Of all the candidates, Arizona's Senator John McCain talks a good green game, but in effect, has one of the least environmentally friendly records. The non-partisan League of Conservation Voters releases annual score cards for every member of Congress, and for the past two years, John McCain has scored a big, fat zero, due to not showing up for any of the votes that LCV considered environmentally significant - including those having to do with the future of clean energy in the U.S. and saving Americans money at the gas pump. McCain, like his opponent Barack Obama, acknowledges the link between human activity and global warming, and supports reducing emissions by cap and trade - whereby companies have a certain number of permits (like credits) for their annual output of greenhouse gas emissions, and can buy and sell extra permits from each other. McCain wants to use the cap and trade system to reduce emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and further reduce by 60 percent emissions levels by 2050 (Obama wants to further reduce by 80 percent). As with any other candidate, we like to look at how they live, or put their money where their mouth is. In the Senator's case, the money is substantial, but unlike, say, billionnaire Warren Buffet, who lives in the same house he bought for $31,000 in Omaha, Nebraska (albeit he owns a private jet), it appears that there is nary a house or car that John McCain has mouthed "no" to.
Bling-Master Flash: The McCain real estate portfolio includes eight properties that cost over $13 million in total and add up to 21,800 square feet of interior living space:
1. A 15-acre, $1 million 2,500 square foot ranch getaway along a desert creek in Sedona, Arizona, with a 900 square foot guesthouse and a caretaker's house
2. A $5 million-plus, 7,000 square foot main residence in downtown Phoenix with a waterfall, concierge service and biometric finger readers for security
3. On a lower floor in the same building, 2,000 square foot unit
4. Yet another Phoenix three-bedroom 1,904 square feet apartment that cost $700,000
5. Three beachfront apartments in California, one $963,00, two-bed, two-bath, two-car 1,429 square footer in La Jolla and ...
6. Two in Coronado, a $2.6 million, three-bedroom, eight-floor 1,750 square feet ocean-viewer that's six floors above a ...
7. $2.1 million, 2,250 square foot, three-bedroom bay-viewer
8. An $847,000 three-bedroom, 2,100 square feet apartment in Arlington, Virginia that has climate-controlled access to the Metro.
Since the average American home is 1,700 square feet, McCain's 21,800 square feet of residences account for about 12 times the emissions of the average person, per Carbonfund.org. At about 14 pounds per square foot per year, McCain is responsible for about 138 metric tons of carbon dioxide a year - no small beans. (That number could be way higher when accounting for their high-end amenities that could bump up energy usage, like HD TVs, Sub Zero freezers and other top-line appliances.) "He has eight houses spewing CO2 when the average American is struggling to hold on to one," says Eric Carlson, executive director of Carbonfund.org. On the minor plus side, the décor in the McCain's Sedona retreat is folksy Americana, a look best achieved by reusing family-owned or purchased antique and vintage pieces.
Driven to Tears: Senator McCain sure has a lot of cars! Twelve, to be specific, that range from gas-guzzling to electric, vintage to recently purchased. Says Carbonfund.org's Carlson: "MPG factor doesn't seem to be behind a lot of his purchases."
1. McCain's car of choice, the only one listed under his name as opposed to wife Cindy's, is a 2004 Cadillac CTS sports wagon, has been called "boring," and its mileage isn't that exciting either: 18 MPG in the city and 26 MPG on the highway.
2. 2005 Volkswagen convertible (25 MPG city/30 MPG highway)
3. 2001 Honda sedan (20/28)
4. 2007 Ford half-ton pickup truck (avg 19/24)
5. 2001 GMC SUV, a Lexus owned by Cindy's family's beer distributorship
6. 2008 Jeep Wrangler (17/19)
7. 2000 Lincoln (avg 14/21)
8. A vintage 1960 Willys Jeep (10/17).
9. A Toyota Prius Hybrid
10., 11., 12. Three 2000 bubble-shaped golf-cart-like cars, or neighborhood electric vehicles (NEVs) by Global Electric Motorcars, that run on batteries.
While gas consumption is of high concern for many Americans right now, this doesn't seem to be a personal worry for McCain. There is no way of knowing how far the vehicles are driven each year, but as a rule of thumb, gasoline emits about 19.5 pounds of CO2 per gallon. In aggregate, the footprint of such an astonishing number of vehicles - each of which has a manufacturing and carbon-emissions impact on the environment - is without question higher than the average American, if not unrivalled by anyone except perhaps Jay Leno. Plus, McCain has a fondness for riding ATVs, an environmentally harmful recreational vehicle that leads to land erosion, laying open trails that can encourage the proliferation of invasive plant species, and driving away indigenous animals because of noise pollution. Finally, flying from Phoenix Washington, D.C. is responsible for 1.93 tons of carbon dioxide round-trip.
Food for Thought: Seafood and barbequed beef are high on the Senator McCain's menu, especially at Pusser's Caribbean Grille, which he frequents when in Annapolis, MD visiting his son Jack at the US Naval Academy (McCain himself is a fourth-generation graduate). Favorite foods include shrimp, which "if Senator McCain is eating the kind of shrimp that most people eat, he's probably contributing to the decimation of coastal mangroves in Asia, the estuaries, or marine nurseries, for thousands of species," says author of The Ethical Gourmet, Jay Weinstein. "He - and we all - should be choosing domestic Florida pink shrimp or West Coast Spot prawns. Those are the sustainable ones." McCain's penchant for pepperoni and baby back ribs is "supporting some swine-like practices of the American pork industry. Unlike pork from a small humane farm or cooperative like Niman Ranch, U.S. hogs are raised so cruelly confined that they can't turn around, and are surrounded by toxic waste lagoons that foul waterways and cause coastal fish kills," says Weinstein. Enchiladas are another McCain go-to-food, and if they are "cheese-laden, and not organic," says Weinstein, "he's eating dairy laced with recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone to increase milk production, requiring mega-dosing with antibiotics that end up in the milk, too." The truth about food can be hard to stomach, but perhaps McCain knows more about such industrial toxic byproducts than we think. Note his barbequing strategies for chicken, tenderloin, burgers and ribs, as shared with HGTV: "The slower they're cooked, the better they're going to be and the more impurities you get out of them."
Bottom Line: Senator John McCain and his wealthy wife have a footprint many times larger than the average American, and the largest among the presidential and vice-presidential candidates by far. To paraphrase from a popular book often referred to during campaign season: It is unfortunately easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter (eco) heaven. Translation: Mo' money means mo' carbon footprint (sorry). Some folks may retort that being environmentally friendly should not have to mean discouraging the American way of life, of property and wealth acquisition, and that being pro-environment should not be equated with anti-capitalism. True, that, but there is an antipathy for both parties toward excess, if only because it widens the gulf of relatability between candidates and constituents. Unfortunately, conspicuous consumption may be particularly ill-timed right now (lifestyle image being of concern to politicians, after all): Before last month, would we have been able to link global credit-crisis-triggered recession (too much stuff bought with borrowed money) with global warming (too much carbon dioxide - from producing too much stuff - reflecting heat back to Earth)? Maybe not. Stuff we don't need - in Senator McCain's case, square footage and wheels - leads to an end stage that we can't get rid of without poisoning or choking our air, water, wildlife and earth. Mo' bummer.