by David Chaves

Created on: July 16, 2008   Last Updated: September 10, 2008

June 4, 2008 | By Dave In Conservation, Environment, political |

Well my fellow enviromericans..we did it. We have been preaching to the choir for a decade about the ludicrous amount of SUV's that people buy.and waste gas. And yes. They do WASTE gas. You can thank your friendly neighborhood Hummer owner for a good portion of that $4.10 per gallon of gas that your paying. For years we the few who know better have been telling auto makers to make more efficient vehicles. They didn't listen. They didn't care about us because enough idiots were still buying the SUV's. Even though they were losing money. The US auto makers stocks have fallen. And now, finally, the American public has stepped up.

This Morning the LA Times had a story about how for the first time since 1996 cars outsold trucks and SUV's. Pardon my French.but it's about friggin time!. The gas prices have finally caused even the ultra ignorant to look into smaller more fuel efficient cars. In May almost 200,000 more cars were sold than SUV's and trucks. I can't believe it's taken this long. I used to have a Jeep Wrangler. I loved that thing. But once gas started getting to $3.00 + per gallon, I couldn't justify driving it even though I didn't drive it much. So I sold it and baught an Acura. DO I like the Acura as much? No. Is it as cool? No. But it was a better decision for me financially and a better decision for the environment.

So now, as one would expect the auto makers are crying "foul". They are threatening the American people with shutting down factories and laying off workers. I have 2 things to say about that. First of all, the signs were there long ago, don't blame us for your inability to think forward. You could have slowed production on SUV's and started making more sedans. You could still keep the factories open and just make cars instead. Then you wouldn't really have to lay off anyone. Or..just maybe you could pay your executives less than 16 million dollars which is what GM chief made in 2007 despite posting profit losses. How many jobs could you save with say..15 million of that money..how many improvements can you make on a cars design to make it more fuel efficient..or maybe how much research does that pay for so you can be the first to unveil a brand new gasless vehicle. Just 1 idea from 1 man. Oh yes, and number 2. What exactly are you threatening? GM is going to close a Canadian production center that makes HUmmers, and Ford is going to close a plant they have in Mexico City. So

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