Hot Rods... who doesn't like them? Here's something ironic:

Aside from lead additives in fuel, what do you think has more energy impact on the planet?

A) The exhaust from a vintage car.
B) The design, production and subsequent disposal of catalytic converters, and all of the exotic metals inside them, on newer vehicles.

I don't know the answer. But when you start to wrap your brain around it, and think in terms of total energy, you start to see how penny-wise and dollar-stupid some of our approaches to natural resources really are.

Anyway, it's late and I have said far too much already. Have a good night, or rest of the day as the case may be!

 

First, I don't think he was referring to majority view of hybrid owners, but that of typical mainstream America.

Most Americans are "in the middle"... this means they don't wake up in the morning wondering if ice caps are melting that day. They wonder if they'll be able to save up enough money for a new family vehicle that they can afford the payment, insurance, and cost of gas for their daily commute to replace their 10 year old car that is constantly breaking down. They might be frustrated by smog, but know that its more comfortable to sit in a vehicle with filtered climate control, than to walk, bike or ride the bus while breathing the smog outside. They see the buzz about hybrids, but realize they are either impractical to their needs (EG: Honda Insight), and/or are too expensive for their budget.

My 1962 VW Bug had not only no airbag, but also no seatbelts, no collapsing steering column, almost no safety features in the design whatsoever. Sure it would be shortsighted of people to buy the cheaper car and risk dying in an accident unnecessarily, but many would do so because they had no other alternative.

Blaming the "average american" isn't the answer... they can try to change some little things in their daily lives, but in the end they realize there is only so much they can do individually and that their individual economic needs, practicality, and quality of life needs to be satisfied. If the automakers don't step up, the result is on their shoulders (or the shoulders of government)

It is up to the manufacturers to create viable, marketable vehicles that meet customers needs, and are still globally responsible. Witness Honda with the short-lived Accord Hybrid! It looks like a very fun and nice car to drive, but what were they thinking?!

Imagine if Toyota decided that all of their 2009 vehicles (including the big trucks, SUVs, and little Scions), would be Hybrid or other clean fuel, and offered no alternative, but still had price points from the affordable range to the near-luxury range? Nobody would switch away from Toyota en-masse, quite the contrary, it would generate all kinds of press, and they'd get a lot of new interested buyers. (and probably other automakers would copy them)

This is what needs to happen.

-Shawn

 

I didn't buy my TCH for the environmental reasons. It was purely FE decision. And enough about this "save the planet" bull. The planet is fine. The planet will be fine. There's nothing we humans can do to kill the planet. The planet survived worse calamities than humans and sprang back with greater biodiversity than ever. When we say "save the planet" what we are actually saying is "keep the planet suitable for human habitation." "Save the planet" is not an altruistic sentiment at all. It's a supremely human-centric, selfish sentiment. Even when greenies decry wide-spread extinctions in far-off lands, they cite reasons like how some of them could have provided cures for human diseases. In the end, it's all about us, not the planet, so please, no more sanctimoius phrases like "save the planet."

 

What in the hell are you doing on a GREEN site then? I mean, you get what GREEN means, right?

Maybe this is some bizzaro GREEN site, where you don't give a fork about the planet at all, but you actually plot to destroy it.

Look around you. No, wait, you can't, for you have eyes, but can not see, right?

 

Actually...from what I understand, by 2010, Toyota plans on having their entire fleet hybrid. Now, this was told to me by several Toyota employees, so it could be just hyperbole. I hope it's not.

 

I don't care what kind of preacher you claim to be but talking like that on any forum is not what a real relegious man does period!!!!

 

Actually, it's what the REAL preachers sound like, when they are 'off stage'. I just don't hide who I am. A person. Who likes SCRUBS. Who listens to METALLICA. Who is pierced.

I am as I said I am: The preacher your mother warned you about.

Funny. Most people think preachers are too high and mighty. If you think I'm not too holy, then more power to me, since I never want to be as 'holy' as Pat Robertson. Or that dude from Colorado who preached against gay sex and drugs, yet was caught up in both.

Talking like what, BTW? I said nothing that is not in the Bible. Read it some day. FILLED with 'dirty' words, it is.

 

Uh, because I have TCH and I am interested in issues that concern TCH as a vehicle. Look around and check out most of the threads here. Most of them are not about environmental issues. Most of the threads are about other normal vehicle issues. Some are even seemingly trivial issues like bigger wheels. For someone claiming that I cannot see, it's rather ironic that you apprently have not noticed that.

 

To whit, you have not noticed that I already brought that simple fact to light, vis a vie, the lack of greenness about this site...


This 'Green' site is hardly green at all. From having spent some time around it, (mostly reading, not posting), I find the site rather un green.

If I wanted to just discuss the HyCam, there are sites a plenty for that. I came here, via a link, thinking that it would be a GREEN site, with a lot more emphasis on GREEN.

 

So... You are ranting about my no-so-green self posting in a forum you have admitted is not-so-green as being out of place? Certainly, logic is not your strong suit.

Earth survived a catastrophic meteor impact and extinction of dinosaurs. It can certainly weather us. But if you like, substitute meteor impact with the Biblical great flood if that suits your preacher sensibilities.