Regarding SUVs, I have one, but I live 750m above sea level in the Tatry Mountains, so is a necessity. However, can happily say I get a lot more than 8mpg out of my Hyundai.

When I lived in S London, it never ceased to amaze me at how many mothers drove these things around on roads teeming with pedestrians, the only use being to haul kids to school & back & the odd run to the supermarket … dumb.

A taxation system where urban owners of SUVs were penalised for carbon emissions would be a good thing in my opinion.

Regarding SUVs, I have one, but I live 750m above sea level in the Tatry Mountains, so is a necessity. However, can happily say I get a lot more than 8mpg out of my Hyundai.

When I lived in S London, it never ceased to amaze me at how many mothers drove these things around on roads teeming with pedestrians, the only use being to haul kids to school & back & the odd run to the supermarket … dumb.

A taxation system where urban owners of SUVs were penalised for carbon emissions would be a good thing in my opinion.

Your devil’s advocate question is right on target. One of prominent counterarguments among our Hummer enthusiasts was that their critics were un-American in the specific sense of being hypocrites. For example, they questioned whether someone driving a Prius but living in a large McMansion and enjoying other aspects of the resource intensive American-way-of-life really had any moral ground to be casting stones at their choice of vehicles. Moving away from the specifics of the Hummer case, a study by an MIT engineering professor in 2007 found that Americans with the lowest energy usage still produced, on average, more than double the global per-capita carbon emission. So, much of our national contribution to climate change and resource depletion is built into the infrastructure of American society. Similarly, George Monbiot makes a compelling case that far more draconian changes in first world lifestyles will be needed to avert a climate change disaster. Conversely, trying to solve the problem while maintaining lifestyles built around personal transportation (even hybrids) only slows the pace toward imminent crisis. So, this inconsistency between structural realities and the rhetoric of save the world by driving a Prius is the cultural contradiction that supports Hummer owner’s American exceptionalist justifications. Sorry for the longish post but your question really hit on a central issue in the debates on climate change.

Your devil’s advocate question is right on target. One of prominent counterarguments among our Hummer enthusiasts was that their critics were un-American in the specific sense of being hypocrites. For example, they questioned whether someone driving a Prius but living in a large McMansion and enjoying other aspects of the resource intensive American-way-of-life really had any moral ground to be casting stones at their choice of vehicles. Moving away from the specifics of the Hummer case, a study by an MIT engineering professor in 2007 found that Americans with the lowest energy usage still produced, on average, more than double the global per-capita carbon emission. So, much of our national contribution to climate change and resource depletion is built into the infrastructure of American society. Similarly, George Monbiot makes a compelling case that far more draconian changes in first world lifestyles will be needed to avert a climate change disaster. Conversely, trying to solve the problem while maintaining lifestyles built around personal transportation (even hybrids) only slows the pace toward imminent crisis. So, this inconsistency between structural realities and the rhetoric of save the world by driving a Prius is the cultural contradiction that supports Hummer owner’s American exceptionalist justifications. Sorry for the longish post but your question really hit on a central issue in the debates on climate change.

As a Hummer Owner and avid off roader in Northern California, it think you just successfully described almost the entire off road, off highway community.

“Rugged Individualist” and our “boundless frontier” applies to every Jeep and 4WD Toyota, Buggy, Bronco, Blazer, Motorcycle, ATV, UTV enthusiasts.

Especially here in the West where there is still much to discover and do, that pretty much requires a four wheel drive vehicles.

If you haven’t seen a Hummer dirty, you don’t get out of LA much.

As a Hummer Owner and avid off roader in Northern California, it think you just successfully described almost the entire off road, off highway community.

“Rugged Individualist” and our “boundless frontier” applies to every Jeep and 4WD Toyota, Buggy, Bronco, Blazer, Motorcycle, ATV, UTV enthusiasts.

Especially here in the West where there is still much to discover and do, that pretty much requires a four wheel drive vehicles.

If you haven’t seen a Hummer dirty, you don’t get out of LA much.

Are Hummer owners really consuming more than their “fair” share? They are, after all, paying out the butt for the gas they use, and at the end of the day, it is their money to waste. I live in CT, and there are plenty of Hummers here, but not nearly as much highway as say, California. Most Hummer driving therefore would be in city, at perhaps 8 mpg at best. That is a lot of fuel.

Also, even at its peak sales in 2003, 34,529 Hummers were sold. That…isn’t all that much really. Yeah, they are gas hogs and road hogs and the epitome of American excess, but only for a select few. I have a hard time begrudging a few thousand people their right to spend their money foolishly.

For the record, I have seen mud-covered Hummers. I’ve also seen them laden down with 50k worth of sound equipment light bars and televisions; I’m sure that truck doesn’t get driven everyday.

Are Hummer owners really consuming more than their “fair” share? They are, after all, paying out the butt for the gas they use, and at the end of the day, it is their money to waste. I live in CT, and there are plenty of Hummers here, but not nearly as much highway as say, California. Most Hummer driving therefore would be in city, at perhaps 8 mpg at best. That is a lot of fuel.

Also, even at its peak sales in 2003, 34,529 Hummers were sold. That…isn’t all that much really. Yeah, they are gas hogs and road hogs and the epitome of American excess, but only for a select few. I have a hard time begrudging a few thousand people their right to spend their money foolishly.

For the record, I have seen mud-covered Hummers. I’ve also seen them laden down with 50k worth of sound equipment light bars and televisions; I’m sure that truck doesn’t get driven everyday.

I’m guessing you quoted the same study about the Prius vs. Hummer as I did for an environmental newsletter I used to work on some time ago. Lesson learned indeed…

Kudos for the full disclosure.

I’m guessing you quoted the same study about the Prius vs. Hummer as I did for an environmental newsletter I used to work on some time ago. Lesson learned indeed…

Kudos for the full disclosure.