Have You Hugged a Hummer Today?

The Chicago Sun Times' editorial yesterday, which runs in its satellite suburban papers today, including the Wilmette Life, (note: as of 6:51 this morning the Wilmette Life morphs into the Evanston Review--how appropriate) has a particular message for our "cushy suburb of Wilmette".

Moral vanity appears to be catching in Chicagoland. From the pontificating greenie village board members' mouths to God's ear (at the) Sun Times:

In offering a $25 or $50 discount on vehicle sticker fee for cars that meet new emission standards, the cushy suburb of Wilmette isn't going to make much of a dent in the problem. That would be true even if there were more than two models available for purchase in the Midwest that qualify for the $50 discount by meeting the Environmental Protection Agency's Smart Way Elite designation, which is based on a car's air pollution and greenhouse-gas emissions. Both of those models are Hondas. (Tailpipe emissions account for about 22 percent of CO2 in the United States.)

But like those towns (including San Antonio and Salt Lake City) offering free parking within city limits for hybrids or other "green" cars and dozens of other municipalities pledging to meet Kyoto protocol goals for reducing carbon-dioxide pollution, Wilmette is doing its best to be part of the solution. "It's getting discussion going," said a village board member. "It's raising awareness, giving kudos to people who are doing the right things, and really putting the word out there that there isn't this huge choice you have to make between being environmental or not."

Hey, it's not a huge choice! Given its common editorial policy, why bother publishing the Pioneer Press papers at all? Think how many trees could be saved from being pulped for the press? The Sun Times News Group could just put out the "cushy" suburban real estate ads and save paper.

And far be it from us to interfere with eco-warriors on the prowl for a special interest tax break for their virtue. (But I'm confused, I thought liberals liked paying taxes, they are always suggesting we all should pay more taxes, as the rest of us are, in this case. You'd think they would want to pay up for a hybrid simply out of the goodness of their green little hearts.)

But wait, you can do the planet a "whale of a favor" without cramming your family into a tinny little car. Reason, "Have You Hugged a Hummer Today?: Hybrid vehicles' overall energy costs exceed those of non-hybrid vehicles":

For instance, the dust-to-dust energy cost of the bunny-sized Honda Civic hybrid is $3.238 per mile. This is quite a bit more than the $1.949 per mile that the elephantine Hummer costs. The energy cots of SUVs such as the Tahoe, Escalade, and Navigator are similarly far less than the Civic hybrid.

The article says Japan's hybrid car production for its own and the American market uses more energy and generates more pollution than conventional cars. Then there's this article in the uh, NY Times that China, which is exempt from the Kyoto treaty, is polluting California's air.

So come on greenies, have you hugged a hummer today?

Group hug.


Previous posts: Star-Bellied Sneeches and their ilk, What will Wilmette Tax Next?