Though I can be fairly opinionated about what is appropriate fuel efficiency and emissions for automobiles, I don't usually take it out on their owners, since
perhaps they need such a grossly over-sized vehicle (such as my old landlord, who was a tree specialist and needed a large truck for his business, or the over-sized families in Utah, which can only be accommodated in over-sized "Mormon Assault Vehicles"), and
I've seen many SUV owners - and people in general - get irrationally defensive when someone berates them personally for a choice they've made. Ad hominem and knee-jerk reactions don't solve anything.
That said, I'm just as frustrated as many others at the plethora of SUVs on the road, for safety, environmental, and economic reasons. I was happy with the anti-SUV commercial aired a while ago, and amused at anti-SUV movements such as FUH2 and this Adbusters CultureJam, even though they sparked quite a bit of hate mail. I was also amused by Jon Stewart's comment about it all: "... The answer is the hybrid gas-electric car, which only supports terrorists when going uphill." (And speaking of Jon Stewart, while I was looking around the web I found this amusing Bush vs. Bush debate.)
Addendum 1/5/04:Fueleconomy.gov has a fuel economy calculator that's right on with mileage for my 1987 Nissan Sentra. Very awesome!
