Less than a week before the Democratic National Convention, the
convention committee has overspent and underplanned, though they deny
both. As of mid-August, with less than two weeks before Democrats
convene in Denver to nominate Senator Barack Obama, the
construction of the stage at Invesco field had not been completed and many predict labor will continue down to
the wire.
Bad planning and tight funds may be part of the problem, but the
biggest obstacle is the Democrats’ priorities. Since the early
planning stages, the DNCC has been more interesting appearing green
than getting things done. The result has been a PR effort rather
than a practical example of stewardship and a convention committee
more interested in appearing environment-friendly than being
cost-effective.
While the DNCC splurged and has enjoyed working at their posh,
rented office space in Denver for $100,000 a month, they didn’t
hesitate to put tight restrictions on other businesses. In June,
the Greening Task Force of the Denver Host Committee developed
“Lean ‘N Green” guidelines for local caterers and restaurants
participating in the convention (but not for themselves). Among the
restrictions: Dishes served during the four-day period include
three of five specific colors, the food grown locally or
organically, and cannot be fried.
The double-standards began a year ago last summer when the DNCC
hired Andrea Robinson to be their Director of Greening to make
their convention as green as possible. Robinson was also the “Green
Manager” for Live Earth, the event last summer that used more
energy in its 24-hour duration than over 3,000 people use in one
year.
While DNCC encouraged bloggers from all over the country to
attain credentials and travel to Denver to blog the convention
(thus emitting CO2), their Republican counterparts encouraged
bloggers to obtain credentials but also acquired the services of Ustream.TV — allowing
bloggers to view the proceedings via live streaming from their own
living rooms.
But the Republicans aren’t broadcasting their greenness. The
Rocky Mountain News reported House Speaker Nancy Pelosi helped
launch an initiative within the DNCC’s green efforts called the
“Green Democratic Challenge.” Delegates attending the convention
are challenged “to buy offsets for the carbon footprint they’ll
leave by traveling and staying in the metro area” and are
encouraged to purchase an offset from Native Energy, a firm located
in Oregon and Colorado, for about $7.50.
A carbon offset is a way of balancing one’s carbon footprint
through funding projects like wind farms that reduce greenhouse gas
emissions. Native Energy’s website explains: “Basically, carbon offsetting involves
helping someone to do something that they wouldn’t otherwise have
done, that results in less CO2 emissions than would have happened
had you not helped them to do it.”
The DNC also has a carbon calculator on their convention website
which delegates are supposed to use to track their footprint. The
calculator does not allow for travel to and from all cities, so
it’s not entirely accurate, but if I use an alternative carbon calculator to estimate the
carbon footprint of the DNCC’s Convention Conversations (a series of 10
forums that occurred over the course of this last year about the
convention across the Rocky Mountain Region), the numbers are
interesting. This last January, DNCC head Leah Daughtry traveled to
Las Vegas for one of the “conversations.” If she took just two
staff members with her and traveled by air from Denver, the total
air emissions would have been 1.47 metric tons of CO2.
That’s probably fewer miles than Al Gore logs on his jet, but it
still amounts to preaching green while polluting tons. Will the
staff of the DNCC be purchasing carbon offsets for their own
travel, or will they just expect those attending the convention to
do so? It’s not easy seeming green.
