Bloomberg Titled “Worst Individual Polluter” in Office

NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg

New York is a relatively green place and most New Yorker’s carbon footprints are tiny. However, our Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, who has received a ton of praise for his environmental agenda, might be the worst individual polluter to hold public office, according to the New York Times.

Times columnist Jim Dwyer attacks Bloomberg for his usage of his fleet of personal aircraft, including a helicopter and two Falcon 900 jets. Bloomberg uses these often, to go to Washington DC, weekend vacations to Bermuda, as well as lengthier voyages, like his upcoming trip to Copenhagen, where ironically, he will be discussing climate change. In that flight alone, Bloomberg and his crew will be producing 37 times the amount of carbon dioxide than they would if they flew commercially.

Bloomberg’s wasteful ways have come under fire before as well. He has been known to be chauffeured in an SUV from his Upper East Side townhouse to the subway. Who takes a car to the subway??

The Times notes that Bloomberg’s environmental hypocrisy isn’t out of the ordinary, because in general, “[h]uman beings will produce as many tons of carbon emissions as they can afford.” But then again, we’re talking about the guy who banned trans fat and mandated the display of nutritional information at fast food joints, but has been caught munching on artery-clogging Cheez-Its and is known to salt his bagels “like a pretzel.”