It's Called "Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth Is"

Al Gore, once criticized for touting the need to stop global warming and having an energy inefficient home has revamped his Nashville estate to be one of the most environmentally friendly modern homes around.

How did he do it?

The former vice president has installed solar panels, a rainwater-collection system and geothermal heating. He also replaced all incandescent lights with compact fluorescent or light-emitting diode bulbs -- even on his Christmas tree.

That's right. In fact:

"Short of tearing it down and staring anew, I don't know how it could have been rated any higher," said Kim Shinn of the U.S. Green Building Council, which gave the house its second-highest rating for sustainable design.

The best part, to me, is that he didn't just tear down the place to build the most environmentally friendly thing around. Part of being down with the environment is knowing that tearing down old stuff just to build new stuff isn't cool.

Good job, Mr. Gore.