To ask how drivers of massive SUVs square it with themselves in terms of climate change?

[Bleepingtons]

Same goes for those who go long haul on the regular? Buy loads of cheap, disposable fashion? Etc etc? Do you just not worry about climate change?

I know I sound sanctimonious but I am genuinely baffled by people driving massive diesel SUVs like there isn't a major issue.

@daimbarsatemydogsbone

Towing our caravan with a Jazz or hybrid Corolla would be interesting (unsafe and illegal). Do we have to scrap the caravan and the SUV?

My father used to tow a (smallish) caravan and managed without a SUV as they weren't around in the early 90s. However, I don't know the rules or laws around towing because I'd never do it. Camping isn't my thing!

And when I referred to a Honda Jazz it was in response to the claim that you needed an SUV for mobility issues. It wasn't about towing a caravan and it is very silly to take comments out of context.

I also shop at fast fashion places because they’re cheap and I’m broke

Off-topic but I buy a lot of my clothes from ebay. You get a lot of clothes new with tags that would otherwise go into landfill for half price or less.

@ConversationCoat

While I agree we need to do things at an individual level to address climate change as a moral imperative, I feel we're all being sold a lie that this will make a significant difference. Only sweeping changes at government and corporate level will pull us out.

If I’m honest. I’m 99% sure it’s too late, imagine the carnage if the government admitted it.

We knew this was happening 30/40 years ago. We knew it was coming. At best we might slow it a bit. But I can’t see us making a significant dent in it unless we actively seek ways to reverse it.

Things aren’t cut and dry. Even plastic. Wrapping food in plastic isn’t bad, it prolongs food which means less waste and less production emissions.
But clearly having it knocking around for 100’s of years is mental.

but they do - it's a stealth boast - their kids are so popular and have so many friends that they constantly have a car full and so need an SUV to fit in the car seats

I actually got rid of my 7-seater because I was sick of driving other people’s kids around

I now have a car so small that my teens (all tall) hate driving it, so I get to mostly keep it to myself. It basically fits me and one passenger, the dog, some tissues, a book of maps, a blanket, a box of masks, and some shopping bags.

Bleepingtons
I honestly think by the time they're adults, they'll be astonished and appalled by the decisions we made and lifestyles we led. Mine included.
But if they grow up to drive SUVs then so be it, provided they can actually drive them...

Then “so be it”??? OP you’ve started this divisive thread as though you can’t understand other peoples’ dreadful actions yet you’re fine with your own imperfections and those of your own children that you decided to bring into the world and we all should be ok with that? I’m thinking of starting a thread and ask how sanctimonious people can square it with themselves that they’re just utter hypocrites and no better than anyone else.

@ColinTheKoala

I also shop at fast fashion places because they’re cheap and I’m broke

Off-topic but I buy a lot of my clothes from ebay. You get a lot of clothes new with tags that would otherwise go into landfill for half price or less.

That is something I am working towards, but if you read the rest of my post you’ll see why I can’t do that. It’s not about it being second hand, it’s about not knowing the type of house it has been stored in etc. OCD is a long, chronic battle. Just trying to give an example of why and how some people can’t use the likes of eBay, Depop, charity shops (I can’t even step foot in one without having a panic attack).

Wrapping food in plastic IS bad. It’s used to prolong the life of foods that are usually out of season and have been transported. Cucumbers for example shouldn’t be sold in Nov.

OP so if by some magical means massive Range Rovers could be engineered to produce a zero carbon footprint but were still very expensive and out of the price budget of most people - would you be perfectly happy for those people who could afford them to drive them?

@peaceanddove

OP so if by some magical means massive Range Rovers could be engineered to produce a zero carbon footprint but were still very expensive and out of the price budget of most people - would you be perfectly happy for those people who could afford them to drive them?

I would be fine with that, so long as they learned to stay in their lane and learned how to park the damn things.

I drive an SUV. We have it to tow our caravan.

We are somewhat selfish, and want to do the things I enjoy, just like you op and 99% of people on this thread and in this country.

If you honestly think you're not then you are kidding yourself. Most of us will be doing something if not several things that are terrible for the planet.

Driver of a 'massive SUV' here. Car was bought (second hand, when Diesel was supposedly the better option) so that we could fit kids and animals in safely, drive across all terrain and because we need it to tow. It spends a lot of time going through fields / down un-made roads etc and is generally covered in mud. It's most definitely not a status symbol, it's a work-horse. Of course I'm aware that there are issues with these kind of cars and climate change, but until there is a better solution at a price that I can actually afford I don't particularly have much of a choice. So to answer your question OP, I square it with myself by doing what I can in other areas. It's very easy to pick on certain groups of people - evil SUV drivers, avacodo eaters, folk that go on holiday etc. but in reality the problem is bigger and far more complex unfortunately.

