This week's column
I don't have much sympathy for the guy who pulled his big, black Hummer H2 into the gas line the other day.
There's no greater a sign of conspicuous consumption than the fat, 8,600-pound, pseudo-military SUV that escapes federal fuel-efficiency guidelines because it is, in a perverse twist of logic, too big.
Yes, it is this man's free choice as an American to drive what he darned well pleases. Now he can live with that choice.
As the Hurricane Katrina tragedy spikes gas prices beyond 3 dollars a gallon and sparks fears that there won't be enough fuel to go around, we are all living with choices.
We have chosen as a society to drive bigger and bigger vehicles with little regard for their practicality or environmental impact.
Yes, the burden of higher gas prices pales compared to the burdens of those still trapped in the deadly grip of Katrina. With its despair, pain and lawlessness, New Orleans less resembles a major American city than it does Darfur or Fallujah.
It also lays bare the deepening chasm between this wealthy nation's haves and have-nots and saps some of our swagger on the international stage.
Now the world is coming to our aid, even the Germans and the French.
But maybe it has shaken us out of our complacency that we will consume, consume, consume, the consequences be damned.
And maybe it will restore some sense of individual responsibility and sacrifice, which we seem to have forgotten, even in a time of war.
But back to those SUVs.
Some psychologists say our vehicles have grown so huge and ostentatious because they make us feel safer and stronger. If not smarter. They are imposing, muscular, macho vehicles that look cool even at the day care or the Seven-Eleven. (Only 5 percent of us ever actually take them off-road.)
Making matters worse are wacky federal standards in fuel efficiency that reward gluttony and fly in the face of all the heady rhetoric from Washington about less dependency on foreign oil.
Those standards set fuel-economy requirements for new passenger cars at 27.5 miles per gallon. But the SUV is exempt from that standard because it is considered a "light truck" instead of a car.
Some SUVs are so humongous that they don't even qualify as light trucks and are not required to meet any type of fuel standard.
Soon it may cost a small house payment to fill one up.
Meanwhile, there is some good news behind the bad news in gasoline prices.
Where common sense has failed, higher prices may succeed. Although consumers stubbornly cling to gas-gulping luxury cars and pickup trucks, sales of domestic, full-sized SUVs are down 12 percent this year. At the same time, more and more hybrid SUVs are appearing in dealer showrooms.
Some say this is as it should be -- that "the market" will force our hands instead of government.
But why must we be made to be better stewards of our resources?
"Imagine if President Bush used his bully pulpit and political capital to focus the nation on sharply lowering energy consumption and embracing a gasoline tax," New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman wrote in February. Friedman cited such vision not only as more environmentally sound, but as a way to reduce oil dependency on dangerous regimes overseas.
The administration still isn't listening.
In its new proposed fuel standards, it proposes to tighten standards on SUVs such as the Jeep Cherokee and Ford Explorer. Fair enough.
Then it gets downright silly, allowing some of the heftiest SUVs, such as Dodge's Megacab, some of the most lenient standards.
As for the Hummer H2, the administration's new rules still exempt it from fuel-efficiency standards altogether, classifying it as a "commercial" vehicle.
Now, I don't begrudge a guy his pickup who needs it to haul stuff.
But SUVs typically are discretionary buys, not necessities. Not many people "need" a Hummer.
So, while the long, hard recovery from Katrina will continue in New Orleans and elsewhere, the administration will seek public comment on the new fuel-efficiency standards until Nov. 22.
We should tell them no. And we should ask if any of them have been paying attention to what's happened in the world lately.
Comments (9)
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There is no current gas shortage, just problems refining it and getting it from Point A to Point B for distribution.
Posted on September 4, 2005 11:36 AM
So, JayCee...does that mean there was no shortage of water or food in New Orleans, either?
Posted on September 4, 2005 2:26 PM
Yo Johnson,
I will say that not answering my email will force me to go public. Your attitude with the readers of your fine paper lacks so maybe it makes sense that the N&R is having to give out free papers in Burlington to win us over.
You are right about the SUVs but I wish you had mentioned all those OBX OBX OBX tags and stickers on those tanks. I will see to it that my hearse has one on the front on my final trip so everybody will pull over and envy me and know what a cool dude (really cool) I really was.
Tell Sabo that I wish she were single!
Your buddy,
Jack
Posted on September 4, 2005 2:57 PM
Umm...Ed, have you seen the news? Plenty of water in Nawlins.
Posted on September 4, 2005 7:44 PM
What a tasteful joke, JayCee. But seriously, your logic dictates that we could not say the folks trapped in NOLA last week faced a shortage of food or potable water, since those commodities were in plentiful supply nearby.
No "shortage" of food and water, "just problems getting it from Point A to Point B for distribution."
Brilliant.
Posted on September 4, 2005 8:45 PM
What a tasteful joke, JayCee. But seriously, your logic dictates that we could not say the folks trapped in NOLA last week faced a shortage of food or potable water, since those commodities were in plentiful supply nearby.
No "shortage" of food and water, "just problems getting it from Point A to Point B for distribution."
Brilliant.
Posted on September 4, 2005 8:52 PM
And the point remains that we are fat and happy and becoming painfully out of touch with the sacrifices necessary to preserve our freedoms and our natural resources.
Maybe Katrina will help shake us out of that fog. Maybe not.
Posted on September 5, 2005 12:22 AM
What do you consider a "luxury car"? Get off the back pickup drivers, even if they don't haul "stuff". Have you checked to see what kind of gas milage some of these trucks are getting?
BTW Allen, what kind of car do you drive? How about fuel figures on your vehicle?
Posted on September 5, 2005 9:16 AM
Mr. Cone, if there is a whole shelf of Wheaties at the grocery store but none in your cupboard, is that a "shortage" of Wheaties? No, there are plenty of Wheaties, you just have yet to establish the necessary distribution program to get them from the store to your kitchen.
Indeed, there was food and water that was eventually distributed in New Orleans, due to the outstanding work by the agencies tasked with that job. The distribution was a nightmare, however, because of roads being destroyed. The logistics of moving tons of material across a narrow passageway in a timely manner is extremely difficult.
If you haven't been involved in that kind of operation before, you have no idea what it takes.
Posted on September 5, 2005 10:37 AM