Environmental Stewardship -energy savings, etc?

[vern_humphrey]

This is what bothers me about the environmental movement. Instead of encouraging people to take responsibility for their lives, their role in the environment, too many people want Big Brother to come in and monitor us and dictate to us the minutia of daily living.

It’s called the “Holier than Thou” syndrome – the people who push “environmentalism” at the top levels jet around in chartered planes, own huge houses, and do everything they accuse others of. It’s antinomialism with a vengence, the belief that they are so holy that anything they do is holy.

Most intelligent people are going to try to lead more energy efficient lives, to conserve gasoline and drive only when necessary, to be less wasteful of water and other resources, if for no other reason than it saves them money!

Yes – the marketplace will solve the problem – no self-glorifying preaching or tax policy needed.

It’s interesting that you bring up the lightbulb issue, Melensdad. I got my latest copy of Vegetarian Times today and there were two letters to the editor from people concerned about mercury going into our landfills from those lightbulbs. I didn’t even realize that was an issue.

Many “green” issues are counter-productive. They don’t think it through – they just demand everyone get on board with simplistic solutions.

 

[Texas_Roofer]

I thought it might help to do some math for the group, let’s look at a SUV driven instead of a Camry. If we set the life of the automobiles at 350,000 miles. And set the SUV at 17.5 miles/gallon. And set the Camry at 35 miles/gallon. Let’s use 7 pounds as the weight of gasoline per gallon. The Camry will turn 70,000 lbs of fuel into pollution over the life of the car. The SUV will turn 140,000 lbs of fuel into pollution. So again what is the justification for an individual to produce 140,000lbs ( 70 tons) of pollution which he releases to his neighbors to breath? Some justifications will be adequate, however most are not.

 

[KathleenElsie]

I thought it might help to do some math for the group, let’s look at a SUV driven instead of a Camry. If we set the life of the automobiles at 350,000 miles. And set the SUV at 17.5 miles/gallon. And set the Camry at 35 miles/gallon. Let’s use 7 pounds as the weight of gasoline per gallon. The Camry will turn 70,000 lbs of fuel into pollution over the life of the car. The SUV will turn 140,000 lbs of fuel into pollution. So again what is the justification for an individual to produce 140,000lbs ( 70 tons) of pollution which he releases to his neighbors to breath? Some justifications will be adequate, however most are not.

Snow that is not cleared on our rural roads for up to two weeks. The creek and ford down the road that requires the weight and height of the SUV. Seven members in the family and the ability to pull a trailer that carries home repair items etc.

Can anyone else add to my list?

 

[melensdad]

Snow that is not cleared on our rural roads for up to two weeks. The creek and ford down the road that requires the weight and height of the SUV. Seven members in the family and the ability to pull a trailer that carries home repair items etc.

Can anyone else add to my list?

First off, I don’t think we are morally obligated to justify our choices to “Texas Roofer” nor do I think most gas powered vehicles have anything close to a 350,000 mile life span, and as the owner of 2 truck fleets and 1 fleet of company cars I certainly do not expect much over 150,000 mile life span out of gas powered vehicles before maintainence costs skyrocket. Sometimes we get lucky and get over 200k, but that is the exception.

But as long as you are making a list, how do you value the safety of your family into the equasion? A 4000lb SUV with a 4 or 5 “star” safety rating is going to withstand greater impact than a 2500lb car with the same “star” safety rating. And last time I checked, the CCC stated we are responsible for protecting our lives and the lives of those in our care.

Texas Roofer already stated that SOME people have legitimate rights to have SUVs and conferred his “blessing” to Vern’s wife for having one, and even for driving alone

I use mine to haul supplies for my job, and also because I live in a rural area well outside of plowed roads and often drive through flooded roads that would stop a car* (one reason why I traded my car in for an SUV).* I also carpool the kids to school, something that would be difficult to do in a smaller vehicle given that I also carry supplies for my job, in fact I wish mine was a bigger SUV because I often have to make special trips because I can’t fit the kids & my work stuff into the vehicle at the same time.

I wonder if we simply changed the name of the SUV to “modern station wagon” if people would still get their undies in a bunch? Last time I checked, the “Vista Cruiser” of the 1970’s was the people/cargo hauler of its day, and got correspondingly poor gas mileage then. And most SUVs today are actually morphing into “crossover” vehicles with lower profiles and better gas mileage as few of us actually leave paved roads.

So do we turn the clock back and tell all the “Vista Cruiser” owners they destroyed our lives, polluted our air, and should therefore go to hell along with the modern SUV owners?

And where to JEEP Wrangler owners fit in? Or what about people who drive 2 seat cars, they certainly are not hauling around goods or car-pooling to reduce air pollution.

Personally I find some of the allegations here to be totally offensive. What gives someone the right to judge?

My vehilce fits my needs and my usage, for anyone to take a holier than thou attitude about my vehicle, or make any blanket statements about others who drive similar vehicle, to me is just stupid. Sorry if some don’t like my opinion, but it is mine and I don’t care if some folks don’t like it. Let’s see them try to get to my house in their Camrys after a snowfall for a day or two (or longer) before the county road crews get out to where we live, or after a heavy rain when the bridge and the road is flooded out. Heck we use our tractors to push cars off the road so people with 4x4s can get through in case of emergency. On my street I don’t think there is one house that does not have AT LEAST 1 4x4 SUV or truck. I guess we are all going to hell for that. Maybe we should ban people from living/working in rural areas? If we all lived in the cities we could ride the solar powered mono-rails and live in high rise buildings with living “green” roofs too.

I do what I can to CUT my energy uses, my home’s windows have high-tech solar film to reduce heat loss and summer heat gain. We have very good insulation, and a high efficiency furnace. We have the highest SEER rated AC unit that was available at the time the house was built. I use CF lightbulbs to reduce energy use . . . but question if they are actually any “greener” than regular bulbs because of the mercury issue. And I am sick of people jamming their eco-wacko opinions down my throat.

 

[Sheeniac]

A few points I’d like to make:

1. I thought I was the only one who has the CFC bulbs burn out quickly! They last nowhere as long as they are supposed to.
2. Do the CFCs take more energy to turn on and off rather than leave on? Perhaps it was that, or the fact that it shortens their life… You can read so much it all gets jumbled.
3. Just because I see someone driving an SUV solo to work doesn’t mean they don’t put it to “full use” other times. I drive a mid-size car (before that I had a compact/sub-compact) and I don’t get judgmental about the vehicular usage of others.
4. Camry gets 35 mpg? We’ll see when the new results come out this year. My subcompact regularly beat the mpg predictions (it was stick), and my Solara (2001, so was sold as a Camry Solara) gets nowhere near the gas mileage as advertised.
5. White flight - how insulting. I lived 10 years in Chicago (in some very diverse areas) and now live in the far “suburbs” (former rural area). I moved for many reasons, but not one was to get away from people of different races. I find it borderline insulting for others to assume that’s why I left. And I’m single, and have my own house. I realize that people don’t mean to be insulting here, but they are in some of what they post.