August 28, 2005

A thought on gas mileage

James Taranto does the wonderful "Best of the Web Today" every weekday. Last Friday he printed a thoughtful comment from one of his readers:
Make SUV, Not War--II
Our item yesterday about hysterical opposition to sport-utility vehicles brought this thoughtful comment from reader David Bookstaber:
I must admit I hate SUVs. I think they are obnoxious and dangerous compared with lower, lighter cars, and I believe relatively few SUV owners use the cargo, towing, and off-road features that would justify their expense. But still, this anti-SUV hysteria misses the mark.

Rank the following groups according to their guilt in keeping us dependent on foreign oil:
  • People who choose to drive an SUV that gets 15 miles a gallon instead of a sedan or wagon that gets 25 miles a gallon.
  • People who choose to live 10 miles from where they work each day instead of five miles.
  • People who choose to commute to work in private cars instead of on public transportation.
  • People who choose to heat and cool a 5,000-square-foot house when they could maintain a 2,500-square-foot-house with the same number of rooms.
  • People who choose to fly overseas for vacations instead of going to a local retreat.
  • People who oppose nuclear power plants.
I don't believe the SUV owners are at the top of the list. And my guess is that many of the SUV haters won't countenance somebody questioning their decisions to live where they want, in what they want, or to vacation when and where they want, even though on net those decisions probably consume more oil than an individual decision to drive an SUV.

I would also wager that the anti-SUV crowd has a large intersection with the anti-nuclear-power crowd. which, amusingly, also intersects with the pro-Kyoto treaty crowd. You just can't win with some people.
Indeed.
Makes you think... It is not just the limousine liberals, it's what every person can do. The alignment of the anti-nuke crowd with the pro-Kyoto (and the whole "peak-oil" crowd is in there too) is delicious. Posted by DaveH at August 28, 2005 11:06 PM