Do As I Say, Not As I Do Dept: Laurel Broten, Minister of the Environment
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.28.07
We watched in dismay while the Anti-Gore forces attacked him for the size of his house. Much the same is happening here in Ontario where Minister of the Environment Laurel Broten, whose initiatives lately have been impressive, has applied to build a garage twice as large as permitted to hold four cars. A difference is Al owned the house already; Broten just set herself up for this one with an appalling error in public relations. As NDP environment critic Peter Tabuns said :"I don't think she practises what she preaches when it comes to the environment."
Broten, who as a Minister rates a limousine and a driver, has a Ford Escape hybrid, a low-emissions Volvo SUV, a Mercedes and a Porsche in her driveway. (She lives in the City and could bike to work in an hour if she wanted to) She is married to a lawyer who likes cars and defends him saying "When you're a young guy that grows up in Sudbury and you're the first guy in your family not to work underground, once you're successful you have dreams of having a couple of cars and you can afford them, you buy them."
A case can be made that she is being criticized for the sins of her husband. A case can also be made that Ministers are public figures who should set examples, and perhaps building a faux chateaux garage for a car collection should have waited until she was no longer Minister of the Environment, this just looks really bad. ::The Star
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Does anyone know how much they drive? Since they are in the city, I doubt over 10,000 combined. I don't see what the big deal is. I know a guy who hates that I have a 1970 Hemi. He has a Pruis but logs over 30,000 miles/year on it. I put 2,000 on my Hemi and approx 6,000 on my new small truck. I went to the emission center to see what my Hemi is putting out. Its putting out about 6 times the emissions as a 2007 V8, so I'm more green than he is. If you're not living within 10 miles of 99% of where you go....move closer!
Totally hypocritical, and absolutely ridiculous - she's not getting my vote!
Sure, you could blame the husband, but there are 2 things really, very wrong here: 1) as the Environment Minister, she should put her foot down and tell her husband he needs to lose the sports car(s) and, 2) as her husband, he should care about, and support what she stands for (or does she?).
A Mercedes, Porsche and Volvo SUV? Could he be compensating for something? If he wants people to think he is successful, he should just try to be the best father and husband he can be - that's how you measure success - not with a car.
"Low emissions Volvo SUV"?! Come 'on - seriously? Sure, it meets the EPA's ULEVII requirements, but it still generates 3x as much CO2 as a Pruis!
On a final note, instead of building a garage to house 2 carbon producing toys, why not install a solar photovaltaic system on the roof instead? I bet the neighbours wouldn't complain about that!
on top of all that - its a developer built house which probably has little to no environmental design, poor craftsmanship and above all else is hidiously 'suburban' ugly.
before anyone tries to sand bag al gore, or even broten. they should take a looky at Keith Olbermans little segment here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbaRBV6oywA
things are not always what they seem. and we should be taking the log out of ones own eye before taking the splinter from anothers.
gore does what he says, i dont know about broten but id give her a chance first. cause i know that if were really rich i would like to live well too. i'd have tesla in a snap, but theyd prolly be a galardo next to it for sundays.
an hour bike ride is not for all women. i think this is a bit harsh. not to mention its her choice. i dont expect environmental leaders to turn into vegetarian hippie 'tree hugging' armish for me to respect and agree with their work.
i wouldnt want to be a Hypocrite myself.
I'm a woman and I bike an hour to work each day; or, I take the subway. It's fine if she doesn't, and it's great she has hybrids, but FOUR CARS?! Come ON! (Not to mention her house is one of those hideous cement blocks that don't pay respect to the history of the neighbourhood and its surrounding brick houses). Uck.
How many vegans, vegetarians, sustainable lifers, and/or organic dieters who proclaim the organic life and that they won't be caught dead touching anything that's not organic smoke CIGARETTES?? How many of those types are addicted to the once in a while processed food. Let he who is without sin...
An hour bike ride to work could be a little bit hard for some. Even if she were fit enough, the fact is in her line of work I'm sure time is of the essence. Also showing up to work without a sweated out business suit might actually get you some respect from the people you need to meet with about saving the environment or changing their practices. (No I bet there is little chance she can respectfully change at work or shower at work or carry a suit and have it not be wrinkled). Not to mention she IS a well known public official as well as a woman and SAFTEY of her life becomes an important matter to think about when considering an hour bike ride to work (not just the possibility of being hit by a car but of being targeted because of her job or sex due to her visibility-how many people will pick her out in a one hour time span in a car vs a bike????). And perhaps she has to carry important papers or items which have a better chance of getting to work with her in a car. Live in the real world people and put yourself in the shoes of someone like her.
I'm not sure what kind of houses her neighborhood historically has/had but that house looks like it embodies some type of architectural style that's not native to the modern age.
The lady does have a few low emission cars maybe her husband bought the other two, I'm not sure what she can do about it but get a divorce, but who knows. MORE important is that her life work/career is supporting the environment and she's doing that job. What she gives to the environment is far less than what she's taking from it.
What sort of writing is this? "We watched in dismay while the Anti-Gore forces attacked him for the size of his house."
What's wrong with calling a phony hypocrite a phony hypocrite? Why should Al Gore get a free pass?
It is a new world, and that new world needs leaders who are not hypocrites. They got rich in the old world, in which people didn't talk about their affairs or illegitimate children, but this is a new world.
Good riddance, maybe the next minister will be someone younger, who actually believes in sustainability. Hybrid cars sure aren't going to get us there.
@Al Gibson
Attacking Al Gore on his Lifestyle only is a distraction manouvre. Hid luxuruous life-style changes says nothing about the science of global warming.
