Russia/Ukraine?

[Rogar]

There are a lot of "white sweaters" that are going to keep us from saving the planet.

I like the "white sweater" analogy. There was a time not so long ago when gas got expensive and it seems like the market for big SUVs sort of collapsed. People adjust their spending and travel habits and I'm not so sure at the time if they really missed their big SUV, or in the same sense they really didn't need their white sweater. It's too bad it takes a hit to the wallet for some, over a threat to the environment.

[LDAHL]

We seem to be entering a new period of vehicle shaming. There’s a guy at Slate who says if you bought a full size truck you must be OK with killing kids.

Personally, I think the people who keep getting doomsday predictions wrong are so down on carbon capture and nuclear fusion technologies that there’s probably something to them. It may be that our best policy could be listening to what John Kerry says as he jets around the globe and do the opposite.

[Teacher Terry]

Most people who drive suvs and trucks don’t need them. If we were remodeling and needed to transport big stuff we would rent a truck. Same with taking stuff to the dump. We fell out of love pretty quickly with our 27 ft motor home because it got 9 miles per gallon. It was cheaper to take our car and stay in motels on a trip than put gas in that thing and have me cook all our meals. Plus it’s faster to take the car as well as more comfortable to stay in a motel.

[Tradd]

You folks keep lumping SUVs all together. There are a lot of smaller SUVs that still get decent gas mileage. I know a number of seniors who drive the small crossovers because they like a higher vehicle that’s easier to get into. Heck, that’s one of the reasons I love my Escape besides the scuba gear hauling capacity.

I can well afford to pay the current gas prices. Just amazed how much they’re going up. At this time I’m not going to limit any driving. Don’t have any plans to dive until later in the month anyway. Come late April, I’m a diving fool.

[pinkytoe]

It is odd how old paradigms continue and people refuse to change or think differently until they have to.

[Tradd]

Too many of the members here are living in cushy retirement. Are you going to tell the struggling suburbanite who doesn’t have public transit available and is driving a 10 year old car that they’ve got to plunk down $30K (or whatever it is) for an electric car when they can’t afford the rising gas prices?

The sky is falling climate change types seem to have one hell of a disconnect with what normal struggling people are going through.

[Rogar]

Too many of the members here are living in cushy retirement. Are you going to tell the struggling suburbanite who doesn’t have public transit available and is driving a 10 year old car that they’ve got to plunk down $30K (or whatever it is) for an electric car when they can’t afford the rising gas prices?

The sky is falling climate change types seem to have one hell of a disconnect with what normal struggling people are going through.

I assume that the people who are struggling financially and have few other transportation options can still have gas efficient cars or limit unnecessary or frivolous pleasure travel in order to keep their costs down, which is OK by my standards. It doesn't have to be an expensive electric. I bike commuted 6 or 8 miles one way to work for probably a third or so of my working years and bikes are even cheaper. Again not everyone is so fortunate, but it's a real cost savings for those on limited budgets.

[Teacher Terry]

I feel sorry for people that have to drive a lot for work, kids, etc. We couldn’t limit our driving when in that stage of life but we always drove small cars even though there were 5 of us with the kids all being tall boys. It wasn’t often that all 5 of us were in one car and when we were the kids could be a little uncomfortable. Most the time one of the parents was driving the kids and one could sit in the front seat. Working families can’t afford electric cars and neither can I.

[catherine]

Too many of the members here are living in cushy retirement. Are you going to tell the struggling suburbanite who doesn’t have public transit available and is driving a 10 year old car that they’ve got to plunk down $30K (or whatever it is) for an electric car when they can’t afford the rising gas prices?

The sky is falling climate change types seem to have one hell of a disconnect with what normal struggling people are going through.

I specifically said that I'm not talking about people who are struggling. I do think choices are going to be thrust upon us at some point. The UN published the ICC Climate Change report, and nothing really has changed in terms of national climate targets and political will.

It's too bad that some of our outspoken climate change leaders don't always walk the walk, but there are many people, including scientists who have proposed a strike to bring more attention to the facts about climate change, who ARE walking the walk. If the government and people are collectively making choices that are sabotaging the planet, so be it. Actions have consequences. If I say that a match is going to burn the house down, I'm not match-shaming, I'm just stating a fact.

[LDAHL]

Who gets to identify the fatal match? You? Greta Thunberg? Who gets to decide the appropriate driver/vehicle combination? We’re burning electricity having this discussion. Is that ethically permissible?