Al Gore's (still more) hypocricy

They sold 700 seats costing between $1,000 and $25,000 a piece? Reasonably, it cost a total of $1 million for the entire event. Just to put that into perspective, that's about 1/9 of the money needed to build a 2.5MW wind turbine and all the applicable infrastructure. Alternately, that could have been used to give approximately 100 poor families solar energy. Also, the amount of CO2 which Al Gore's private jet had to spew to get him from Washington to Australia would combine to a ridiculous amount of extravagant ecological excess to get together to spew forth hot air about how people aren't doing enough to combat global warming.

Here's an idea - instead of giving obscene amounts of money to ridiculously wealthy jetsetter, why not just donate the money to a charity that builds wind and solar power generators? Nah, it's so much better to be flying around the would on private jets and begrudging the contractor an F-350 pickup so he can haul his three coworkers and about 500 pounds of equipment to the job site.

Paying dearly to hear Gore's climate story
The Age (Australia)

AL GORE has a story he wants to tell the world. But it will cost you a thousand dollars to hear it.

In a passionate attack on the climate policies of Prime Minister John Howard and US President George Bush, the former US vice-president, addressing a very expensive lunch in Sydney yesterday, called Australia and the US "the Bonnie and Clyde" outlaws of the global environment for their failure to ratify the Kyoto Protocol.

Mr. Gore called on Australia to change course on Kyoto and its climate policies, saying if it did "it would be impossible for the United States to withstand the pressure" to join the rest of the world in ratifying Kyoto.

Labor under Kevin Rudd has promised to ratify the protocol while Mr. Howard is adamantly opposed to it and is backing Mr. Bush's efforts to find a "post-Kyoto accord."

Mr. Gore made his comments after reporters were asked to leave the lunch venue. Despite the cost, lunch in the 700-seat room at the Sydney Convention Centre was a sell-out, as is tomorrow's event in Melbourne. VIP packages, which included a spot close to Mr. Gore and a meet-and-greet with him, cost $25,000.