Well… he does have teenage children. But, that may not be the only reason California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is going green this Earth Day… on MTV. The actor-turned-politician is scheduled to appear tonight on the popular MTV show “Pimp My Ride.”
Before you let your imagination get the best of you, you should know that Schwarzenegger’s appearance is part of his latest promotion to boost his environmental agenda. (In other words he’s appearing on the show on Earth Day for a reason.) Schwarzenegger’s aides say their boss’s appearance on MTV is the latest move to generate attention to environmentally friendly actions. (You’ll remember Schwarzenegger made headlines last year when he signed a landmark global warming law.)
During tonight’s special Earth Day episode, show mechanics will convert a 1965 Chevy Impala into a four-wheeled “green machine” by installing an 800 horsepower engine that runs on biodiesel fuel and goes from zero to 60 mph in three seconds. Show mechanics say the converted car’s emissions of greenhouse gases will be 50 percent lower.
Sounds great, doesn’t it? Well, not to some environmentalists who say the governor’s appearance on the show sends the wrong message.
“At the end of the day, if we’re going to switch from guzzling gasoline to guzzling alcohol, we’re not going to solve our climate problems,” the deputy director of the clean vehicles program with the Union of Concerned Scientists recently told news reporters.
The quote refers to the fact that although biodiesel is considered cleaner than traditional gasoline, it is not a solution advocated by most scientists and environmentalists, who favor more fuel-efficient vehicles, like the ones driven by actors Ed Begley Jr. and Leonardo DiCaprio.
That said; you have to admit Schwarzenegger has come a long way since his days prior to becoming California’s governor. A few years ago he owned 8 gas-guzzling Hummers (which he has been credited for popularizing). Now he says he has reduced his Hummer fleet to four, two of which he says have since been converted to run on alternative fuel.
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