Mayor Bloomberg, green as the Jolly Giant these days, was off to Seattle last week to wag a censorious finger at befoulers of the global environment.
In his private jet.
Spewing carbon emissions.
Oops – there goes another iceberg.
Mike was a co-keynote speaker (along with the equally green Bill Clinton) at last Friday’s U.S. Conference of Mayors gathering. The mayor called for a global-warming-tax on corporate carbon emissions.
That’s as opposed to taxing carbon generated by individuals – understandably, because when it comes to carbon footprints, Mike is in a class by himself.
Sasquatch class.
Hizzoner, of course, has been observed taking a two-SUV caravan from 5th Avenue to the 59th St. station on the Lexington Ave. subway line for his morning commute to City Hall.
Moreover, a recent Post analysis of Mike’s real-estate portfolio and travel style found that he need bow to no one when it comes to energy consumption.
To wit:
* In addition to his 79th St. townhouse, he has homes in Westchester, Bermuda, Vail and London.
* He has four personal cars; a helicopter; a prop-driven plane and a private jet that he uses for regular jaunts to Bermuda and elsewhere.
All of which he’s entitled to, of course – having earned a vast fortune fair and square.
Still, The Post estimated that Bloomberg’s annually responsible for “364 tons of smog-inducing carbon dioxide . . . [and] that’s a carbon footprint larger than what’s produced by 18 average Americans, 53 Europeans or 404 Guatemalans.”
But Mike has an out: The mayor, a spokesman said, has chosen instead to donate to worthy causes – “public health, the arts and education” – while seeking “broader change.”
Closer to home, Bloomberg has proposed energy quotas on Gotham’s private sector; mandatory hybrids for all cabbies; an $8 motorist tax for driving in Manhattan, and new taxes on consumers’ electricity bills.
That is, he wants to force New Yorkers to consume less – while he doesn’t.
True story.