A number of celebrities don't 'walk the walk' when it comes to climate change—they just 'talk the talk'.
These prominent personalities demand people scale back their lifestyles and accept Spartan living. All the while these same celebrities enjoy rich and lavish lifestyles in huge mansions, private jets and yachts. (1)
In addition, some celebrity environmentalists like to claim skeptics are making money off hampering global warming regulations, but those same greens are making a lot of money promoting global warming. Recently, the Feds even took down a green energy scheme that took $14 million from taxpayers. (2)
The Media Research Center has released a 28 page report on environmental hypocrites who don't follow what they preach. The report features 12 celebrities, and it states there are many more. Those who were chosen to highlight the hypocrisy include: Leonardo DiCaprio, Al Gore, James Cameron, John Travolta, Ariana Huffington, Woody Harrelson, Ian Somerhalder, Gwyneth Paltro, Mark Ruffalo, Matt Damon and Cameron Diaz. (3)
These 12 celebrities are so disconnected from reality that they can't see the hypocrisy in sitting in their big houses and condemning middle class Americans for driving too much, or for not switching their entire lifestyles to eco-friendly. These celebrities are worth a combined total of $1.9 billion.
Here are some who have a rating of 5, which is the most hypocritical rating given in the report.
Leonardo DiCaprio- who lectured us on global warming when he recently received an Oscar, is a classic example of a celebrity climate change phony. He cruises in his private yacht, or visits among the four houses he owns scattered on both coasts, and seems to think that his own air travel doesn't affect the environment, whereas it does for other people. He even told the German daily Bild that he planned to travel around the world doing good for the environment. His private jet's carbon emissions can be more than 37 times higher than those produced by flying commercial. (3)
Al Gore- for someone who claims a climate apocalypse is just around the corner, he doesn't seem to feel the need to change his own extravagant lifestyle. Gore predicted in 2007 that the Arctic ice cap could have as few as seven years left. A recent study says the Northwest Passage will not be available for another 40 years, let alone the Arctic becoming ice free.(4)
Gore's “Live Earth' concerts are perhaps his biggest hypocrisy. While not accomplishing more than 'raising awareness' for climate change, his concert in 2007 managed to produce as many carbon emissions as 3,000 residents of the UK could produce in a year. The Guardian compared the concert to holding 'a hog roast to promote vegetarianism.' Performers at the event used a combined total of at least 220,000 miles, while the number of cars, planes, and other forms of transportation used by attendees far surpassed that. (3)
In 2007, the Tennessee Center for Policy Research found that Gore's 20-room home and pool house devoured nearly 221,000 kilowatt hours in 2006, more than 20 times the national average.
The former vice-president's global warming activism has helped increase his net worth from $700,000 in 2000 to an estimated net worth of $173 million by 2015. Gore has a remarkable record of investing in companies right before they get huge grants from the government. (2)
James Cameron-owns three houses in Southern California that take up more than 24,000 square feet combined and each have heated swimming pools but are sorely lacking a single energy saving device such as solar. He has been outspoken against those skeptical of climate change calling them 'slime' and 'boneheads' that he wanted to 'shoot it out with.' He told the Los Angeles Times that we're going to have to live with less to combat climate change while he lives in luxury.
John Travolta- owns 5 private jets and a Florida mansion with two runways. According to the London Evening Standard, despite telling British fans to 'do their bit' to tackle global warming, Travolta has been clocking at least 30,000 miles in the past 12 months. This means he has produced an estimated 800 tons of carbon emissions—nearly 100 times the average Briton's tally.
Hollywood has many more climate change alarmist hypocrites who weren't included in the report. Arnold Schwarzenegger, for example, commuted more than 300 miles to work by jet, multiple times a week. Paul McCartney once had his Lexus hybrid car flown form Japan to the UK, which the Huffington Post admitted caused its 'transport footprint' to be over 100 times greater than it should have been.
There are other folks who 'talk the talk' while profiting from alleged climate change.
