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.

Because I had to negotiate a journey featuring 2 sets of snow gates, a single track road and unfenced sheep to get the kids to nursery and myself to my hospital based job (and was frequently phoned by management to give other key workers a lift when the weather was foul and they quite liked staffing the wards)
No mobile signal at the time, still pretty patchy and as for an electric charging point or suitable bus service....
Vehicle eventually died with over 200,000 miles on the clock, before being cannibalised for parts.

Jassy

I’m pushing back on this paternalistic idea that Chinese emissions are based on Western demand, as if China would go back to its low-carbon, impoverished lifestyles absent this demand.

So the overall point is that carbon emissions are driven more by local needs rather than by manufactured goods bound for Western markets.

@UsedUpUsername

Jassy

I’m pushing back on this paternalistic idea that Chinese emissions are based on Western demand, as if China would go back to its low-carbon, impoverished lifestyles absent this demand.

So the overall point is that carbon emissions are driven more by local needs rather than by manufactured goods bound for Western markets.

It’s both!

I am pushing back on the idea that we are innocent in all this. We really aren’t.

If we buy less it makes a difference.

China isn’t perfect of course not. But neither are we with our rich lifestyles and multiple children and pets.

I’m another one who drives an SUV due to using a mobility scooter or wheelchair due to disability (hi to @TheFairyCaravan and @Duchess379 ) Most normal cars can’t fit a mobility scooter. I’ve also found I can’t get in or out of most ‘standard’ cars in a safe way as they are too low down. Public transport isn’t an option as my local station doesn’t have step free access. My SUV is a hybrid which seems like a reasonable compromise.

@BlackCountryWench2

Yeah, so giving up your 4x4 will save the planet. When Joe Biden flies on AirForce One to a climate change conference with 85 vehicles in his motorcade, the private jets landing equalled Scotland’s entire carbon footprint for a year and China and Russia didn’t even bother turning up. I’ll keep driving my Jaguar thanks.

indeed!

Yeah fucking politicians and their private jets, I'm going to drive my 4 x 4 wherever I like, whenever I like, because I fucking can, fuck the world and fuck every one else.

I drive a 12 year old high top LWB automatic diesel van that does better mpg than any of the other cars we have.
If I could afford a reliable electric van that could do 600 miles in a day without needing to stop for recharging then I would swap it out today.

I am trying to get Ds a car as he hopefully is about to pass his test soon.

It needs to be Petrol/Electric (ULEZ compliant) automatic (he can’t drive a manual and is taking the automatic test) and either an SUV or an estate. (That in itself is like looking for a needle in a haystack)
I need him to have an estate or SUV because it needs to transport larger pieces of furniture, tools etc
Secondly because I have driven past too many horrific accidents where a small saloon or hatchback is involved and you know by the crushed vehicle that whoever was in there didn’t walk away from that accident. Especially if a lorry was involved . I would be too scared for him to go out in a smaller car.

I do drive dhs hatchback occasionally and I find it incredibly scary how close some lorries get to the back of these little cars
It is a fatal accident waiting to happen and you know the guy in the lorry is not going to be the one who is stretchered off

I don’t buy clothing, shoes, handbags etc I could pack a small back pack with every piece of clothing I own
I am a vegetarian who is allergic to dairy and doesn’t really like eggs. I don’t call myself fully vegan (Ds is vegan) but I am getting there
I haven’t been on holiday for nearly 4 years.
I recycle, mend stuff or buy 2nd hand rather than buy new when it comes to furniture etc
I don’t really shop on line. I have only used Amazon a couple of times I think.
It is so long ago that I can’t remember what I bought. I know it didn’t come from overseas as I remember thinking that the delivery times were long.

I don’t think when it comes to Carbon footprints mine is that bad compared to some people.
Driving is my only significant imprint and that is only because I have to because it is how I earn a

@Bythemillpond

What about a fabia estate? Not the coolest but might tick the box.

Secondly because I have driven past too many horrific accidents where a small saloon or hatchback is involved and you know by the crushed vehicle that whoever was in there didn’t walk away from that accident. Especially if a lorry was involved . I would be too scared for him to go out in a smaller car.

Living in Maine, where a huge number of personal vehicles are SUVs or large pickup trucks, I can confirm that they provide very little extra protection when hit by a truck.

We also regularly have pileups during snowstorms, and SUVs and pickups tend to be those that are most likely to be involved, because they have a false sense of security and leave too little stopping distance.

Agree our politicians are not leading by example. BJ flying down in private jet for a dinner ffs. We need more green MPs and to catch up with the Scandinavian countries, New Zealand etc.

@UsedUpUsername

Jassy

I’m pushing back on this paternalistic idea that Chinese emissions are based on Western demand, as if China would go back to its low-carbon, impoverished lifestyles absent this demand.

So the overall point is that carbon emissions are driven more by local needs rather than by manufactured goods bound for Western markets.

LOL it's not a paternalistic idea - it is a fact!

Try being riddled with arthritis, having metal plates in your back and pelvis and see if you can get into a low down car and I think you’ll find you can’t

I don't but my mum does have metal in her back and she has a Honda Jazz which she is very happy with.

