LC

The business of space tourism is silly, and frankly almost destined to fail. The Spaceship-1 or X-1 craft might fly a number of time, and then CRASH and space tourism is in the same status as the post-Challenger or post-Columbian shuttle program.

LC

And the point is to conserve without reducing the standard of living. How must traction would Gore have if he demanded we all live in earth pits and straw houses like a certain brand of hippie would?

Gore is a very talented politician and as anyone should know "politics is the art of the possible".

Finally, it doesn't really matter what Gore does – except of course that if I thought you were actually right, it'd set a bad example – conservation and decreased carbon emission is still the right thing to do.

But, yeah, my initial thought was "what'll the emissions be", too. I'd certainly like to see some numbers. And it'd be nice to see the corresponding numbers for the US/World carpool.

That's what Al Gore implied from when he made Global warming into his political campaign tool.
You really thought they would give up mega yachts and exotic vacations to stop some starving kid in Brazil from drowning?
Its just so they can make even more money by selling new light bulbs and windmills to the masses (or maybe you thought GE sells those goods at a premium price out of the charity of its heart?).

At least with suborbital and space development the rich are inadvertently paying for things that will benefit the rest of us. Its more like a super rich man paying to find a cure for cancer just so he doesn't die from it.
To interrupt the constructive part of that process would be to the detriment of humanity.

I'm not sure I understand the "economy faltering" part, as new markets helps the economy. And the rich-poor perspective is independent of the market, so that question is meaningless in a specific context.

How much carbon will … add to the atmosphere?

Depends on the technique. Virgin will IIRC burn a rubber type material, but tries to go "green" – ideally you can make that from recyclable greens if you want. There are carbon free fuels as well.

The real problem is that aerosols and ozone scavenging chemicals will be added. But not enough to make a climate impact, at a guess.

With the world economy faultering and the taxes on working people going up will there be enough elite left to take these trips?

With coventions in Las Vegas being portayed as wasteful and almost criminal how will these expensive short little trips to the edge of space be viewed by the poor? It might be hard sell to those who can't afford bus fare to get to a minimum wage job.

We all need to conserve except the rich.