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COUNTERING THE LOCAL GREENS Tired of outside activists coming into your community to raise concerns about your mining operation? Is there a way to minimize their influence? Yes. Just show your community that these outside Greens aren’t as Green as they profess. Those of us who have watched Al Gore fly around the world in a
private jet to preach about environmental catastrophe have seen
it first hand. Environmentalists, especially the ones who preach
Green lifestyles the most, are usually the ones with the biggest
environmental footprints. And, when this information gets out to
regular voters, it has a major impact on how their environmental
proposals are viewed. One recent example of uncovering the waste
of Greens was done by the Times of London. Their investigative journalism
showed that British Greens waste more energy than average people.
The Times did an energy audit of the homes of leading British environmentalists
with thermal imaging equipment. What they discovered shocked them
– their homes leaked heat like a tar paper shack in North Dakota.
Meanwhile, the head of the Tory Party (considered the enemy of the
environment in Britain) had one of the most energy efficient homes. Simon Hughes, the Liberal Democrat energy and climate change spokesman, owned the least energy-efficient property. He bought his flat in Southwark, south London, 25 years ago but has failed to fit it with any significant insulation. According to the thermal imagery equipment, 1,812 kilowatt hours of heat (kWh) a year seeps out through the walls and windows. The extra heating needed to make up for this loss produces 471kg of CO2. Recently Hughes unveiled plans to make every home in Britain energy efficient within the next decade. Obviously, he doesn’t believe that energy saving begins at home. Then there is American actress Gwyneth Paltrow and her rock star
husband, who have both championed green issues. Paltrow backed the
American “Act Green” energy conservation campaign, while
Martin tried to offset CO2 emissions produced by his band’s
second album by planting a forest of mango trees in India. Yet the
couple's £2.5m home in Belsize Park, north London, wastes
1,020kWh of heat a year, Things aren’t better on this side of the Atlantic. At the end of Gore’s movie, “An Inconvenient Truth,” viewers are asked, “Are you ready to change the way you live”? Following this line of thinking, the movie’s web site suggests many ways that you can “reduce your impact at home,” including using less heating and air conditioning, buying expensive fluorescent light bulbs, using less hot water, using a clothesline rather than a dryer, carpooling, flying less and buying cost-inefficient hybrid cars. However, the Tennessee Center for Policy Research reported that Gore’s Nashville mansion consumed more than 20 times the electricity than the national average. Last August, the Gore mansion burned more than twice the electricity in a single month as the average American family uses in an entire year. Gore’s heated pool house alone uses more than $500 in electricity every month. Then there were the 10,000 Greens who traveled to the island resort of Bali for the 13th annual U.N. global warming meeting. The reason for much jet and limo travel — and other prodigious greenhouse gas generating activity associated with such a mega-conference — was relatively modest: setting the agenda and timeframe for a post-Kyoto treaty. The same thing could have been accomplished either by Internet and video conferencing or, if meeting is necessary, somewhere in North America or Europe where most key attendees are based. So, what does this mean to mines? Chances are pretty good that the environmentalists who are opposing your mine are probably wasting more energy and even engaging in other non-green behavior. And, one thing the average person doesn’t like is hypocrisy. If they are pushing your mine on water usage, see if they are wasting water. If they are accusing you of upsetting the ecological balance, see if they practice what they preach. Are they flying to every Green conference in the world? If so, make sure the local paper is aware of this hypocrisy. Making sure that the community is aware of their hypocritical behavior can effectively counter the environmental campaigns that are hindering your mining operation. |
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