J. Harrison sez: Auto emissions can serve as my vehicle. That's hilarious! Yes, instead of spending their working on global solutions to the traffic problem in Minneapolis, all my tree-hugger friends have just been sitting around pedaling their bikes. Though folks may WANT to purchase their way out of this quagmire, doing less is truly the answer, though sexy it may not be.

The sad fact is that we have removed ourself from the larger natural world, yet are fully dependent on it not falling to pieces under our watch. In a larger sense it is simply an extension of the self-preservation skills that got us to this point... but now armed with more information about the consequenses of our actions. To try to derail this is (for whatever personal reasons the writer obviously harbors) is darwinism in action.

These posts are great! Salon... can we have more pointless articles by right-wing nut jobs?!??

I haven't read all these posts, so this may have mentioned already, but what's the deal with the author's framing every environmentalists' story as a biblical tale? People seem to have an issue with sorting out where their emotions come from... Can Al Gore really MAKE you feel guilty about your habits, or do you just feel guilty because something inside you gets triggered by the information you are taking in?

Any vegetarians here will know the drill. Tell a meat eater that their diet has 10x the impact on the environment (even though they asked) and they tend to get a bit defensive. Did you MAKE them feel guilty? Or does calling yourself an environmentalist whey you make choices in direct conflict to them just produce those feelings... then the need to rationalize your behavior so you don't feel like a hypocrite? Guilt is a useful tool that helps keep our society in balance. It comes from the inside...

I've been saying this (and pissing people off) for years: if you eat a meat-based diet then deal's off - just shut your yap about being an enviromentalist. You do NOT need to eat meat. It's a choice, just like the car you drive or how many lights are on in your house.

...so if the entire U.S. population went vegan, we'd reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by only 6 percent.

That's actually a pretty good number, especially since it asks you to simply avoid an action that can be easily avoided. Do that and take public transportation and now you're up to 15 percent. Lookin' good veggie boys and girls!

jedimaster nailed it - we should be way more concerned with candidates who believe everything they learned from a book (loosely translated from it's original language) which no one seems to agree on the messages found therein anyway... and then choose to make policy decisions based on guidance from invisible friends. Hell, Nancy was rescheduling Ronnie's meetings based on psychic predictions. There's something to be scared of.

Dennis saw something he can't explain. It moved him. Fair enough. This is why our polititians are scared to death to be real, fallable, beautiful people: one false move and the press will pounce.

I once saw a "cabbit" in northern Minnesota. Clear as day.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabbit

Great article! I was all over the Prius when it first came out and assumed we would buy one at some point. But in the end, simply not driving is cheaper and easier. The new SUV hybrids have successfully turned the whole hybrid concept into the ultimate greenwash. It's about time we get back to mid-80's fuel economy.

According to one Dirt Rag writer's experience, riding a bike gets you about 640 miles to the gallon (calories of food equivalent to calories in a gal. of gas). Cars are great tools, but not needed for most trips... so for every mile you transport yourself by bike (or foot) your car gets infinite mpg. Beetle? Escalade? Doesn't matter when it's sitting still.

It was clear that when the iPhone was released most folks didn't get it -- this thing has virtually no buttons and will become whatever the software turns it into! That said - and I personally have no problems with this - the only limitations will then be available space and the speed of the apps.

Why doesn't the iphone do video? Well, with only 8gb of space (or 4gb) it would fill up quicker than a clogged bathroom sink. How much do you want to bet that the video feature arrives on the heels of a 20 or 40gb model? But this is great, as it gives consumers the option to upgrade or not without being completely left in the dust. And we can only imagine what cards Apple is holding up their sleeve... Bring it on!!

One thing I have yet to read in print is the notion that each vehicle on the road is its own little power plant, burning it's fuel on-board and spewing it's own emissions into the air. Ethanol? Hydrogen? Same problem, except worse. In an age where CDs are becoming quaint, do you really want to purchase a vehicle that runs on an experimental (and ridiculous) fuel? Not me.

Electric vehicles solve one big problem by centralizing the power plant, where the source of the electricity can then be effectively controlled. Want a solar car? Charge your car using solar! Wind power can be purchased from many utilities around the country as well. 20 years from now your electric car may run on something we haven't even thought of.

And lastly - hats off to had_enough for telling like it is! Everything else is just a distraction.