Should you give up your big car?

Sollte man sich bei seinem Fahrzeug einschränken, um der globalen Erwärmung entgegenzuwirken? Elisabeth Ribbans fragte nach.

Yes!

Julian Van Santen is a banker based in Scottsdale, Arizona. He is also a member of the Arizona Hummer Owners Group (www.azhog.org).

Julian Van Santen

SUV drivers and soccer moms often get criticized, but you have to realize that, in the U.S., most people, especially those with kids, drive long distances each day and need to take a lot with them. The average family here drives 12,000 miles a year.

I like to be able to pick up my things and go. I do a lot of work fixing the house, and when you’re out shopping with a Hummer, you can throw even the largest things in the back. It’s also good when you’re going places with the kids and need to take their things with you.

My son is four years old and he loves to go off-road with me. It’s good fun. Occasionally, I drive the Hummer to work, too. It’s probably the biggest car parked at work, but mostly I get positive comments about it.

I am concerned about fuel efficiency, but one of the key decisions in buying the H1 was that it’s a diesel and I get fairly good mileage — about 14 miles to the gallon (6 kilometers to the liter).

I believe it’s important for society to consider the environment and to have a plan in place. But it is also important to allow people to make their own decisions based on good information. I’m not one of those people who are skeptical about the causes of global warming — I just think that, firstly, the facts can be twisted to suit a certain view and, secondly, there are other major causes of pollution that are commonly overlooked as people look for something easy to blame. Before I’m persuaded out of my Hummer, I’d like to see a greater priority placed on the problems of industrial transportation. We also need to look at emissions made by developing countries and make sure that, as they industrialize, their power production is clean.

In any case, we shouldn’t rush to make radical shifts until we really understand the whole picture. A lot of people are looking at alternative fuels and hybrid vehicles, such as the Toyota Prius, but the case is not yet proven. Studies have shown, for example, that the nickel used in electric car batteries has a huge environmental impact on the areas in which it is mined. When you look beyond emissions and consider the environmental cost of a vehicle over its entire life, it’s not as simple as saying a small car is greener than a big one. Sometimes it’s actually worse.

There’s also been a lot of talk about the potential for ethanol, because it creates very little pollution when burned. But not only will it be difficult to produce ethanol in sufficient quantities; it also requires so much energy to produce that the benefits are minimal.

Over the years, I’ve had lots of cars, so I don’t suppose I’ll have the Hummer forever. But when the time comes, I’ll almost certainly get another big car.