FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
The hypocrisy of some celebrities knows no bounds.
The London Times has a piece called "Taking the private jet to Copenhagen" - a reference to the upcoming international climate summit. This report highlights actors, musicians, politicians and other so-called "green" celebrities who have fleets of jets, multiple homes, and on and on - leaving carbon footprints as they travel through life that would put a dinosaur to shame.
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/12/01/art.gwyneth.suv.jpg caption="Actress Gwyneth Paltrow is pictured behind the wheel of an SUV."]
For example:
- John Travolta has 5 private jets (including a Boeing 707). He once flew to London on one of them to encourage the British to fight global warming.
- Harrison Ford used to own a Gulfstream jet, but now makes due with a smaller Cessna Citation Sovereign eight seat jet, four propeller planes and a helicopter.
- Oprah Winfrey, who preaches about being environmentally friendly on her TV show, traveled in a 13-seat Gulfstream jet for years until she replaced it with a faster Bombardier Global Express.
- Tom Cruise has five planes, including a customized Gulfstream jet.
- As for the king of global warming preachers, Al Gore: It's been estimated his Tennessee mansion uses 20 times the electricity of an average U.S. home. And he spends $500 a month just to heat his indoor swimming pool.
- Meanwhile recent owners of gas guzzling SUVs include Gwyneth Paltrow, Barbra Streisand and Cameron Diaz.
All of the above mentioned celebrities are active to a greater or lesser degree in urging the rest of us to fight global warming.
Here’s my question to you: Why do celebrities who travel around in private jets want to tell the rest of us how to save the environment?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Matt writes:
When you get to be a celebrity, isn't it your right to tell all the people not as rich and powerful as you are how they should live their lives? When celebrities start using public transportation and start living in smaller more energy-efficient homes, maybe the public will take them more seriously. I don't see any celebrities giving up their Bentleys or Mercedes for a ride on the bus anytime soon though.
Richard writes:
These celebrity movie stars work three or four months a year. The rest of the time they have nothing better to do than to tell us all how to live our lives, whether it’s about carbon footprints, or voting for president. I think they would all be surprised to know that most folks don't give a hoot what they think at all.
John writes:
Jack, Maybe the messengers are flawed beings subject to common human foibles, but the message remains true and is of great importance.
David from Kansas City writes:
Jack, The term is "Limousine Liberal" which describes an individual who pushes his liberal ideology on the rest of us because he/she knows what’s best but is too important to take their own advice. They do it because they are self-serving, sanctimonious hypocrites. Should we really be surprised? These are the same people who put on award shows every other day to pat themselves on the back and put themselves in the spotlight.
Janelle writes:
Jack, These people really do care about the environment and global warming. They just feel they're more important than the average Joe and therefore are entitled to leave a larger carbon footprint.
Dave writes:
As a general rule, celebrities are to be ignored on all issues.