Who Are the Most Environmentally Friendly Politicians?

With global warming and the environment burning political issues, who among American public figures have the most environmentally friendly lifestyles? Considering who is considered "green" and who is not, the answer may be surprising.

Al Gore is considered "Mr. Environment" with his bestselling books, Oscar awarded documentary, and his Nobel Prize, all related to his work championing awareness of global warming and other environmental problems. Yet the former Vice President, just by living and working, consumes a tremendous amount of electricity and creates an enormous amount of green house gases and other pollutants.

Al Gore's main residence is a twenty room, eight bath ten thousand square foot mansion in Belle Meade, Tennessee uses electricity at twelve times the rate (191,000 kwh versus15,600 kwh) of a typical home in that part of the country. Gore also jets around the world in private planes. A recent trip Gore took from Nashville to San Francisco created, according to one estimate, about 55,000 pounds of carbon. Gore has also been seen driven around in a non hybrid Lincoln Town Car.

This from a man who advises the rest of us to bicycle to work and otherwise cut back on our lifestyles. Gore defends himself by suggesting that he buys "carbon offsets" which sounds oddly like a Medieval sinner buying indulgences from the Catholic Church. Gore seems not to be the sort to lead by example.

What about Senator John Kerry, the other man President George W. Bush beat for the Presidency? Kerry owns five homes, each very large and each worth in the millions. There is no record of exactly how much it costs to heat and power these homes, but one can imagine that Senator Kerry's "carbon footprint" is huge as well.

John Edwards was Kerry's running mate in 2004 and is running for President in the current cycle. He has advocated "green" policies as well. How does he stand up?