The US dependency on oil - get rid of the SUV
Here's a good quote from an article from yesterday's SMH. This is from Jeremy Leggett's, Half Gone, which is a book that came out a couple of years ago. This will bring to attention the problems in the US on excessive use of fuel to power the millions on SUV's driving around the US.
- Jeremy Leggett, Half Gone (2005)
"Every day, 15 million barrels of oil pass in tankers through the narrow Straits of Hormuz, in the troubled waters between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The US Government could wipe out the need for all their 5 million barrels [from the Middle East] by requiring its domestic automobile industry to increase the fuel-efficiency of cars and light trucks by a mere 2.7 miles per gallon. But instead it allows [the manufacture] of ever more oil-profligate vehicles. Many sports utility vehicles (SUVs) average just four miles per gallon. The SUV market share in the US was two per cent in 1975 [the last oil shock]. By 2003 it was 24 per cent. In consequence, the average US vehicle fuel efficiency fell between 1987 and 2001, from 26.2 to 24.4 miles per gallon. This is at the same time as other countries were producing cars capable of up to 60 miles per gallon."
- Jeremy Leggett, Half Gone (2005)
A meat-free diet reduces greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of 1.5 tons of carbon dioxide per year - as much as switching from an SUV to a hybrid car.
Folks who care about the future of life on Earth would be well advised to consider switching to a meat-free diet even before they switch to a hybrid car.
Posted by
Anonymous |
6:24 PM
Good work - suggest the clean energy uranium is the way to go...
Posted by
Anonymous |
12:29 AM