been quite obvious. The "hippy" mamas and natural parenting/natural birth folks tend to go more to the left I guess... Not me though. I am stuck in the middle. I'm as hippy as you can get but I'm also a devout Christian.
Without getting too much into the politics, I have to laugh a little. Everyone picks on Bush (ok, yeah, he appears to be a little slow but I think it's because he's from Texas) and critiques his every move. I can't imagine it's an easy job to run a country. I sure as hell hope Hillary doesn't get the chance to find out either... While I don't agree with everything Bush does, or even the Republican party in general, I tend to side with them because of my morals.
What I don't get is how Gore gets off acting so concerned about the environment and then living so irresponsibly? And I was worried about my gas-guzzling van? If the way we live is any indication of how much we care for the planet, I think he's a big hypocrite! So, yeah.... that's my laugh for the day.
