The limousine Left purchases eco-indulgences

Does anybody else recall that at the Academy Awards, Leo DiCaprio announced that it was the first Oscar ceremony that was "carbon neutral" (or some such wording)? Well Charles Krauthammer explains what exactly that means in Time magazine:

Remember the Leonardo DiCaprio and Al Gore global-warming pitch at theAcademy Awards? Before they spoke, the screen at the back of the stage flashed not-so-subliminal messages about how to save the planet. My personal favorite was "Ride mass transit." This to a conclave of Hollywood plutocrats who have not seen the inside of a subway since the moon landing and for whom mass transit means a stretch limo seating no fewer than 10.

Leo and Al then portentously announced that for the first time ever, the Academy Awards ceremony had gone green. What did that mean? Solar panels in the designer gowns? It turns out that the Academy neutralized the evening's "carbon footprint" by buying carbon credits. That means it sent money to a "carbon broker," who promised, after taking his cut, to reduce carbon emissions somewhere on the planet equivalent to what the stars spewed into the atmosphere while flying in on their private planes.

In other words, Al Gore and his Tinseltown friends will not suffer unheated swimming pools because they have the cash to cleanse their consciences. Krauthammer goes on to explain the carbon trading scam, which fills a need for the guilty rich often at the expense of the Third World poor.

Our modern world - the televisions, cars, medical equipment - runs on energy and the production of that energy requires some level of sacrifice. Coal needs to be mined, oil must be pumped, natural gas extracted; these all cause environmental damage through extraction and lead to carbon dioxide buildup when burned.

The touchstone for the environmental movement, the example to demonstrate whether or not they are truly serious about Mother Earth, can be found on the Cape Wind project off Nantucket Sound. If the Greenies were earnest about the environment, they would allow a turbine farm off Cape Cod to move forward to provide clean, green energy. But the project has faced opposition from the likes of Ted Kennedy, John Kerry and the well-heeled of Martha's Vineyard because it would upset their view of the ocean ("aesthetic damage" it was termed). But then they can afford to purchase some carbon offsets and everything's OK again.

Extra - And there's this: "Tennessee mine enriched Gore, scarred land"