Posted on 08/01/2002 6:25:24 AM PDT by wallcrawlr
Washington --- Concentrating on marketing cars and trucks with plenty of power, car manufacturers have done little to reduce the greenhouse gases released by their vehicles, an environmental organization charged Tuesday.
The United States cannot make significant headway in dealing with greenhouse gases until it finds a way to reduce the planet-warming carbon dioxide pumped into the air by cars and trucks, said a new report published by New York-based Environmental Defense.
Carbon dioxide from car exhaust pipes is the largest single source of greenhouse gas in the United States, says the report.
In fact, the entire carbon dioxide production of only four countries --- the United States, Russia, China and Japan --- exceeds that of cars and trucks sold in America, said John DeCicco, author of the report.
Car makers have ''put their design and marketing talents into anything but addressing their products' harm to the planet,'' DeCicco said.
A representative of the automobile manufacturing industry dismissed the report.
''Trying to hold us responsible for global warming is like trying to fight obesity by forcing clothing manufacturers to make smaller sizes,'' said Eron Shosteck, a spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.
He said Americans may choose from 50 models of cars with highway mileage ratings of 30 mpg or better.
''Very few people buy them,'' he said. ''People are choosing more passenger room, more cargo space, something that will tow a boat when they go on vacation, and off-road vehicles.''
Fuel burned for transportation accounts for 33 percent of the country's carbon dioxide output, said DeCicco, and 62 percent of the carbon dioxide from the transportation sector comes from cars, pickup trucks, minivans and sport-utility vehicles.
Assigning a ''carbon burden'' to each manufacturer on the basis of its fleet, DeCicco noted that General Motors' 2000 model year U.S. fleet emitted around 7.4 million tons of carbon into the atmosphere. Second was Ford, with 6.2 million tons from the 2000 model year. Then came DaimlerChrysler with 4.6 million tons and Toyota at 2.2 million tons, he said.
This is the easiest statement of all to refute. I could quote several dozen sources that prove otherwise, but I'm hoping that a good many of us can already see through this and make that effort unnecessary.
These people seem to be convinced that their "dumbing down of America" has brought us down to such a level that this B.S. could be considered believable.
And therefore they must be forced to make the "appropriate" choices as defined by these Nazis.
Exactly how can they tell the difference between car exhaust CO2 and human breath CO2?
Not fossil fuel (creates carbon dioxide!). Not hydro (all feasible sources already fully exploited). Not solar (it would take about 2,000 square miles of solar cells. At one cent per square centimeter, that would cost $500,000,000,000)...but gasp...NUCLEAR plants.
--Boris
However, I have a beef with these big SUVs. SUVs are not trucks as the auto companies labels them. The people who are buying them are not the trade workers who need them to carry lumber to the job sites. Therefore, it simply a lobbyist created loophole in the fleet MPG regs. This loophole need to be closed for the national fuel consumption reduction, which can reduce our dependence on foreign hostile oil producing nations.
I know that most of us got used to these roomy vehicles, but we need to look at the big picture. Our national fuel policies must take into consideration reduction of imported fuel. The soccer moms do not need Cadillac ESCALADES size SUVs to drive to work, or to carry little Tim to soccer practice.
How do we reduce the needs (or preference) for large SUVs, that is the bigger question! I do not think that we should increase gas tax? so some body needs to figure out a non punitive way to do that?
Have you heard any numbers on that? I notice that the media isn't too eager to share with the people how many millions or billions of car hours worth of CO2 is being produced by the fires.
Yea! And some people have more than one bedroom in their house! What's up with that? They only need one! And toilets! What about those? Some people have SEVERAL? Or underwear? People shouldn't have more than one pair! And one pair of socks too! That's enough!
We need to get rid of all this waste! Just look down at your keyboard! People don't need all those keys! Just a few would do!
Yep! Your have a point! Let's start with those ESCALADES then work on controlling all this other stuff. Better yet, let's just take your idea and really run. We don't need all these people running around. There are more than enough already. Let's start "reducing" them too.....
There is no need to. Your paragraph just before this answered your own question.
Just increase the amount of oil/gas available to burn. Dont get caught up in the enviro-myth that fossil fuels are finite. It's just not true.
CO2 is among the most common atmospheric gases and there is pretty much no understanding as to how it interacts with climate and feedback loops in combination with other natural processes.
Plus plants and all manner of vegetation love it.
So using greenhouse gases as a means to further your redistributionist socialist totalitarian agenda is dead.
Deader than a doornail.
Please quit beating that dead horse.
Or wildlife CO2.
Or since coastal algae is by far the largest producer of oxygen, it follows that is must also be the largest user of CO2.
And don't forget about Nuclear power and the battle there.
BTW, how do you convert a 777 to solar?
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