LOOK OVER THE DESCRIPTIONS OF THE FOLLOWING TWO HOUSES AND SEE IF YOU CAN TELL WHICH BELONGS TO AN ENVIRONMENTALIST.
HOUSE # 1: (on Top)
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: (on Bottom)
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 bedrooms) 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.
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.
for Mr. Gore, it's truly "an inconvenient truth."
3 comments:
BRAVO Miguel!!!!!!!!!!
Really amazing. I guess I shouldn't be so worried about Al Gore yelling at me for driving cars.
* the important point in this attempt to 'swift boat' a real environmentalist is when the houses were constructed. gore's house in tennessee has all the styling of a house of the 60s-70s, maybe earlier. that being the case, it is as environmentally friendly as possible without a complete rebuild.
* bush didn't have that house until shortly before he ran for president. some of the energy saving features were only available in the 80s and 90s, especially the geothermal heating\cooling.
* to miggy g: gore doesn't yell at people for driving cars. he does try to make people realize that what we 6 billion people are doing to the planet is dangerous to our own survival. trying to be 'greener' is common sense until we know for sure. the alternative is a climate that can rapidly turn against all of us. there was a major extinction about 250 million years ago and about 95% of ALL living things died. i for one do not like those survival odds. \\ free born
“those who would trade essential liberty for a little temporary security deserve neither liberty nor security.” -- b. franklin, 1759
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