philosophyonwheels.com

Toyota Prius

Years ago the Toyota Prius was the car to have if you were a celebrity concerned with having the public know you were environmentally aware.  But now the Prius is almost an ordinary car in suburban America.  And even SUVs are built with hybrid energy drives.  (I still think this is a contradiction in engineering.)

Car manufacturers have collectively been building up the awareness and cachet of hybrid technology.  They did this mostly by highlighting the “green” and virtuous ability of going further with less gas.  And along the way a lot of people gained a general understanding of how these hybrid energy systems work.  Sounds like a winning combination: having a warm-fuzzy that you’re not hurting the Earth as much as before, and a satisfaction of understanding how your car works…generally.

Here’s my theory: all things being equal I think transportation is environmentally a zero-sum game.  It’s true your Prius will pump less harmful particles into your town’s air than your old car with it’s conventional engine.  But there’s a small city in a remote part of Russia that most likely smelted the nickel that resides in the Prius’s battery.  This town is notorious among environmentalists for being one of the worst in the world and can be blamed directly for a shockingly sizable percentage of global emission of certain hazardous materials.  (Trees barely grow in this town.)  Of course it’s impossible to decide how much is to be blamed on the Prius, and Toyota can endlessly spin the numbers and discredit unfavorable reports.  But put simply, buying the Prius has taken the pollution out of your town and placed it somewhere else.  Then there’s the geographically various assembly points and the energy required to ferry the parts.  Parts of a Prius are most likely better travelled than their owners.  

So how is pollution reduced for real?  Consolidation.  The amount of energy needed to move 20 people and one bus is significantly less than moving 20 people and 20 cars the same distance.  The Prius weighs nearly the same as conventional cars.  Sure the individual owner may recognize fuel savings due to the hybrid energy drive but the Earth might not be able to tell the difference in the larger picture.

By nature us Americans are terribly decadent.  We will never willingly relinquish our own personal space during our daily commute to share it with 20 strangers on a bus and incur the added inconvenience of public transportation.

Now I appeal to today’s celebrity genuinely concerned with your environmental public image.  Go and buy a Honda Fit and be seen driving it.  It’s conventionally powered, it’s smaller and weighs much less than an average car.  Simple as that.  Less car is more savings…globally.