Just within the past few days, news has come out about the personal energy usage of the King of the Greenies, Al Gore. Turns out Mr. “Inconvenient Truth” has an inconvenient truth of his own. For 2006, most of his home utility bills topped $1,000 a month. You see, Mr. Gore and his family don’t exactly live in a grass hut. They live in a 10,000 square foot luxury home in Nashville, TN.

Just within the past few days, news has come out about the personal energy usage of the King of the Greenies, Al Gore. Turns out Mr. “Inconvenient Truth” has an inconvenient truth of his own. For 2006, most of his home utility bills topped $1,000 a month. You see, Mr. Gore and his family don’t exactly live in a grass hut. They live in a 10,000 square foot luxury home in Nashville.

Now, I’m not saying Mr. Gore doesn’t have the right as a free American to live however he wishes. He could have a 30,000 square foot house and have $3,000 utility bills, for all I care. But what irks me is his sanctimonious tone toward anyone that doesn’t unquestioningly buy into his radical environmentalist philosophy. Especially since it’s abundantly evident that he doesn’t practice it himself.

He counters that he and his family invest quite a bit into green energy projects and initiatives. That’s great and all. Again, for all I care, he could have a $50,000 Terrapass. But stewardship starts small and, in principle, what he’s doing is little different than grossly-polluting corporations buying their “carbon credits.”

Not that I’m upholding myself as a paragon of virtue. But my utility bills average about $40 a month, sometimes less, sometimes more. I drive a conventional (non-hybrid) compact car that averages approximately 26 miles per gallon, and nearly all the light bulbs in my house are of the compact flourescent variety so beloved by Mr. Gore and friends.

Now, that’s not to say that if I were a multi-millionaire like Mr. Gore, I wouldn’t have a ginormous house with $1,000+ utility bills and several gas guzzlers parked in my 8-car garage. I might. But I’d probably also put some solar roof panels on my house, and try to invest in the greenest technologies and materials to build it feasibly within my budget.

Even though my political persuasion leans toward the right, I believe we do need to be good stewards of the earth, and take practical steps to be more responsible global citizens. But I don’t need a self-righteous hypocrite windbag politician to tell me how to live, especially not when he’s not living the example himself.

–Edward A. Sanchez