The negative impact on the climate from passenger vehicles, which is considerable, could have dropped by more than 30% over the past decade if not for the world’s appetite for large cars, a new report from the Global Fuel Economy Initiative suggests.
Sport utility vehicles, or SUVs, now account for more than half of all new car sales across the globe, the group said, and it’s not alone. The International Energy Agency, using a narrower definition of SUV, estimates they make up nearly half.
Over the years these cars have gotten bigger and so has their cost to the climate, as carbon dioxide emissions “are almost directly proportional to fuel use” for gas-powered cars. The carbon that goes in at the pump comes out the tailpipe.
Transportation is responsible for around one-quarter of all the climate-warming gases that come from energy, and much of that is attributable to passenger transport, according to the International Energy Agency.
People decided that minivans were “wimpy” and “for soccer moms,” so now they’re a stigma around them. I dunno, I wound up being foisted a rental Nissan Quest at one point for about a week and it was pretty alright by me.
I do own one of those massive trucks everyone hates (but not really, it’s a 90’s Silverado that’s well before the stupid trend of putting the hood line nine feet in the air for no reason) but I only ever drive it when I need to move a Big Dumb Object. The rest of the time it lives in my driveway, which is most of the time. When I need it, it’s clutch. The rest of the time, it’s a stupid vehicle to use as a daily driver.
If its parked, its not contributing to pollution.
I think your way is the best way to approach owning a truck. Not a daily driver, mostly kept to move big objects.
That’s exactly my rationale. I have other more fuel efficient vehicles if I just need to move myself, which is most of what I do on a daily basis. My Honda Metropolitan gets 117 MPG… I have an electric bicycle as well.
Someone from the fuckcars contingent will inevitably jump down my throat about this eventually, like always, and say “jUst rEnT a TrUcK!!!” But that’s a huge pain in the ass, requires driving something to the truck rental place anyway, is full of terms and conditions and provisos, and my truck is so old and worthless that it literally costs me less per year to register and insure than renting a small U-Haul twice. So they can fuck right off in my case.