heyholetsgogrant Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 Prius PreeningIs my hybrid turning my kids into eco-snobs? By Emily Bazelon Updated Thursday, July 12, 2007, at 4:24 PM ET Emily Bazelon was online July 12 to chat with readers about this article. Read the transcript. On an average Saturday morning, there are five blue Toyota Priuses in the parking lot of our synagogue. I know because my children count them, starting with ours. They could do this with any popular item they own, of course (not that they have too many chances in our late-adapting household). But their hybrid love made me cringe last week, when the New York Times ran a story about the success of the Prius (purchase required), and I saw myself in it. Why are Prius sales surging when other hybrids are slumping, the Times asked? Because buyers "want everyone to know they are driving a hybrid." According to a marketing survey (which the Times ran in a graphic I couldn't hide from), more buyers bought the Prius this year because it "makes a statement about me" (57 percent) than because of its better gas mileage (36 percent) or lower carbon dioxide emissions (25 percent) or new technology (7 percent). If I'm being honest, I'd answer "all of the above" in response to that survey. It also made me worry about how my kids perceive our family Prius ownership. Do they think we're doing our small bit to save the Earth, or are they imbibing a look-at-me smugness? This is a problem that can arise in many contexts—nationalism and religion spring to mind. There's a fine line between pride in one's identity and unearned moral superiority. But environmentalism has particular pitfalls. One's salvation from sin doesn't depend on anyone else's salvation, not directly. But one's salvation from global warming does. My air conditioning is cooling off my house and heating up your planet. Kids get this, I think. They also get that grown-ups think the matter urgent. It's a hard lesson to miss when we're surrounded by a doomsday culture spawned by fears of global warming. On Earth Day, my son's first-grade class learned about saving Dear Mother Earth by recycling and conserving water and, yes, telling other people to do those things (starting at home with their families). Don't get me wrong: I'm all for Eli turning off lights and telling his younger brother, Simon, to quit blasting the hot water. I'm also all for Al Gore sounding the alarm to adults. But the mass death threat lurking in kid-aimed lessons about climate change reminds me of the antinuclear propaganda I grew up with in the 1980s. Remember The Day After? I don't think my 7-year-old and 4-year-old really need exposure to end-of-the-world scenarios. I've read them the 1971 The Lorax lots of times, but one later Seuss title we don't own is the Cold War allegory The Butter Battle Book. Scare tactics and smugness will not win the day for the planet. Thomas Friedman makes this point well with his proposed motto, "Green is the new red, white and blue." He argues that going green should be "capitalistic and patriotic," an ethos that belongs to Kansas as much as to the liberal precincts of Washington, D.C., and San Francisco. If environmentalism remains the snooty project of the Pious Prius Brigade, then my kids and your kids, or their kids or grandkids, will be moving to Greenland. Source: Slate Full Editorial Click here: http://www.slate.com/id/2170228?gt1=10150 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UncleBen Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 "You're driving a hybrid too. Good for yoooou." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tizzod Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 I wish I had a picture of them smelling their own farts. How funny would that be? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McMetal Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 The Day After was a much-lauded step towards nuclear realism in media. It doesn't deserve the cheap shot taken here. If you want to talk alarmist propaganda, talk Red Dawn. And leave Dr Seuss out of it too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edgun88 Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 No, but hybrids do cause smug. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UncleBen Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 My favorite line from that episode: "A snob is somebody who talks with their eyes closed." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corcaigh Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 Another example of people who can't see the wood for the trees. A co-worker has a hybrid for his 40 mile commute. Of course, if he lived 5 miles from the office like I do, he'd use less gas too. Drive a hybrid and conveniently forget that you have a huge house with AC set to a bone chilling temperature, buy vegetables and flowers from around the world, use a heated outdoor pool, or you take long plane trips on vacation. And of course, if you make one unnecessary trip in your hybrid you are using more gas than the biggest SUV sitting parked in a drive way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UncleBen Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 Another example of people who can't see the wood for the trees.A co-worker has a hybrid for his 40 mile commute. Of course, if he lived 5 miles from the office like I do, he'd use less gas too. Drive a hybrid and conveniently forget that you have a huge house with AC set to a bone chilling temperature, buy vegetables and flowers from around the world, use a heated outdoor pool, or you take long plane trips on vacation. And of course, if you make one unnecessary trip in your hybrid you are using more gas than the biggest SUV sitting parked in a drive way. My school here took a field trip in the spring to the Building Museum in Washington. The exhibit was "the Green House." My good friend and I (who work together) were joking the whole time the kids were off on their own that if you want to be "green" spend less money. Money is the great arbiter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DjTj Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 The Day After was a much-lauded step towards nuclear realism in media. It doesn't deserve the cheap shot taken here.Well in the context of this article, it's kind of fitting that The Day After Tomorrow is titled like a sequal to the Day After.If you want to talk alarmist propaganda, talk Red Dawn. I finally saw Red Dawn a few weeks ago after Predicto referenced it in a thread - it was really cheesy but actually very entertaining ... I don't think it was really pure propaganda either because things don't exactly work out great in the end. And leave Dr Seuss out of it too. The Great Butter Battle was like my favorite book as a kid - I never really thought about it in the context of the Cold War but more in the progress of technology I suppose. I think there's definitely a snob factor to driving a Prius, but it's dumb to worry about the impact on your kids. If she was driving a minivan, the kids would probably be proud of that too ... I wonder what Al Gore's son was thinking when he was caught with pot while driving a Prius 100 miles per hour? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLongshot Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 A co-worker has a hybrid for his 40 mile commute. Of course, if he lived 5 miles from the office like I do, he'd use less gas too. Sometimes you don't have a choice, particularly in this area where living close in is rather expensive. Also, people in the same household don't always have the luxury of working in the same area. I work in Chantilly and my wife works in DC. Someone is going to have a decent sized commute. I'm currently looking for a new job and I don't want to commute into the city, but finding cleared jobs in the suburbs isn't easy. Just about everyone wants me to go into the city. Drive a hybrid and conveniently forget that you have a huge house with AC set to a bone chilling temperature, buy vegetables and flowers from around the world, use a heated outdoor pool, or you take long plane trips on vacation. I have a townhouse which I've replaced most of the bulbs with halogens. I've been working on tightening up the house by replacing the front door and storm door. I still need to replace the rear sliding door at some point, since it leaks like crazy in the winter. Most of the time, my electric bill is under $100 tho it can spike to $200 in the winter. Airline flights are actually pretty efficient considering the amount of people being transported, if I remember correctly. BTW, I do my fuel efficiency with my diesel Jetta Wagon. Not quite as "sexy" as a Prius, but I enjoy it more. Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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