And most people who drive SUVs are not disabled and do not live rurally. They drive them as status symbols (and park them on pavements with the engine running).

@Fizzbangwallop

I’m another one who drives an SUV due to using a mobility scooter or wheelchair due to disability (hi to *@TheFairyCaravan and @Duchess379* ) Most normal cars can’t fit a mobility scooter. I’ve also found I can’t get in or out of most ‘standard’ cars in a safe way as they are too low down. Public transport isn’t an option as my local station doesn’t have step free access. My SUV is a hybrid which seems like a reasonable compromise.

😊👍🏼

LOL it's not a paternalistic idea - it is a fact!

Lol no.

Emissions are driven by domestic needs—the construction industry emissions exceeds that of the export-led manufacturing sector, for example. IIRC foreign exports make up less than 15 percent of their total emissions.

So maybe stop thinking the UK has any levers to control what China does. Those days are long over!

Living in Maine, where a huge number of personal vehicles are SUVs or large pickup trucks, I can confirm that they provide very little extra protection when hit by a truck.

In the UK there have been no fatalities in a Volvo XC90 so clearly there is something to be said for a safe SUV.

@ColinTheKoala

Try being riddled with arthritis, having metal plates in your back and pelvis and see if you can get into a low down car and I think you’ll find you can’t

I don't but my mum does have metal in her back and she has a Honda Jazz which she is very happy with.

And most people who drive SUVs are not disabled and do not live rurally. They drive them as status symbols (and park them on pavements with the engine running).

Good for your mum. I take it she doesn’t have a mobility scooter to transport and neither does she have arthritis in almost every joint in her body?

Why can’t people accept we’re not all the same so we don’t have the same requirements?

CrankyFrankie

To quote someone else
The world doesn’t need a handful of people doing climate conscious perfectly; it needs millions of people doing it imperfectly.

I like this quote. We don’t all need to be vegan, wear hair shirts and live in mud huts powered by solar. We just all need to do what we can. Start with the bits that feel easiest.

@Shade17

Living in Maine, where a huge number of personal vehicles are SUVs or large pickup trucks, I can confirm that they provide very little extra protection when hit by a truck.

In the UK there have been no fatalities in a Volvo XC90 so clearly there is something to be said for a safe SUV.

Ahh we should all get one then. I quite like them.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-59157836

This is interesting. Very shocking graphs about the emissions the top richest 1% emit. I was also surprised by how little you need to earn to be in the top 1%. In pounds it’s around £127,000 I think. So it isn’t just the millionaires and billionaires (although their emissions are likely to be the highest).

The next highest emissions are in the group earning over £42,000 (top 10%). My memory isn’t great so so fact check but it’s around that) and translating dollars into £ I haven’t quoted the exact amount.

I know lots of people that would fall into those two categories but wouldn’t imagine that they would be in the top 1% or 10% richest people in the world.

The injustice that the richest 11% of the worlds population are causing most of the problem but those who have the least will be most effected is depressing.

I noticed in Italy a about 3 years ago, when we were staying in a small hill town near Naples, that locals drove small cars that cd manoeuvre the narrow streets. What a clever idea that was, I often think, as I press myself into a hedge in a narrow country lane so as to make way for the much wider cars driven over here. Or try to get into my car when the owners of great bug

YABU. As much as I don't understand why people who live in the town need any type of 4b4, since cars are not banned, it is their personal choice.

What I find annoying is couples with more than one child telling me that the way I live is not sustainable. Well, it is to me.

May be take your anger out on the USA, Qatar, China, India... Who are polluting at a great rate of knots and leave your fellow Brits alone as we are not the worst in the world.

@Suspiciousmind20

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-59157836

This is interesting. Very shocking graphs about the emissions the top richest 1% emit. I was also surprised by how little you need to earn to be in the top 1%. In pounds it’s around £127,000 I think. So it isn’t just the millionaires and billionaires (although their emissions are likely to be the highest).

The next highest emissions are in the group earning over £42,000 (top 10%). My memory isn’t great so so fact check but it’s around that) and translating dollars into £ I haven’t quoted the exact amount.

I know lots of people that would fall into those two categories but wouldn’t imagine that they would be in the top 1% or 10% richest people in the world.

The injustice that the richest 11% of the worlds population are causing most of the problem but those who have the least will be most effected is depressing.

Thanks for sharing that. I think a lot of well off people simply do not realise how rich they are on an international scale.

I do drive dhs hatchback occasionally and I find it incredibly scary how close some lorries get to the back of these little cars.

To be fair, 99% of lorries are restricted to 56mph so you may be driving too slow on the motorway if they're right up your bumper.

As they're prohibited from using the fast lane to overtake, a lorry up your arse is usually a hint to stop hogging the middle lane and pull over so they can get past.

I spend a lot of time in tiny villages & hamlets. Too small for a shop.

Fiat500s are quite popular in the wee villages; sensible choice when the roads are so narrow and we don't have too many hills to deal with.

Kaykay, yeah lorries never go over that speed limit and never go in the fast lane