I guess that I really don't want to get into the us vs. them stuff, but I have a few comments.
1) My job requires me to carry a lot of expensive, fragile, and bulky equipment with me, to have the ability to go off road, to keep the equipment safe and secure, and to have the ability to transport a minimum of four adults.
So what options do I have??? Not many..I can't get by with a low powered vehicle, so I have to have something that resembles an SUV or a van. Unfortunately, the low bidder was Ford with their 12 MPG (on a good day) Expedition. I have friends with Suburbans and Tahoes that get over 20 MPG with a conservative driving style, but what else is available?
2) I am retired from a long career in Law Enforcement. I buy big cars because they survive crashes and believe me I've seen a lot of crashes...The fact that they pummel small cars is sad, but there is probably no change in sight in my lifetime, so I buy big cars. It's called physics.
3) Some of those big cars that I buy are old...My 48 year old car passes the ole GasPig almost every day, and my 66 year old car is about to be on the road again..Why old cars? Besides being cool, they cost less to insure, to buy, to register, to repair, and they don't depreciate. Plus you can modify them to be quick in corners or fast on the street or strip and to have all of the amenities that anyone could possibly want...Did I mention that they are cool??? And, I have stuck a probe into the tailpipe of every old car that I've built in the last twenty or twenty five years, and all of them were cleaner (emissions wise) than most modern cars.
There are no easy answers, but I
am highly incensed that the California legislature and the gov
saw fit to enact a law purported to reduce greenhouse gases when
scientists can not agree on what causes greenhouse gases, and
without looking at the output of industry (and dairy herds). To
me it is a move by those who think that government should run
everything to run even things that they don't understand...That's
what Hitler and Stalin (among others) sought to prove
Thadd
Thadd:
thanks for the email. chances are, with your equipment and the
need to go off-road, you would have bought some kind of utility
vehicle even if they weren't the latest fad, so much of this
website isn't aimed at you. in fact, it's really not meant to
insult or attack anyone because each of us has a different story.
it's more a reflection and photo documentary of a trend that's
gaining momentum, a trend that some of us feel anxious about. in
America, gas is cheap so we drive the biggest cars in the world.
suvs are outselling cars and most folks are driving them for the
prestige. kind of like having restaurant style kitchen appliances
at home cause you never know when you'll have 50 guests. for
every driver like you, there are ten other guys out there saying
"I drive this cause I'm adventure guy" ready for the
"big one" and Y2K..... it's out of control, and you're
right, those of us who want to choose smaller cars have to
consider that the roads are filling up with trucks two or three
times as heavy which compromises our safety significantly. think
of how many bad drivers there are out there who are now behind
the wheel of a three ton family truck. whew. maybe i should trade
in the accord for a truck.
regarding your other cars... old cars are cool, can't argue with
you there.
obviously, i was happy to hear about the new law to reduce
greenhouse gases that passed in california. we'll see if it
sticks. the technology exists to make cars and trucks a lot
cleaner. consumer demands and sometimes government pressure helps
to encourage auto makers to take cutting edge technology off the
back burner and to put it under the hood. if it leads to cleaner
vehicles that eat less gas, great! the money we dump into gas
would shift to US high tech firms who would be racing to make the
cleanest cars ever. ultimately, consumers would save money at the
pumps and have more for vacations, computers, or whatever. sorry,
i slipped into a pipe dream. but i don't think there's any group
in particular with the goal of total government control in mind.
consumer groups, tree huggers, all kinds of people have been
pushing for this law on a federal and state level. there are
already thousands of laws that govern our conduct, what we do,
what we eat, where we can drive, where we can't. i see it as a
product regulation more than a conspiracy to take control of us.
laws are passed every day.
scientists disagree about global warming and there will always be
a debate even if the statue of liberty is up to her neck in
water. check out scientific american, or discover magazine, or
national geographic, or just about any scientific journal. i
can't think of one reputable scientific journal that doesn't
recognize the human contribution to rapid global warming.
scientists are probably the strongest advocates for laws aimed at
reducing greenhouse gasses.
it's weird, rapid warming that leads to glacial and polar
melting, which starts immense rivers of icy water that flow into
the ocean. so perhaps the ultimate consequence of rapid warming
will be extreme cold... cold or hot, extremes aren't a good thing
for living organisms, like us.
wow... i'm rambling. thanks again for your email. i got your
other email too about the photo. i tried to blur parts of the
photos so people could only tell the make and model of the cars.
if there's something in the photo that identifies that it's
yours, let me know and i'll fix it.
all the best,
the Pig
www.gaspig.com
Thanx for the reply....
No problem with the picture..I thought that it was a bit humorous
that that could be my SUV !!!
Ciao