Today is Earth Day, the highest holiest day of Gaia-worshiping Greenies.
In honor of Earth Day, Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is sending its administrator high priestess, Gina McCarthy, on a week-long 5-city tour to preach to the benighted, which will burn up more carbon and cause more pollution than you or I could ever generate in a year.
Fox News reports, April 22, 2014, that the EPA announced that McCarthy would visit New York, Boston, Cleveland, Atlanta and Memphis to “participate in various events to…focus on responsible steps to cut carbon pollution to slow the effects of climate change.” Her tour began yesterday with a visit to Jon Stewart on “The Daily Show,” where McCarthy touted Obama’s climate action plan. McCarthy will end her tour on Friday with a visit to sustainable energy projects in Tennessee.
But the national nonprofit environmental group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) says the greenhouse gases generated by McCarthy’s five-city tour will “far exceed” any concrete action on climate change from her travels.
In a news release, “EPA’s Clueless Earth Day Celebration,” PEER states:
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s idea to jet its Administrator on a multi-city Earth Day-themed tour to “ask Americans to act on climate change through simple actions to reduce carbon pollution in their daily lives” is unclear on the concept. The greenhouse gases generated by Ms. McCarthy and her entourage will far exceed any concrete climate action from their travels….
Air travel, however, is one of the most carbon-intensive activities. A cross-country plane trip can create a warming effect equivalent to 2 or 3 tons of carbon dioxide per person. [...]
“Frenetically jetting around the country appears to undercut EPA’s message to ordinary Americans that they should conserve, consume less and reduce transportation pollution,” stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, noting that as Administrator, McCarthy is a frequent air traveler and has been criticized for commuting weekly back to her home in Boston. “Hasn’t EPA heard of Skype?”
Some events on McCarthy’s itinerary have a somewhat tenuous tie-in to promoting climate action. For example this Tuesday, Administrator McCarthy and Energy Secretary Moniz will throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Red Sox vs. Yankees baseball game at Boston’s Fenway Park.
“EPA touts this tour as meaningful but this agency’s effectiveness in public education is not measurable. While Ms. McCarthy is an engaging individual she is hardly a charismatic figure whose mere presence galvanizes public action,” Ruch added, suggested that top EPA officials could convey a more powerful message by practicing the conservation measures they are preaching.
The Daily Caller points out that Gina McCarthy’s weekly flights to and from her Boston home emit 7.5 tons to 9.4 tons of carbon dioxide per year — nearly equivalent to the yearly carbon emissions of the average non-flying American. Note that the 9.4 tons of carbon dioxide emissions are just from her weekly commute to and back from Boston, which means McCarthy’s total carbon dioxide emissions would be much more than those of the average American to whom she pontificates.
See also how the green hypocrites of the Sierra Club’s board of directors drive around in gas-guzzling luxury Jaguars and SUVs.
~Eowyn