Friday, April 10, 2009
What is the carbon footprint of "green" pizza?
The White House flew in a self-described "green" pizza maker and his raw materials from St. Louis to whip up 20 pies for the staff. Of course, I see nothing wrong with this -- I am all for an imperial presidency -- but it does not seem like the most environmentally-friendly move. It is pretty damned wasteful, actually, if you are worried about carbon dioxide, and reminds me of the Glenn Reynolds line for these occasions: I'll believe anthropogenic global warming is a crisis when the people who say it is a crisis starting acting as though it were one.
MORE: Lefty response here. Among other points, he says that the pizza dude "had already planned a business trip to DC, so the restaurant paid for his travel!" My question: What kind of restaurant needs its chef to fly to DC on business?
7 Comments:
By 
joe buz, at
Fri Apr 10, 03:57:00 PM:
This guy claims that the Pi guy was already on his way to DC for a "business trip", and flew coach:
http://news.aol.com/political-machine/2009/04/10/right-wing-slams-barack-obama-for-ordering-pizza-really/
and goes on to say how cool it is that his pizzeria buys carbon credits from a wind farm.
By JPMcT, at
Fri Apr 10, 06:03:00 PM:
"This guy claims that the Pi guy was already on his way to DC for a "business trip", and flew coach"
Well, that certainly wasn't the tone of the original article. Even if it's true, Obama's staff reinforces thier wetness-behind-the-ears by not mentioning those facts.
But then again, he didn't bow...did he??
This guy is like Clinton in the sense that he prevaricates so often that it becomes too big a chore to keep up wit hit!!
By 
, at
Fri Apr 10, 06:15:00 PM:
The Green Bible says we have to get our produce from local sources to save fuel.
There was a Population Bomb Crisis back in the 60's. "Soylent Green" and all that. In response, starting in 70's the government allowed 20 something million illegal immigrants and their families to settle in the United States and refuses to enforce our laws against them. In addition to that millions of legal immigrants were allowed to settle here. So was the Population Bomb Crisis a hoax foisted on us by an uncaring federal bureaucracy, or were they just worried about parts of the population?
I'll believe anthropogenic global warming is a crisis when the people who say it is a crisis starting acting as though it were one. Indeed.
By JPMcT, at
Sat Apr 11, 11:33:00 AM:
I'd love to see a graph comparing the federal outlay for environmental issues plotted against the number of purported environmental crises per decade.
In the remote past we had to wait for a solar eclipse or Halley's Comet to provoke apocalyptic behaviour.
Now it is served on our plate routinely...and unlike the sun and comets...it's ALWAYS OUR FAULT!!
Otherwise, federal money outlay to environmental panic groups would make no sense.
The basic problem is anthropogenic global Greed and Stupidity.
By Elise, at
Sat Apr 11, 12:04:00 PM:
I didn't think this story was good for more than a brief smile and a "all politicians are the same" moment but now I'm fascinated. I love contradictory versions.
Who knows what the facts of the case are but I thought this article from The Obama Foodscape (who knew?) cast a little bit of doubt on the Lefty version TH links to:
Ryan Mangialardo, Chris Sommers, and Anne Schuermann of Pi restaurant in St. Louis, Missouri, will be cooking their special Barack-Beloved pizzas, in an unusual cameo role in the White House kitchen, overseen by Food Initiative Coordinator Sam Kass.
Looks like there are actually 3 chefs from Pi going to the White House. Neither this article nor the St. Louis article it links to mention that the trip was already set although I suppose it's perfectly possible the chefs decided to piggyback their White House visit with other business of some sort.
Incidentally, my understanding was that all flying was AAGW-bad not just private jets. Plus I don't know how to tell TH's Lefty this but flying coach doesn't actually create a smaller carbon footprint than flying first class.
Furthermore, I think TH's Lefty totally misses the point about the expense. I personally don't care how much of his own money Obama (or possibly one of his aides) spends on pizza and pizza makers from St. Louis but much of the country is in financial trouble and the rest are in financial fear. It thus seems somewhat tone-deaf for Obama to spend anyone's money - his or his aide's - on pizza makers from St. Louis when a lot of people reportedly would have trouble paying for a large from Pizza Hut. Especially given the fairly constant outrage over fat cats that emanates from this Administration. What's more fat-catty (fatty-cat?) than ordering in from more than 800 miles away?
If Obama was really smart he'd use this to establish his capitalist bona fides and maybe even give humor another try by saying: I know it was a crazy thing to do but I've done very well financially with my books and I've always believed once you pay your taxes you should be able to do whatever you want with your own money. Besides, I think we should spread the wealth around outside Washington, too.
By , at
Sat Apr 11, 01:50:00 PM:
"business trip" ????
WTF? How does that make the cut as a business expense?
More proof that the Dems don't mind taxes because they don't pay them.
***
Kramer: It's a write off for them.
Jerry: How is it a write off?
Kramer: They just write it off.
Jerry: Write it off what?
Kramer: Jerry, all these big companies, they write off everything.
Jerry: You don't even know what a write off is.
Kramer: Do you?
Jerry: No. I Don't.
Kramer: But they do. And they're the ones writing it off.
Jerry: I wish I could have the last 20 seconds of my life back.
By Brian, at
Sun Apr 12, 11:15:00 PM:
Elise - coach is better than first class for carbon because you can get more people per planeload of fuel.
Mostly though, I just don't care about this story. Go to town over it, if this is what the right has got in terms of critique.