Elon Musk- this billionaire chairs a number of companies, such as Tesla Motors and SolarCity, which rake in billions in federal green energy subsidies. In 2014, Musk received $1.4 billion from Nevada taxpayers to build a 'gigafactory' for his electric car company Tesla Motors. SolarCity also got a large payout to move to Nevada. Musk helped found SolarCity and still serves as its chairman. When Nevada changed the way it subsidized solar power in away that didn't favor Musk or SolarCity, the company pulled out of the state. (2)
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Vinod Khosla- the Indian billionaire has poured over a billion dollars of his own money, as well as the government's into 50 different green energy start-ups. He has been behind some of the green tech industry's most spectacular failures. Khosla has spent a lot of money on ethanol, which is heavily dependent on a federal mandate requiring gasoline sold in the US to contain a certain amount of it. Ethanol tax credits are estimated to have cost the federal government up to $40 billion between 1978 and 2012. He was heavily invested in the ethanol company KiOR, even talking the company up during an interview with 60 minutes. KiOR went bankrupt in November 2014 and devastated the state of Mississippi, which had given KiOR a $75 million, 20-year, no-interest loan after which Khosla assured the state that he would build facilities worth $500 million that would create 1,000 jobs. (2)
Robert Kennedy Jr.- President John F. Kennedy's nephew netted a $1.4 billion bailout for his company, BrightSource, through a loan guarantee issued by a former employee-turned Department of Energy official.
Ironically, in 2008, Kennedy wrote a CNN article praising President Obama as reminiscent of his famous father and uncle. The article titled “Obama's energy plan would create a green gold rush,” proved prophetic. However, the 'green gold rush' came in the form of $1.4 billion of taxpayers money flowing into the pet projects of rich venture capital investors like Kennedy, not average citizens. What's more, BrightSource touted the Ivanpah solar project as a green jobs creator. Yet as its own website reveals, the thermal solar plant will only create 1,400 jobs at its peak construction and 650 jobs annually thereafter. Even using the peak estimate of 1,400 jobs, that works out to a cost to taxpayers of $1 million per job created. (5)
Summary
Journalists help promote Hollywood celebrities while condemning average Americans for causing climate change. The same media go out of their way to ignore or excuse the hypocrisy of celebrity environmentalists who use their private jets around the world, rent mega-yachts, and live in massive mansions.
The media's and particularly broadcast networks' lack of coverage of this hypocrisy is inexcusable. An example; when DiCaprio stood in front of the UN and suggested taxing the fossil fuel industry out of existence, ABC's Good Morning America called him 'incredibly committed' and praised him for 'advocating bold changes to tackle climate change' and for 'not just talking the talk.'
Gore sold his Current TV network to Al Jazeera, the international news network owned by the Qatari royal family for $500 million. The entire economy of Qatar is based on oil. Matt Lauer of NBC Today asked Gore about this sale and apparent hypocrisy but then quickly went back to praising Gore for his climate alarmism.
In the last six months of 2014 alone, ABC, CBS and NBC interviewed these specific celebrities 25 times. Not once during these 25 interviews did the networks suggest that the celebrities might disqualify themselves from lecturing others. Instead, they have referred to them as 'incredibly committed', 'responsible' and praised them for 'promoting the cause' of combating climate change. (3)
Jack Dini
Livermore, CA
References
1. Pierre Gosselin, “Shameful celebrities preach low-energy lifestyles but in fact have monster carbon dioxide emissions,” notrickszone.com, March 7, 2016
2. Andrew Follett, “5 moneyed environmentalists who profit off global warming,” dailycaller.com, February 8, 2016
3. Mike Ciandella, Climate Hypocrites, Media Research Center, February 2016
4. Hass et al., “Ice thickness in the Northwest Passage,” Geophysical Research Letters, 2015
5. Wynton Hall, “Robert Kennedy Jr's 'green' company scored $1.4 billion taxpayer bailout,”, biggovernment.com, November 16, 2011
Jack Dini is author of Challenging Environmental Mythology. He has also written for American Council on Science and Health, Environment & Climate News, and Hawaii Reporter.
