Why do people drive SUVs?

[primavera]

344. Nice try

I don't buy bottled water. I recycle every piece of paper and plastic that I encounter. I practice green gardening. I compost. I turn off lights and turn down the heat and air conditioning to the point that my wife is about ready to divorce me so that we won't consume any more energy than is absolutely necessary. I walk or cycle so that I don't have to drive my fuel consuming Prius more than is necessary. I'm nonetheless certain that I've overlooked important stuff and still do things that harm the environment and I want to know about them so that I can fix those too as best as I am able. I am by no means perfect, but I'm doing my humble best as best as I know how and I am eager to do more. What I do not do is pretend that wastefulness on the part of others justifies being wasteful myself.

You say that pointing the finger at gas guzzlers is "pathetic." Fine, I'm listening. Are you saying that aren't people who drive gas guzzlers and have no need for them? Are you suggesting that global climate change is a myth? Are you claiming that vehicle emissions do not contribute to global climate change? That our consumption of fossil fuels does not drive oil and gas companies to engage in risky drilling practices that result in things like oil spills and other environmentally harmful disasters? Are you asserting that we as consumers have no duty to try to find ways to minimize our contribution to a global problem, that it's somebody else's problem, that, as another poster professed, as long as an activity is legal, we have no responsibility? What? Where is the flaw in my thinking? I keep hearing people say that it's no one's business whether they drive a gas guzzler or not. What I have not heard is a persuasive argument why those of us who are concerned about the environment don't have a valid point in being concerned about gas guzzlers. Absolutely you are 100% correct that we do many other things that are environmentally harmful and we rely to far too great an extent upon petroleum-based plastics. And in any thread you care to start about the evils of plastic, you will find me in the front row cheering you on. That doesn't mean that there's no room for improvement in the vehicles we drive.