The average 18 wheeler loaded at 80,000 lbs gets about 7 miles per gallon.

[Glassunion]

10. I guess it depends on how you look at it.

but pound for pound against my 55 miles per gallon vehicle, that 80,000 pound truck is way more efficient. If weighed evenly, a group of my vehicles that match the weight of that one truck could only drive less than one 10th of one mile on that same gallon of gas.

I'm with you completely, and I strongly feel that we need complete trade reform period. I'm sick of checking the label on everything I buy.

We do need to look at the total, not just food. Everything we buy seems to come on a truck, even local, organic, non-gmo produce leaves the farm on a truck. It is the most energy efficient way to move it. It is difficult to live in today's day and age and not buy something that has not spent time on a truck. We do need them. Probably 99% of what we own, or consume has spent time on a truck. If you take the truck out of the picture, it will need to be replaced by smaller vehicles that will burn more fuel and expel more greenhouse gasses. But as it stands it's impossible to get even the very basics without a truck. Just for clothing alone one would need to live in a cotton/wool/alpaca/silk/yak/rabbit/cashmere/jute/etc region where the raw product could sit next door to the local resources that spin the fibers into fabric, then next door have the fabric tailored into clothing all within a local community to avoid trucks. However, you would also need all of the support for that industry to be local as well. So your electric companies, equipment manufacturer, food, etc... would also have to be local. On top of that, they could only serve the local community, because as soon as the guy in the next town over sees that awesome pair of alpaca boxers, he is going to place an order and want it shipped.

Even in a dream world, where everything we get is made and manufactured in America, odds are a huge portion of it will spend time on a truck. My American vehicle was delivered on a truck, my American blue jeans delivered on a truck, my Zippo which is made in my home state spent time on a truck, my work boots spent time on a truck, in fact I cannot think of one thing that has not spent time on a truck.

I just want our trade deficit to turn around, and our leaders to cease trading with other countries that do not have fair labor practices. I feel that international trade is awesome, but if the only thing we are shipping to other countries is boatloads of money in exchange for shit products produced by forced labor so a corporation could squeeze an extra percent or two in profit margin, we are going to collapse under our own consumption.