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I think SUV-lanes and extra taxes and fees for people who buy SUV's are the first place to start curbing SUV-sales.

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sometimes I think the biggest reason people hate SUVs is because they believe they are pretentious, a flagrant display of wealth in, what they believe to be, a ridiculous useless fashion. If it is for some reason besides gas mileage, get to the point. The extra money I spend on gas comes out of my pocket, not yours

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You are correct, most non-SUV drivers dislike SUVs for all the reasons you describe and then some.

The poor gas mileage tag is merely a covenient but potent symbol to lots of people everywhere of everything that is perceived to be wrong with the US's current energy policy - and to non-Americans around the world, SUVs also symbolise everything thats wrong with America, American Big-Business and their ethics and (by logical extension) the American way of life in general.

- i.e:
"I drive/own a SUV - you [the rest of the planet/roadusers etc] can get lost as long we have the cheapest gas on the planet and can conspicuously waste it while emitting 25% of the worlds CO2 and other Greenhouses gases despite having under 5% of the worlds population while simultaneously denying any responsibility for global warming and expecting the rest of the world to make sacrifices, I (and my country) are unwilling to make to help ensure the long term survival of all life on this planet".

- And the Detroit car makers have the attitude:
"Detroit makes and sells SUVs - who cares what the country or world wants - we'll produce these overpriced, poor driving, poor performing, gas guzzling SUVs because these are the only vehicles that we make decent (by our standards) profits on, and we willl actively lobby and pay off Congress and anyone else who'll listen and act swiftly to ensure our rights to make and sell these vehicles without undue hindrance are preserved even if necessary by seeking law changes and by gaining tax breaks for SUV buyers while we continue denying any responsibility for the consequences - such as unsafe vehicles or lowering the national average MPG figures and thereby increasing the countries dependance on foreign oil supplies amoungst other things.".

I don't necessarily agree with this view - but I can see why some people would come to this view.

In any case when the world is seemingly overrun by SUVs we will know who to thank for that state of affairs.

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How many of the people complaining about SUVs drive the new hybrids? Always turn off the lights? Turn the thermostat way up in summer and way down in winter? Install a 3/4 gallon toilet? Watersavers on their sinks and showerheads?

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Considering that Detroit has yet to release any commercial Hybrid vehicle, not a lot of people in America actually will have been given the chance to buy one.

The Hybrid SUV's shown at the recent Detroit Motor show were concepts and prototypes and it may be many years if ever before these vehicles ever hit showroom floors and then only [according to GM] if there is "high demand" for them - something that will never happen while the current situation re: SUVs persists.

Most current hybrids available to purchase are Japanese or Euopean imports.

Regarding energy use in general - erergy used from renewable sources - e,g hydro-electric, wind power etc, biological [renewable plant] sources is not the problem, its the energy/electricity used from non-renewable sources like oil, coal, nuclear thats the problem.

Nuclear is considered non-renewable because generally the true cost of the clean up from an "end of life" nuclear power plant exceeds the value of the electricity generated over the lifetime of the power plant.

Many so called "clean" technologies like Solar suffer from the same problem - it used to take more energy to extract and refine and produce all the special materials and then to turn them in to a solar cell than the cell will ever produce as electricity in its lifetime.

The same will apply to hydrogen powered cars when they become commonplace, if the hydrogen is generated from non-renewable sources too it will be little better than other non-renewable energy forms.

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Do you buy products that come in tons of packing material? Do you donate to greenpeace, the sierra club, or another environmental advocacy group?

Do you recycle everything you can, even if it means going out of your way?

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The golden rule of the the three "r"s of waste minimisation are:
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - in that order - ie. recycling comes last, reducing and reusing are generally more beneficial to the environment than mere "recycling" - which is a "end of the road" thing.

Some things like glass are not actually that efficient to recycle - neither are most post-consumer plastics due to the lack of proper sorting and inability to seperate the various plastic types effectively and efficiently.
So Reducing and if possible, Re-use, are the best options currently for many things.

Greenpeace encourages people to "think globallty and act locally" - meaning don't just give money for someone else to do it for you, do it yourself, for the right reasons...

don't buy that SUV [amoungst other things] if you don't actually need a SUV.

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Erm...all the figures I have seen show that in a big accident, most SUV's are more dangerous due to weaker passenger compartment, greater propensity for rolling etc.

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He decided it was a good idea to turn left through a green light without bothering to look who was coming or even using his turn signal

And what self-parodist at Chevrolet came up with the name [Suburban], anyway?