The hypocrisy of the eco-left

The Daily Mail calls out some celebrity hypocrites on how their personal energy use fails to match their green activism:

Chris Martin

WHAT HE SAYS: The mild-mannered lead singer of Coldplay counteracts the environmental impacts of his band's tours and CD production by paying for mango trees to be planted in developing countries.

The theory is that the extra carbon emitted as a result of the band's activities will be soaked up by the extra tree growth.

WHAT HE DOES: According to singer Alison Goldfrapp, Martin flies home between gigs: "We supported Coldplay and Chris Martin used to fly home on his jet, go home, write songs then fly to the next gig. I thought: "What? Are you insane?"

Environmental campaigner George Monbiot says: "It's probably fair to assume he flies at least 100,000 miles (or ten return journeys averaging 10,000 miles each) in his private jet each year.
"If so - and even before taking the rest of his activities into account - he would be exceeding his fair share of carbon by 250 times."

Sadly, many of the 10,000 mango trees planted by carbon-offsetting firm Future Forests on Coldplay's orders to "offset" the carbon produced by the album A Rush Of Blood To The Head died.

Many experts now say carbon offsetting via tree planting is nothing more than a scam allowing rich polluters to feel better about themselves.


Leonardo DiCaprio

WHAT HE SAYS: Pumped millions of his own money into producing the environmental documentary, The 11th Hour, due to be released on DVD next month, and claims that if we do not radically change the way we live right away, the Earth will be destroyed.

Like many Hollywood stars keen to flash their eco- credentials, he drives a hybrid petrol/electric car which uses less energy than a regular vehicle in cities by switching to battery power in heavy traffic.

He says: "I've been driving a hybrid car for five, six years now. My house is built green, I have solar panels."

WHAT HE DOES: Although he flew his family from Paris to Rome on a private jet in October 2006, since 2007, DiCaprio has been trying to live down the tag of "Leonardo the Learjet liberal" and publicly eschewed the use of the fuel-glugging private aircraft.

"I try as often as possible to fly commercially," he declared at the Cannes Film Festival last year. By Hollywood standards, that makes him a hairshirted hero - but of course there are times when only a private jet will do.

During an interview with his co-producers, one TV interviewer challenged DiCaprio to "take a pledge and promise never to get into a private jet again" - something he has so far been unwilling to do.

Brangelina

WHAT THEY SAY: At first glance it seems that Pitt - who drives a hybrid Prius, has been a vocal and financial supporter of a drive to build eco-homes in flood-ravaged New Orleans and last year even guest-narrated a segment of green documentary called e2: The Economies Of Being Environmentally Conscious - is doing his bit to combat global warming.

"There's a lot of problems in the world right now because of our dependency on oil," Pitt gravely warned his fans in a recent interview.

WHAT THEY DO: In fact, Pitt and his partner Angelina Jolie are massive consumers of oil thanks to their addiction to private jet travel.

In 2007 they took literally dozens of such flights between them around the world. In August, Pitt flew from Chicago, where he was watching his partner work, to LA to perform jury duty and then flew back to Illinois the same day.

Recently, the couple touched down at Nice airport aboard their own "PJ" - burning an estimated 11,000 gallons of fuel on the trip from America.

Pitt would have to drive his Prius to the Moon to offset that. Oh - and did we mention that Jolie is pregnant again?

Soon it's going to require two people carriers just to get the multi-national Pitt- Jolie family as far as the airport.

Madonna

WHAT SHE SAYS: After she headlined the London segment of last year's Live Earth concert, memorably derided by Matt Bellamy of rock band Muse as "private jets for climate change", she was lambasted not just for her giant carbon footprint but also for owning a share portfolio with more than £1million invested in oil exploration, mining and other environmentally unfriendly projects.

In the wake of the furore, her spokesperson issued a statement saying: "Madonna's agreeing to sing at Live Earth is merely one of the first steps in her commitment toward being environmentally responsible.

"She is educating herself and her family and has begun to make changes around her that reflect her awareness and concern for the future of the planet."

WHAT SHE DOES: Madonna's carbon footprint for 2006 was estimated at 1,018 tons - more than 100 times that of the average Briton.

And it seems the "changes" she is prepared to make do not extend to using ordinary airlines. For New Year she jetted to India with husband Guy Ritchie, her son and five friends in her own jet.

John Travolta

WHAT HE SAYS: "Everyone can do their bit," Travolta said when he visited Britain last year to promote the launch of his little-seen movie Wild Hogs, and went on to declare that global warming is "a very valid issue - we have to think about alternative methods of fuel".

WHAT HE DOES: Travolta, a licensed pilot, owns five private planes - a customised £2million Boeing 707, three Gulfstreams and a Learjet - which he keeps in his garden next to a private runway.

When he was flying himself back to the U.S. the staggering scale of his environmental vandalism was revealed when he landed the 707 in Ireland to refuel and it was reported that he was the only person on board the flying stretch-limo. In a normal configuration, a 707 can carry 150 passengers.

Barbra Streisand

WHAT SHE SAYS: "Everyone has the power to make a difference by making simple, conscious decisions in their everyday lives," Streisand writes on her website and then posts a list of "Simple Things We Can All Do To Help Stop Global Warming".

These include switching to modern long-life lightbulbs, cleaning the condenser coil on your fridge and waiting until you have a full load before running your dishwasher.

WHAT SHE DOES: No sign of Streisand cutting down on laundry.

On tour in the UK and Ireland last year, Streisand's contract specified that she required the production office be supplied with "120 bath-sized towels immediately upon arrival".

It was also revealed that the vehicle list for her show comprised "13 53ft semi-tractor trailers, four rental vans, 14 crew and band buses and one limousine".

And, of course, she made the 'simple, conscious' decision to travel all the way from Manchester to London aboard a private jet. Why don't I feel quite so guilty about switching on my half-empty dishwasher now?

They mention a couple more, like Sting and his wife Trudie Styler and Prince Charles. And we could add arch-hypocrite Al Gore the self appointed potentate of all things green who nevertheless lives in a mansion whose energy usage exceeds some Third World countries and who flies on private jets whenever he finds it convenient.

What the Daily Main needs to understand is that these celebrity alpha-hotels don't feel like hypocrites because in their own minds they are special and entitled to things which should rightly be denied to lesser mortals.

Just like gun grabbing celebrity grotesquerie Rosie O'Donnell walks around with a small army of armed to the teeth bodyguards to protect her and her family. She simply believes that she and her partner and their children deserve to be protected by firearms while you and your spouse and children do not.

This sense of entitlement is so basic to the way that O'Donnell and the others view themselves and their place in the world that I seriously doubt that they have ever felt the slightest temptation to question it. When they are called on the hypocrisy which is transparently obvious to everyone besides them and their sycophantic hangers-on they feel unfairly attacked and singled out for persecution because of their activism.

Now I want everyone to understand something. Human-caused global warming is a myth. It is simply the best hobgoblin that the Left has come up with to frighten the mob into surrendering their wealth and their liberty. As far as I'm concerned Travolta can buy himself a 747 and have it modified for mid-air refueling and spend the next ten years flying around all by himself and never touch the ground.

If you have the money to live in a mansion the size of the Biltmore House and fly private jets and drive nothing but Hummers and Vipers then more power to you, as long as you come by it honestly. But do not step out of your Hummer on the tarmac of the private jetport and lecture the rest of us on how we ought to use leaves instead of toilet paper before boarding your Gulfstream to fly across town for a dinner date.

You do that and you will be mocked, laughed at, called a hypocrite and never again be taken seriously by anyone with an IQ higher than room temperature.