Al Gore has made Global Warming his life's mission, after his previous life's mission of becoming President was not renewed for another season. This is nothing to be sneered at. Though I disagree with Gore on a lot of the global warming issues, this looks like a good use of his talents. He is a caring and thoughtful man. His eight years as the Executive branch spare tire has left him with a reserve of political capital. He has invested in something he thinks will show returns both for himself and for the world. Good enough. Here is the opening of his testimony before Congress.

We are here today to talk about how we as Americans and how the United States of America as part of the global community should address the dangerous and growing threat of the climate crisis.

We have arrived at a moment of decision. Our home - Earth - is in grave danger. What is at risk of being destroyed is not the planet itself, of course, but the conditions that have made it hospitable for human beings.

Moreover, we must face up to this urgent and unprecedented threat to the existence of our civilization at a time when our country must simultaneously solve two other worsening crises. Our economy is in its deepest recession since the 1930s. And our national security is endangered by a vicious terrorist network and the complex challenge of ending the war in Iraq honorably while winning the military and political struggle in Afghanistan.

That's actually pretty good, as it takes back a lot of Gore's past excessive rhetoric. It isn't earth that's in the balance, or even life on earth. If the worst predictions of the IPCC come true, the earth will do just fine, and life will adjust as it has throughout its history on the former. What is at stake is human security and comfort. But that might, conceivably, be at stake in a big way.

But if Gore asks all of us to take this threat seriously, seriously enough to change the way we live as a people, might he not do the same himself? If human civilization is at stake, as he says, and he wishes to be the prophet pointing the way to salvation, might he not first put his own house in order? Maybe a good way to begin is by not buying a 100 foot house boat. Powerline has the scoop:

Gore assures us that his 100-foot houseboat is so "green" that it "will create 40-50% less carbon emission and use half the fuel of other similar houseboats." Let's take that claim at face value. I haven't been able to find data on carbon emissions by "similar houseboats"--there aren't many 100-foot houseboats around--but I located this information about a much smaller (60 foot) houseboat:

Generally speaking, they burn just on 10 gals an hour at full cruising speed. (10 mph) This includes the Westebeak generator's 1.5 gal an hour to look after electricity. Whilst anchored, depending on how cold the air conditioning is and other power outlets running, the generator will burn just over 1 gal an hour 24/7.

If we assume that a boat spends six hours cruising (60 gallons) and 18 hours at anchor (18 gallons), that boat--one-half the size of Gore's--will consume 78 gallons of fuel for every 24 hours of use. Let's take Gore at his word and assume that his much larger boat will emit just half as much carbon into the atmosphere as this benchmark. That would be 39 gallons per 24 hours. If you get 25 miles per gallon in your car, you would have to drive 975 miles--farther than from Chicago to New York--to emit an equal amount of carbon. And that doesn't count the jetski on the back of Gore's elephantine boat, which, you can be sure, takes real gasoline

Now I don't blame Al for living the highlife that his movie, books, and carbon-belching jet set speaker schedule have earned him. It's just that a 100 foot houseboat is not the kind of thing one would buy if one were really serious about global warming. I have a friend who rides his bicycle pretty much everywhere he goes, and won't eat imported lettuce. That's how you behave if you are serious about this issue. Al Gore is not a serious person. Global warming scare mongering is his day job. It's his act.