As a guy that is a celebrity for being self-righteous and defiant about his transportation choices, I find it interesting how many people want to volunteer the fact that they are "considering" a hybrid vehicle to replace their current behemoths. I smile insincerely, as it is better than nothing, but the truth is that I'm not impressed.
Tonight I saw the clincher. "Support America: Get 40 Miles Per Gallon!"
I saw that gem on the bumper sticker of a hybrid in Lenexa. It was motoring along a feeder road to points further into the sprawl. Thanks to that handy hybrid, this lady could live a car dependent lifestyle with joy and ease, guilt covered by the 15 MPG improvement over the cars around her.
It seems that hybrids aren't so much selling fuel efficiency as much as they are selling a get-out-of-jail-free card for the buyer's conscience. In fact, some hybrids offer only marginal fuel economy gains. There are hybrid SUVs that get worse economy than most standard cars.
Driving a hybrid? Great, you are still driving and still creating pollution. Interestingly, in order for a hybrid to make economic sense, one must drive it more than average. I'm sure the sense of satisfaction that many buyers get from hybrids probably make them feel like they can drive it as much as they want without thinking about it. Hey, it's a hybrid!
For me, pollution and fuel consumption are only part of the reason I try to avoid driving. We're still obsessed with road construction, parking lots, car-centric development and massively scaled and sprawling communities. Saving 10 miles per gallon isn't going to fix that problem. Hybrids aren't going to fix Lenexa.
Instead of making ourselves feel better about driving, let's figure out how we can live without it.
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7 comments:
The obvious environmental aspect aside, there's also the fact that regular dependence on the private auto isolates you from the rest of the world, and encourages forsaking human interaction for large palatial residences in the middle of nowhere. In short, it's lame. The environmental factor is definitely important, but if somehow, all cars can be made clean, I still won't approve. It ruins our civilization to isolate people from each other, getting their fix of human interaction from American Idol.
Lisa and Brian have a hybrid. It all makes sense......
Nice to see you're still around, Staub. I completely agree with you. Hybrids are like western medicine, they only treat the symptoms. People will catch up. Well, that or the ice caps will melt triggering an irreversible climate change that humans won't be able to survive and we won't have to worry about it any more... :-)
Hope all's well in KC...
You have to realize that not everyone wants to or can live an automobile-free life. What if you have family in another city? What if you have to drive to another city to seek medical help? Give these people a break, small steps forward are better than moving backward.
bahua always makes sense. always.
one silver lining with hybrids-
they are an incremental technology that once sufficiently embraced, leads the way to the next level. this doesnt directly address the idea of easy motoring or over consumption - perhaps that will take care of itself anyway.
Re: the "Support America: Get 40 Miles Per Gallon!" bumper sticker...
You rail on the driver but fail to acknowledge that the driver isn't declaring hybrids as the solution. She's trying to communicate the belief of many that getting our average fuel efficiency over 40MPG would address several very critical SHORT-TERM problems we're facing.
The driver apparently wants to get over 40MPG, and opted for a hybrid as the means. Anything each individual can do to get us over the 40MPG threshold is a positive step forward. And railing on all hybrids because of the existence of the arguably somewhat non-sensical SUV hybrids is simplistic thinking.
If we don't address the tactical issues, there likely won't be a sufficient timeframe to allow for more strategic solutions.
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The fact that the driver was on the road when observed does not translate into he/she being a 24/7 road warrior -- any more than buying a hybrid *must* make strict economic sense, as some propose. Some people may be willing to take a relative economic loss in order to take baby steps towards a better way.
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