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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
What a self-serving twit you sound like. I actually ready your SUB piece and thought, "Cool. Dude may actually be putting his money where his mouth is."
But clearly the fact that you have CHILDREN (OMG - children! Space Hogs of the Universe! All of them at least 12 feet tall and festooned with chunky accoutrements!) excuses you from buying - listen up, Dude, because this is the unvarnished truth - a Gas Guzzling SUV.
Pieces like this are the reason I can't believe I still read salon.com
DUMP YOUR SUV AND HELP SAVE OUR PLANET.
OK, so this is straying pretty far from the original topic, but:
And ultimately once you bought a charcoal grill any claims of environmental responsibility were lost
OK, I've never understood this one. Charcoal grills burn charcoal, which is in effect wood. When the tree that wood came from grew, it sequestered some atmospheric carbon. When you burn it, you release most of that carbon back into the atmosphere. Roughly zero-sum, you're not adding anything to the carbon cycle. Gas grills while probably more energy-efficient, burn a fossil fuel. Any carbon they release into the atmosphere adds to the overall free carbon in the world: not zero-sum.
Admittedly charcoal produces more particulates, but from a carbon footprint point of view I just don't understand the charcoal haters. Can someone enlighten me?
People seem to have a lot of pent-up anger about one man's slightly humorous search for a car.
It's odd how the mini-van lost out in the "use of space" comparison, because generally speaking, they are just amazingly designed for safety and day-to-day hauling.
And also, I think the issue isn't Miles per year, it's Miles per PERSON...if the only time he fires up his automobile is for hauling an entire family around, what's it to ya?
And for all those jack-offs complaining about breeders, they should try to fit 2 car seats and a friend into ANY car that doesn't have a third row. Impossible and unfair to the people involved. There's also safety requirements for children up to 7-8 years old with respect to car seats, and we can't just "throw a bunch of kids" in the back of a sedan or station wagon - it's illegal and quite unsafe. Each human being in a car deserves the benefit of a safety belt or safety device like a car seat.
I liked this article, even though it could've been fleshed-out some more with details about how the comparison between 2 cars was made.
You bought a big vehicle for particular reasons. So be it. But please take the responsibility of paying for the invisible costs.
1. Buy carbon offsets for every year you use this vehicle.
2. Get behind a gas tax in an active way--this is the biggest single key to environmental responsibility, but politicians simply can't/won't take the lead to bring it about. (Even John McCain once acknowledged the wisdom of this, in a time long ago and a galaxy far away . . .) Citizens are going to have to take the initiative.
Gas tax. Gas tax. Gas tax.
And by the way: you owe it to fellow drivers to be as polite as you can on the roads. Because oversized cars that make it impossible to tell if it's safe for me (in my compact car) to turn at an intersection are a big fat pain in the ass.
I recently leased an SUV. One of these days I'll even learn how to drive it.
I've been riding public transportation, bicycles and walking my entire adult life, but I finally had to bite the bullet for personal reasons.
Those of you arguing about which vehicle is the greater planet raper don't appear to understand how many things are fundamentally wrong with the automobile.
At this point, the damage is done and we have been given no practical alternative. Believe me, after 20 years of riding the bus, I know what I'm talking about. The so-called alternatives to the automobile are pretty much made bankrupt by the damage done to our society by cheap fuel and private transport.
The author of this article has done no great harm with his purchase. He at least is trying to accomplish something with the meager choice offered. The chorus of deck-chair rearrangers attempting to shout him down should discourage anyone who cares about our future and our environment.
"It's all about dick size." (SUV vrs mini-van)
Yup. It sure is. I hate to admit it, but, had_enough, you are absolutely right.
And that is why I drive a Ford F-250 Club-cab 7.3L Powerstroke diesel pickup truck that weighs 7,800 pounds, empty, and cost over $40,000, new. It leaves a carbon footprint like a mastadon, but it's 525 foot pounds of torque give me shivers of delight that make my unit hard as good steel. It's sorta like Viagra without the pill.
I guess I'd hate myself, sometimes, for driving a beast like mine, that only gets 12 mpg when I'm pulling a trailer full of motorcycles. But when it comes to raw power and penis size, well, it's first things first! I mean, you can just imagine the size of MY Johnson once I get my truck running across Nebraska on I-80, pulling 5,000 pounds of cargo at 79mph. Just please don't tell maureenodonnell, okay?
When it comes to being green, we're all probably still a little hypocritical at times. That's what many of the letters today point out, while at the same time trying to cut off Mark's you-know-whats. I have a feeling we'll make progress with doing more with less, but probably too slowly as the Earth's resources decline under the pressure of our ever increasing numbers. (Come on, really. Isn't population the real problem?)
As for me, I have a feeling I may never be man enough to move up to a Cooper Mini. But that doesn't mean we can't banish Mark Benjamin to a land where everyone drives goats.
Who cares if minivans are lame? Face it - YOU are now part of the hordes of overconsumers pushing this planet over the brink of global warming. When things start falling apart and your children are faced with the consequences, at least you can tell them that mommy and daddy didn't drive them around in an unpopular car. YOU have now become part of the problem - congratulations.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
Salon headlines in your mailbox
