Is it true that Al Gore won't go vegetarian?

[veganpixie]

After watching the wonderful concert programs on "Live Earth", I felt very emotional after being able to participate in such an important vast event. I even felt warmth and praise for Al Gore for all his wonderful efforts. I found him to be very eloquent and gently upfront. I personally don't care what the critics say. I appreciate what he's doing and what he's saying. However, the 1 thing that bothers me is the fact that according to what I've read, he refuses to go meatless vegetarian. Vegan is the ultimate healthy decision, but going meatless 100% vegetarian is a start. I try not to judge anyone and I know that no one is perfect, even if they strive for perfection, but this 1 issue is bothering me. I'll admit, I'm pretty good at researching stuff on the Internet and finding the information I need, but I can't seem to find any information pertaining to Al Gore's decision to go veg or not to go veg. Does anyone know? Can someone shed some light on this?
Thanks.

[Tibetan Snake]

Go to the comady thred and some one says some thing the like '' its easeyer to stop driveing ones Humvee and get a Hibrid car than to go even vegitaryan ''
and something about Mc Nuggets.

[nickurffer]

One of his writers said that he is possibly thinking of a future political career and that being a vegetarian would be too "polarizing". How F'ed is that?

[Roxy]

Well, perhaps it something to do with the fact that his family raised (don't know if they still do) cattle for slaughter. They probably made a lot of money by doing that.

How does a man like that, go vegetarian?

It would be soooo cool if he did though!

[emzy1985]

The green movement unfortunately refuses to except vegetarianism and veganism as a logical move to reduce greenhouse gases. This is why I do not support Greenpeace. One day people will turn round and say, " Those Vegans were right all along!"

[horselesspaul]

You can't be a vegetarian/vegan and plant cows and sheep when you lapse into omni mode like you can with "green" credentials and planting trees.
The whole thing makes me cringe. Where were these people 20 years ago when we were all banging on about it? On a plane to Mauritius..
Now they're still on a plane, just paying someone to plant saplings to make themselves feel better. Idiots.

[nickurffer]

Gore has mentioned the risk of alternative fuels because he says we'd have to cut down rainforests to grow corn and sugarcane for ethanol, but he never mentions that if we stopped eating animals, we could use their food crop spaces for bio-fuel crops.

[Herbidacious]

The green movement unfortunately refuses to except vegetarianism and veganism as a logical move to reduce greenhouse gases. This is why I do not support Greenpeace. One day people will turn round and say, " Those Vegans were right all along!"

George Monbiot did a few years ago.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,864995,00.html

Few in the green movement are listening enough though and I don't know whether he's taken the plunge and gone vegan.

[emzy1985]

Yeh I read that as a vegetarian...didn't go vegan until 2003. I mean like on-mass. Like people who are seriously green believing that vegan is the way to go.

Horselesspaul - You are a very funny dude!:D (Although 20 years ago I was still in nappies lol!!!)

[rantipole]

This is the big issue that makes me disappointed in most environmentalists. They just refuse to see that one of the most environmentally responsible choices you can make is going vegan. Or, they see that and can't commit to the change. My best friend is like that. She's really interested in animal welfare and environmentalism, but she can't stop eating dairy. She is at least vegetarian, though.

Another friend of mine who works for a local environmental publication actually gets pissed off if you try to talk to him about becoming vegetarian (let alone vegan). He's also really into wolves, and I've tried to tell him that one of the major obstacles to wolf reintroductions and population recovery are cattle ranchers. Everytime he buys a burger, he's paying for the destruction of his favorite creatures. Hello, forest...trees...?

Ok. I'm done with my rant. Seriously, I do wish Gore would go veggie. More importantly, I just want him to run and save America.

Cheers,
rant

[bugaboo]

I hear Al Gore actually doesn't do much to "green" up his home. I mean he does own a Toyota Prius (a fuel-efficient hybrid) but he, apparently, doesn't conserve water or electricity, has no solar power, and leaves lights on throughout the house when the there is nobody home. But he says he offsets the energy used in him home by buying energy credits. Energy credits are basically a system in America where you pay an allotted amount to the energy company and they will take that money and use it towards planting trees, renewable source development, etc.
He has so much money though, shouldn't he be conserving while at the same time buying credits, thereby offsetting his energy and maybe someone else's? I mean, apparently, he's really into the environment...Yeah right!

[Russ]

I unfortunately caught parts of the self-righteousness-fest Live Earth. It made me want to do my bit for the environment by smashing my television into tiny pieces.

Did it bother anyone else that basically every 'artist'/celebrity they interviewed loved to talk about how important the environment was, and how great they were for being there, but when questioned on what THEY do personally for the environment, their responses were more along the lines of "well ... I don't want to have to give up my plasma screen TV ..." or "well .. I bought a hybrid car ..." Hybrid cars, of course, being SO beneficial to the environment. Right from the start, Jonathan Ross was attacking the critics of the event, apparently this occasion was so momentously decisive that its outcome would outweigh all the flights and electricity that necessitated it ...

In my opinion, Al Gore won't go vegetarian because he's a hack. The polarising thing doesn't surprise me one bit.

[aubergine]

I watched some of the US gig on BBC Interactive. AFI's singer said some stuff about going Vegan to help the environment, but it was lost on the crowd. A real shame that a feature piece wasn't done to show between bands on the main programme.