Yesterday and today, Michael “The Billionaire” Bloomberg, Overlord of New York City, is in Carbonhagen sharing his vision for the future of environmental what-ever-ness with other mayors from around the world.
New York City is, after all, a city of the future. And by all accounts it uses less energy per capita than other inland American cities. But Bloomberg wants it to be even “greener” and more “progressive,” so he’s pushing to reduce greenhouse emissions 30 percent by 2030. He’s asking for wind farms off Long Island. He’s planting a million trees. You can see where this is heading.
Yesterday, Bloomberg and his sustainability director Rohit Aggarwala (“Gesundheit!”) took a helicopter over Denmark’s ocean-based wind farms. But how did Bloomberg get over there in the first place? By all accounts, he flew to HopenChangen on a private jet. And that’s just the start of it. Props to Jim Dwyer in The New York Times for doing the math:
“[A] strong argument can also be made that on a personal level, he ranks among the worst individual polluters ever to hold public office. Mr. Bloomberg owns a helicopter and two jets, both Falcon 900s. He flies everywhere on private jets, by far the least efficient form of transportation on or above the earth. He takes his jet to Bermuda many weekends. He has flown around the globe on it. He uses it to go to Washington. He is planning to get to Copenhagen for the climate conference by private jet, too.
The carbon math works out like this: by taking his Falcon 900 to Denmark, Mr. Bloomberg will be responsible for the release of 37 times the carbon dioxide than if he and his entourage flew on a scheduled commercial flight. [...]
Mr. Bloomberg’s routine trips to Bermuda are even more carbon costly: the private jet produces 130 times more emissions than going commercial. On those jaunts, Mr. Simos said, the Falcon produces 4.3 tons of carbon dioxide; putting another two people on an American Airlines Boeing 757-200 that flies to Bermuda would produce only 66 more pounds.”
Dwyer goes on to call Bloomberg’s actions a paradox, one that is “shared by all mankind.” (Personally, I don’t share the “paradox” of being able to gallivant around the world in a private jet in order to better hand out individually wrapped solar panels to hungry trees.)
And speaking of trees, remember how he wants to plant a million trees in NYC? Heavens, this is fun. From the New York Observer:
One of the first things you notice when you enter the house [in Bermuda] is the presence of a rare and expensive local commodity known as Bermuda cedar, according to a Bermudan who has visited the house. That’s because Mr. Bloomberg has, to an extent far greater than some of his neighbors, outfitted his mansion with the dark and fragrant wood, using it for doors, paneling, decorative trim, and window frames and sashes.
In fact, Mr. Bloomberg’s affection for cedar is such that it has led to a bit of grumbling on the island. Mr. Bloomberg, the locals are whispering, gobbled up so much of the wood for his island paradise’s interiors that it has caused a shortage in the precious resource and a spike in demand. That has led various wood scavengers to cut down cedars furtively in off-limits areas and sell them to wood mills.
“Because he’s come into the market and bought so much cedar, people are scrambling around to find it,” one Bermudan groused to The Observer. “They have been cutting it down in parks and nature preserves.”
Let’s all meet down in Bermuda next week to build a wind farm in front of Bloomberg’s beachfront property. Who’s up for a field trip?
Image of Gracie Mansion South courtesy of Scoop Independent News.
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I give up. I’m selling my car, no longer bathing, will make everything I need out of hemp and be thankful for the privilege.
I say we plant some Bermuda cedars all over his property, so that people will trespass on his land and cut them down. I am all for spending YOUR wealth as YOU think best, but if he’s going to preach at everyone and implement policy that is so far removed from how he actually lives, maybe his wealth should be confiscated to pay for such nonsense.
Isn’t causing more deforestation a mortal sin for Envirogelicals?
….is that private pile of tree carcasses solar-powered?
What’s he doing in Carbonhagen? He should be back in New York fighting to keep the MTA from taking away bus passes for school kids. He’s always so big on public transportation, he should be all for kids being able to use it.
Yes, I voted for the guy for his third term. But that’s because it was either him or David Dinkins, Jr. No thanks.
It’s okay, Rocko. Douche and turd. Just always remember: douche and turd.
Am I the only one who is seeing a striking similarity between that picture of Bloomburg and that creepy smile from the (original cartoon) Grinch?
http://images.google.com/images?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&=&q=Grinch%20smile&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi
He looks pretty simple minded in that picture. Would explain how he cannot understand the hypocrisy of his actions. Or maybe he doesn’t care.
How do dumb guys get so rich? I’m guessing I’m at least twice as smart, yes smarts can be measured quantitatively, as at least 80% of the guys in Copenhagen right now and I’d say I make at least 80% less than any of them. By 80% less I mean 95%.
It’s the usual “do as I say” phenomenon. And it so often comes out of the mouths of those who have made their own enormous pile and love to spend it on themselves (which is their right), but then they turn around and tell the peons to scale down their lifestyles. Wouldn’t want the hoi polloi getting uppity!
Yes, Jessicarrot, that IS a pretty Grinchy smile. But let’s be fair to the guy: That’s a post-change-of-heart-love-and-happiness Grinch smile, not the something-wicked-this-way-comes-pre-change-of-heart smile.
The difference between a conservationist and a developer: The conservationist already has his summer home.
His smile is really funny, just like this