@Newgirls

Wrapping food in plastic IS bad. It’s used to prolong the life of foods that are usually out of season and have been transported. Cucumbers for example shouldn’t be sold in Nov.

They wrap them all year round though.

What I’m trying to say about all these green initiatives It’s not cut and dried though, it helps protect food and prolong it meaning we need less resources to produce it, transport it and dispose of it, which is a good thing. The plastic is obviously not the good part, nor is air freighting any fruit and veg.

We need to find better ways like corn starch wrapping.
Making sure electric cars aren’t “disposable”. If after 5 years the batteries are fucked and you need a new one

Arguably, bigger picture and production resources would say that’s no better either

@FanFckingTastic I wish people would just own that they want one. My family live in the countryside have been farmers and labourers. We have driven around fields with lambs in the back of an old ford escort and even the odd sheep. A decent car is perfectly capable of doing what a SUV does in unmade tracks. Cars with a lower sense of gravity are less likely to skid so safer. The only advantage of a SUV is that you are less likely to damage the exhaust.
People don't need SUVs. They are choosing to have one.

My father used to tow a (smallish) caravan and managed without a SUV as they weren't around in the early 90s. However, I don't know the rules or laws around towing because I'd never do it. Camping isn't my thing!

And when I referred to a Honda Jazz it was in response to the claim that you needed an SUV for mobility issues. It wasn't about towing a caravan and it is very silly to take comments out of context.

It's not the first time I've been called very silly - are you usually so patronising?

My point was not everyone is going to be able to get by with Jazz or a Corolla hybrid - that's not "out of context". The context here is blind hatred for people who drive an SUV, without any consideration of the practical issues.

[quote julieca]@FanFckingTastic I wish people would just own that they want one. My family live in the countryside have been farmers and labourers. We have driven around fields with lambs in the back of an old ford escort and even the odd sheep. A decent car is perfectly capable of doing what a SUV does in unmade tracks. Cars with a lower sense of gravity are less likely to skid so safer. The only advantage of a SUV is that you are less likely to damage the exhaust.
People don't need SUVs. They are choosing to have one.[/quote]
I can't tow our caravan with an Escort - and I bet you can't tow a trailer full of sheep with one either.

What do you consider to be a “massive SUV”?
They all seem massive when they're parked on the pavement and you're having to walk into the oncoming traffic to get round the bastard things.
Three things that people here aspire to: a plastic lawn, a hot tub and a white Discovery. No wonder the environment's screwed.

@daimbarsatemydogsbone no you use a tractor to tow a trailer full of sheep.

@daimbarsatemydogsbone And I was not saying you needed a ford escort. I was saying a car can do everything you said you need an SUV for. You prefer an SUV, That is all.

No point pinning it down on one group of people, we are all to blame. Everyone is a little bit of a hypocrite when it comes to going green

Hear hear.

Making sure electric cars aren’t “disposable”. If after 5 years the batteries are fucked and you need a new one

As far as I know we are yet to find a solution as to how the batteries will be recycled.

julieca Fri 05-Nov-21 12:04:00
@FanFckingTastic I wish people would just own that they want one. My family live in the countryside have been farmers and labourers. We have driven around fields with lambs in the back of an old ford escort and even the odd sheep. A decent car is perfectly capable of doing what a SUV does in unmade tracks. Cars with a lower sense of gravity are less likely to skid so safer. The only advantage of a SUV is that you are less likely to damage the exhaust.
People don't need SUVs. They are choosing to have one.

Maybe you missed the part where I said I need my SUV to tow? I don't believe that the ford escort that you describe above would be able to do this safely so would not be an option in my situation. As I also said, I would love to have something else but there are many factors that don't make that possible, so I do what I can elsewhere. If it would make you feel better then I'm happy to 'own' my decision to drive one.

As a previous poster said, it's not one group of people that are to blame, we could all do more.

You’ll regret your YABUs when there’s no more wine left - or it costs £500 a bottle!
www.theguardian.com/food/2021/nov/05/warning-over-extremely-low-wine-production-in-europe-due-to-bad-weather

DH has a decent all wheel car, when we get either snow or flooding he needs the ground clearance of my SUV to get about. ( We aren't in the UK so get both of these a fair bit)

That said I drive the size up from a discovery SUV through choice and would consider downsizing to a discovery to be greener.

I do just fine in Maine in a Kia Rio with snow tyres.

@FanFckingTastic maybe you missed my point that I have repeated that I was not saying to buy a ford escort. There are plenty of tough cars around that can tow. Most people towing caravans in the past had ordinary cars with the power to do this.
And its easy to say everyone is to blame when it is the richest with the biggest carbon footprint.