I thought the gen 3 Prius commercials were bad, but maybe this is rock bottom:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puh-vBXQy8M
"Americans are always finding ways to be more responsible" must be the most laughable brown-nosing lie I can possibly think of. You Americans are so awesome... pleeeaaase buy more of our $70K vehicles to rescue our sinking profits! Because when I think of America, I think of responsibility (trillions of dollars of government and consumer debt, Wall Street bailout, housing bubble, #2 polluter behind China, #1 energy user, #2 arms exporter behind Russia, #2 nuclear arsenal behind Russia, etc. etc.). And when I think of BMW, I think environmentally conscious. Heck just producing that inane ad probably cost us all a ton of CO2.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601100&sid=a18vUVMqC77c&refer=germany
They brag about their vehicles that get 28 MPG highway in "simulated driving". If BMW really cared about the environment, they would shutter all operations and invest their assets in green tech. Because every car BMW sends to the showroom and every minute their business operations run causes pollution. And the same can be said of most companies of course. You can't have your cake and eat it too. These rich assholes want to justify their lavish, wasteful spending as eco-conscious? Please. Just accept that you are killing the Earth for your own consumerist pleasure and don't sugar-coat the truth. Or if you really care, spend the $70K differently: buy a $16K Civic, a $200 bike, and donate the rest of the money to environmental projects. I would rather the BMW ads just cut the crap and say, "BMW: We make fancy, expensive cars that burn a lot of gas so you can drive fast to try to impress chicks. Just make sure you keep up with your payments and sorry for our poor reliability record."
-------
Why do I still think there's a BMW in your distant future?
= )
PS: Honda Civics are also cars and thus also destroy the environment... and NGOs might not be as efficient in saving the environment as coordinated government action...
-------
Put this in writing... I'll NEVER purchase an automobile that costs more than $30K (inflation-adjusted). It's not a priority for me and I can think of better ways to use the cash, plus currently my savings rate is like zero due to being mortgage poor. I suck at picking stocks and my job has very little upward mobility, so I doubt BMW is in my future haha. I prefer Japanese cars (since I'm a racist), but for Euro models, currently my "dream car" is probably a VW TDI.
Sure it would be fun to tool around in a M6, and I guess it would be nice if one of you got me one for my b-day (hint, hint), but it's just decadent. I am trying to be one of those "responsible Americans" that the ugly marketing guy in the commercial spoke of. Well, regardless of what vehicle we choose to buy and drive, my point was I don't endorse the "green consciousness" fad that somehow exonerates us of our unsustainable, polluting habits of our Western lifestyle just because we buy a few CFLs and some locally-grown produce (which in some cases, is more polluting than more efficently-grown imported foods: http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2007/07/22/the_localvores_dilemma/). I accept the truth that my life choices are killing the planet and I don't care enough to change. Humans and our industrialized mass commerce-consumption (nuclear weapons being a part of it) is the biggest threat to Earthly life since the dinosaur's meteor. We may not destroy the planet overnight, but we're surely not helping any. Even though I believe that, I try not to be defeatist about it, and seek to reduce my harm by conserving resources and buying less-polluting products. But still I'm in the negative overall because I am addicted to electricity, driving, and meat. I just wish ad campaigns wouldn't try to make us feel good about doing bad. Buying a BMW or even a Prius doesn't make you a champion of the environment under any circumstances, but I guess it might make you feel better about yourself.
Yes it's true that any car hurts the environment, but a Civic does less harm than a BMW. I guess it's a trade-off. Unless you go tribal, you probably need a vehicle to get you places. For those people who want to be "carbon neutral" (impossible, but a nice gesture), they can drive a minimally-polluting auto and maybe invest in environment-positive ventures on the side. Surely NGOs are not as efficient as large governments when it comes to environmentalism (scale, resources, laws), but at least NGOs can take action faster and not get bogged down in politics. How likely do you think "cap and trade" is of passing this year? We still have a third of Congress that doesn't believe global warming has a human cause (we still have a contingent of Congress that believes the Earth is 6,000 years old). Plus the environmental savings of Obama's plan is questionable since no one really knows what is an "acceptable" level of carbon output to cap the US economy at, nor how to price and distribute credits fairly. We'll see if that big summit in Denmark coming up bears any fruits.
But forget all this sustainable living crap, we have more important things to talk about: KanYe at the VMAs... OMG OMG, Twitter about it!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment