Nerve Endings Firing Away

“Visitors to the Gaia Napa Valley Hotel and Spa won’t find the Gideon Bible in the nightstand drawer. Instead, on the bureau will be a copy of “An Inconvenient Truth,” former Vice President Al Gore’s book about global warming” [source]. The hotel in question uses environmentally friendly measures in its operations such as waterless urinals, solar lighting and recycled paper in its effort to become California’s first ever ‘green’ hotel. If I am not mistaken, Orchid Hotel in Bombay also calls itself as a eco-tel and this was before green became fashionable although I am not sure how green it really is.

However this piece of news is liable to be spun by global warming skeptics as being anti-religion. The Bible is an ubiquitous feature in almost all hotel rooms across the United States. No one really knows the reason why although some religion-fearing individuals may consider it as a subtle proselytizing tool. If people knew how the Bibles are actually used, they may not put them there. Notice how jarring the headline of such a news item might appear (see title of this post). Why pit the Al Gore book against the Bible? ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ if you have seen or read the book is bascially a coffee table book made by printing images and text from the acclaimed documentary.

If you want your guests to read environmentally-friendly literature, why not put the book on the desk rather than the nightstand where it might be ignored? The Bible can stay in its regular nightstand place and continue to be ignored whereas the Al Gore book can be placed in a more prominent place. The climate change issue is already too heavily politicized and maybe more than it should be. Such news only ends up obfuscating the real issue and focuses on the wrong things.