Greener Than Thou is our report on San Francisco’s obsession with all things green, giving credit where credit is due and calling bullshit when the need arises. Feeling morally superior on the green front? Testify!
Wow. Gavin schooled staff writer Dana Goodyear's ass on San Francisco's green initiatives at the 2008 New Yorker conference, “Stories from the Near Future," in a rambling filibuster that had us wondering if he was even aware of her presence on stage. Highlights!:
GAVIN ON RECYCLING— Goodyear ended her introduction of Gavin by noting that his recycling initiative nets 70 percent. Gavin's opener: "70 percent isn't good enough," followed moments later by "that wasn't just a throwaway line."
GAVIN ON BOTTLED WATER— After waxing on the evils of bottled water, Gavin thanked Goodman for having a glass of water, not a bottle, at the ready next to his chair. Strategic.
GAVIN ON COMPOSTING— Quickly corrected self after transposing the words "cobustables" and "compostables." Waxed on schoolchildren "scraping their little pasta and beans" into compost bins, then returning the mix back to the school for use in gardens. Brief tangent on the slow food movement lifted verbatim from Alice.
GAVIN ON TOURISM— Said that tourists should forget about Coit Tower and the Golden Gate Bridge and instead visit the recycling center. Chamber of Commerce and Tourism: not happy.
GAVIN ON "PHOTO-OP" ENVIRONMENTALISM— Dismissed those politicians who pose for pictures, get "nice little headlines" and then go back to business as usual. Called for governments to talk the talk and walk the walk. We'll leave that one for the comment box.
Rather priceless, we do say— watch it here. Incidentally, where did Gavin score the slight southern twang, anyway?