AN HOUR TO BIKE TO WORK!!!! I DONT CARE IF SHE DRIVES A HUMMER AT LEAST IF SHE GETS IN A ACCIDENT SHE WON'T BE HURT AND SHE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE WHEN SHE IS THERE. GOD BLESS HER AND HER HUSBAND TO. AT LEAST THEY ARE MAKING SOMETHING OF THEIR LIVES NOT SITTING ON THE INTERNET CRITICIZING PEOPLE LIKE ME AND YOU. IM SURE YOURE NOT PERFECT TOO.
I don’t know, I see nothing wrong with holding elected or non-elected officials accountable for their behavior. True leaders lead by example – so called environmentalists who talk the talk but do not walk the walk reflect poorly on the entire movement. I’m a fan of Al Gore’s work and dedication, but I will not give him a free pass if he does not live up to the ideal he is attempting to thrust on others – that hypocritical behavior simply turns people off to your entire message. Not unlike the way in which a Barbara Streisand type lectures the public on car pooling and sustainable transportation, and then, after having given her speech, leaves in a stretch limo, or climbs aboard a private jet.
You are either part of the problem, or part of the solution.
Ruben,
I entirely disagree with this statement:
"It is a new world, and that new world needs leaders who are not hypocrites."
That is what the shallow level of political discourse in the media would have you think. It doesn't matter who or what are leaders are, but rather what they do to lead our nations. If we actually had substantive debates about matters instead of mere popularity contests, this would be absolutely clear.
Our leaders are fallible, just as well all are. I'd just rather my leader's fallibility was in his/her private life rather than in serving their duties as elected/appointed officials.
"The lady does have a few low emission cars maybe her husband bought the other two, I'm not sure what she can do about it but get a divorce, but who knows. MORE important is that her life work/career is supporting the environment and she's doing that job. What she gives to the environment is far less than what she's taking from it."
Ooops I mean she is giving more than she is taking. Furthermore I am really tired of this TreeHugger nitpicky, hypocritical, bashing at the hand that feeds us type of thing. Where would the civil rights movement behind MLK would have gone if many members of the group (though guilty of "sins", if not the same "sin" themselves) were constantly bickering and dividied about whether MLK should be the leader because he was being unfaithful to his wife?
How many cell phones are used by the TreeHugger team. How many portable electronic, video game counsels, Ipods, laptops are owned by TreeHugger employees or TreeHugger themselves. Do they not know that most of these devices need coltan which has been linked to the over a decade long, devastatingly brutal civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the near extinction of Mountain Gorrillas due to illegal mining and greedy corporations putting money above human and animal rights? I bet the amount of hurt TreeHugger's and its employees electronic devices are doing to the people, animals, and plants is equivalent to the destruction a fleet of Hummers covered in conflict diamonds would cause. Like I said, let who without sin...
No one at Treehugger is living in a native tribe in the Amazon, or some other secluded place, living a live of basically no carbon footprint or harm to the environment or people. Even those people burn fires and eat animals and maybe more plants than they should. Even those that are really trying-have no cars or cars that emit no emissions, no cell phones or electronic devices, eat only organic foods, etc. are still going to hurt the environment or be unsustainable or hurt suffering people in the world indirecly SOMEHOW, most likely esp. if they're not living in the middle of the woods.
The people that can help us make drastic changes the most QUICKLY are public officials, those have a lot of money or run corporations, and those who are famous/in the public's eye. Sad but true. It's good to speak up about someone and ask them what they could do better. But they way TH reports sometimes is equivalent to US weekly filled with paparrazzi photos showing a messy hair or visible butt crack when they all know that they aren't the most gorgeous or perfect people in the world and on top of that the people in the pictures in the magazines or the people who they're taking pictures of are the ones providing for/helping their wellbeing and way of life (just like this Minister of Environment). It's just taking it too far, hypocritical and really sickening.
Anthonares -
I agree with some of what you have said here, but really, are we truly in an age where we ask too much of our leaders, hold them to too high a standard, or, do we allow them to get away with murder, both literally and figuratively?
Me, I think it’s the latter. I see nothing wrong in holding our elected officials to an extremely high standard – our governments are resplendent with leaders who simply do not want to lead. They appear to enjoy the status and the perks their appointed positions confer, unfortunately, they appear to enjoy the actual work and responsibility much less.
What if we all decided to own four or more cars and what if we all built mammoth garages to house them? Is that a picture of sustainability or excess?
If you take a leadership position, you have an obligation to act as an example, as a leader – otherwise, you’re simply collecting a paycheck.
My apologies - that reply was intended for Anon y Mous - sorry.
First - a few facts. It is not a 4 car garage. It was a single car garage with a lift - to accomodate two cars. A lift you say - such decadence. The reality is a two car garage is not such an indulgence and in fact, a single car garage with a lift uses less land and costs less to construct than a conventional two car garage. It is a matter of personal taste whether a garage slightly taller than normal is a good or bad thing. In this case, the scale of the home made the height of the garage appropriate - and the Committee of Adjustment and the overwhelming majority of neighbours agreed. The guy who complained can be summed up in a single word: anti-woman-anti-liberal-anti-environment-wing-nut-not-happy-about-anyting-sob.
Lets get over it people. Remember who the good guys are. This reminds me of the early days of political correctness where everyone tried to make every politically correct person out to be some radical or extremist by trying to exaggerate and marginalize. In the environmental movement, we seem to try to make the good guys look like hypocrites - look at Gore's home, look at Arnie's Hummers and private jet. The reality is that those on the side of good create policies that far exceed their personal impact. By taking them down on sites like these, we've switched to the dark side. Remember what it's all about and let's know all the facts before we judge.