(Updated Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.)

Welcome to the first of what we hope will be many "Earth Day Hypocrisy Awards" here at EnviroWonk.

The title of these special awards if fairly self-explanatory. Below you'll find a list of examples from today that demonstrate just how much of a gold mine Earth Day has become on the irony and hypocrisy front. We're looking particularly at elected officials and federal agencies, but no one is immune today.

In recognition of their efforts, we're giving out between 1 and 10 trees for each example, based in large part on how much we either laughed or cringed when the story came to our attention. But these aren't just regular trees that we're giving away -- in the spirit of the day, they're rhetorical trees.

Be sure to check back later today and tomorrow as we update this list. Happy Earth Day.

To President George W. Bush, for planting a tree ... in New Orleans ... without laughing. Only 249,999 trees to go before we fix that Katrina mess. 9 Rhetorical Trees.

To the Department of Transportation, for announcing an accelerated schedule for auto manufacturers to reach the mandated fuel-efficiency goal of 35 miles per gallon by 2020. Under today's proposal, new cars and trucks must achieve 31.6 mpg by 2015. This is encouraging news, but it doesn't erase the fact DOT and the Bush Administration fought against the new CAFE standards in last year's Energy Bill. 5 Rhetorical Trees.

To Sen. John McCain, for saying in an Earth Day statement that "We must have the courage to realistically confront the specter of climate change. This is one of the greatest challenges confronting the next president." This is also probably a good time to point out that McCain earned a zero percent score for 2007 from the League of Conservation Voters. 8 Rhetorical Trees.

To the Washington Post and washingtonpost.com, for publishing a somewhat-tongue-in-cheek essay on the death of Earth Day, in which Hank Stuever blames the day's demise on, among other things, "A long but admirable struggle with celebrity piety and corporate baloney, mainly. But specifically? Too many 'green' issues of too many magazines ... Pop stars getting on their private jets to go speak on behalf of the polar ice caps ..."

Cute, except the essay appeared in the "Green Section" of washingtonpost.com, which of course launched today. We especially liked the Post's press release: "To introduce this section, washingtonpost.com, Slate magazine and Sprig are bringing together actor Edward Norton, global warming activist and producer of Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, Laurie David ... author Bill McKibben, scientists, economists and their own distinguished editors for a week long, live discussion series online.

Sounds like Earth Day is alive and well to us. 6 Rhetorical Trees.

To the U.S. EPA, and in particular agency Administrator Stephen Johnson, mostly for this video. If you look closely, you can almost see the strings that the White House has attached to Johnson. They're most obvious when the administrator talks about the new "stringent" ozone standards. Thanks for keeping us safe, Steve. 7 Rhetorical Trees.

To the Beaumont Enterprise, a small daily in Texas, and reporter Rose Ybarra. This isn't really a recognition of hypocrisy, but Ybarra's Earth Day preview story wins the award for "Most Bitter Reporter," thanks to this fantastic lead: "Apathy once again will describe the overall tone of Earth Day in Southeast Texas, just like last year." Cheer up, Rose. Please. 2 Rhetorical Trees.

To Sen. Dick Lugar (R-IN), for talking a big game at yesterday's Foreign Relations Committee meeting on proposed deforestation and climate change policy. "I believe carbon sequestration and many other innovative ideas can change the dynamic of the political debate on climate change, both in the United States and internationally," Lugar said. He also talked a lot about the 604-acre Lugar family farm, and how his "majestic" black walnut trees absorb and store carbon from the air around Indianapolis.

Lugar's four most recent scores from the League of Conservation Voters: 53%, 19%, 4% and 12%. 6 Rhetorical Trees.

To Universal Studios, for sending us a press release yesterday about their new environmentally-friendly attraction, "The Simpsons Ride." Using a "green conversion process," Universal says the new ride will achieve a power savings of over 55,233 watts per hour. So basically, you're using efficient electric motor drives and saving yourself a lot of money. Forgive us if we're not blown away by the altruism.

Look, we're glad you're trying to save electricity. But if the attraction really is "ushering in a new era of environmentally conscious theme park ride construction," then why isn't there one mention of this on the ride's web page? 4 Rhetorical Trees.