I've often heard it said about someone "They're a walking contradiction." I must say, I certainly fit that description. I like cars - a lot. Driving them, looking at them, watching races. And yet I also consider myself to be environmentally-minded. So how do I reconcile my dinosaur-burning, hydrocarbon spewing, mildly scofflaw-ish activity with my love for clean air and water and realization that there is only so much oil to go around and gathering, refining, and distributing it is a messy business at best and environmentally catastrophic at worst.
Well, here's my rationalization - as lame as it may be. In my 37 years of vehicle ownership, I have only owned one vehicle - a Ford Econoline van - that got worse than 20mpg. And that vehicle was driven only about two or three times a month as my DJ gear hauler. Even that had the smallest engine available and a manual transmission. Actually, I'm not even sure it got less than 20mpg because I never checked. I'm just assuming it did. Of my many other vehicles, I had one that got 40+mpg with 1970s technology. There were a few that averaged about 30mpg, and couple that got barely over 20. Most - including my current fleet of 3 - got right around 25mpg. Also, I try to avoid running into town for one or two things - if I have to drive somewhere to get something, I'll make a concerted effort to get several needed items to cut down on trips.
So I guess what I'm saying is, if all those SUV drivers had reasonable automotive transportation instead of motoring around in a 13mpg behemoth - alone - making a special trip to the grocery store for a loaf of bread and a quart of milk, maybe we wouldn't have to be searching for dissolved dinosaurs under a mile of ocean. Yet.
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