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.

@Heartdogs

It's takes a special type of oblivious obnoxious person to drive a big SUV. It's not just the environment damage which is the big thing. In a high speed crash with another car the likelihood is that they will be grand and the passengers of the other car will be crushed. They take up more than a normal sized parking space so you can't use the spaces either side of them.. You can't see past them at junctions. They are bad for the environment, make the roads more dangerous and should not be legal.

FFS, If Carlsberg did stupid....

I do have an SUV but it's electric For our remaining petrol car, plus eating meat, etc I have a carbon subscription on Chooose to offset the whole family's carbon, plus a family carbon budget. Various family "rules" help us remain under budget eg. No driving short journeys, no flying if there is a train (so we take the train to Spain for instance), reuse clothes and buy second hand, etc.

You wouldn't see any of that if you saw us rock up to the airport to fly long haul to see family twice a year, and I offset the carbon from that each time, costs about £10 per person at the moment. I'm sure people are judging me flying long haul so I try not to judge SUV drivers - they might be offsetting their emissions, who knows.

I do judge people who are actively wasteful out of spite like the "rolling coal" bellends in the USA.

So what am I supposed to do with it?
Surely it’s worse to scrap a perfectly good vehicle than use it until it dies? We do minimise how often we use it but the size meets our needs.

@Heartdogs

It's takes a special type of oblivious obnoxious person to drive a big SUV. It's not just the environment damage which is the big thing. In a high speed crash with another car the likelihood is that they will be grand and the passengers of the other car will be crushed. They take up more than a normal sized parking space so you can't use the spaces either side of them.. You can't see past them at junctions. They are bad for the environment, make the roads more dangerous and should not be legal.

OK so they should be banned. I assume towing trailers, horse boxes and caravans should be banned too? Is that what you want?

@Smilerjone

So what am I supposed to do with it? Surely it’s worse to scrap a perfectly good vehicle than use it until it dies? We do minimise how often we use it but the size meets our needs.

You won’t get an answer from the hoary bellends

These threads always seem to target women who drive SUVs on the school run/ can't park them ect. Never do I see men mentioned,who might have the same issues or even ( horror) use them to enjoy themselves.
I did have a diesel SUV,it was 14 years old when it gave up the ghost. I miss it every day. I can't tow with the estate that we replaced it with,can't drive off road,it's useless around the farm,and driving on the pot holey lanes around here with low profile tyres makes me twitchy. I still drive a diesel,and next year,will hopefully buy another diesel 4x4.
I live in a super insulated eco house,with an ASHP,but don't go around pointing the finger and judging people who don't.

I mean me surviving a car crash sounds like a good reason to buy an suv tbh.

I thought the wankers who can’t drive all had bmw, audis and Mercedes with their non functioning indicators and what not.

The human race will die out, like the dinosaurs. 🤷‍♀️

Gaia will have something else probably more fabulous up her sleeve.

My SUV was given to me. I don't think about climate change. Therefore I don't square it with myself.

Everyone justifying them of course on this thread. I am so sick of people driving round in them full of excuses and arrogance.

This has actually turned into quite an interesting thread.

And yet amongst the reasoned discussion and personal perspectives we seem to get a handful of people who evidently haven’t read the thread, popping by with clichéd, generalised, fact-free effluvia.

It’s the internet equivalent of going to a debating society meeting and taking a shit on the floor.

@Smilerjone

So what am I supposed to do with it? Surely it’s worse to scrap a perfectly good vehicle than use it until it dies? We do minimise how often we use it but the size meets our needs.

Sensible to keep using it Rather than replace it. At the end of its life you can decide which way to go,

Everyone makes their own choices. It’s all a balance. This main onus should be on governments making sensible decisions

@ufucoffee

My SUV was given to me. I don't think about climate change. Therefore I don't square it with myself.

Imo this is also fine. Resources were used to make it. Now it’s being passed forward.

Things that are made to last are better for the planet.

We have two of them. We wouldn't be able to get to work or back home in the winter without them.

They are both quite new tho so I think they will be better for the environment than if we drove old pick ups.

We tow trailers, horse boxes, live on a Croft on the top of the hill. A normal car just wouldn't cut it here.

I don't really think about the environment sorry! I just like being able to get to and from work safely.

Sorry I went AWOL. I don't think I worded my original post well because the "etc etc" was also meant to cover the other things that are totally optional but also not great for the environment so I put SUVs in the title but of course I'm aware that the planet will not be saved if everyone starts driving a prius.

For what it's worth, I'm vegan, drive an EV, don't fly, only buy secondhand etc but am not perfect. I DO have 2 kids which us obviously a shit decision in terms of carbon output but I'm not sure I'd equate that with driving a range rover. If someone on here has decided NOT to have kids because they want a big car and long haul holidays then kudos to them.

Not sure I'm explaining myself very well- I just am interested about how ppl get comfortable about making relatively small decisions (car, holiday, having a balloon arch at a party) which they know are objectively not environmentally friendly.

BTW a lot of the reasons here I totally get, some of them are effing nuts though (I'm looking at you climate change deniers 👀).

@PuttingOutFires

I live in the middle of nowhere 🤷‍♀️

So do I. 750ft up. Side of a mountain. I drive a small Toyota which is more than adequate.

We are a one car family .it's a ageing petrol saloon. However I would not call someone out just because they drive an suv .we eat meat I take baths ,(can't get on with showers!) And so on .obv try to be green by recycling as much as we can.do our bit .don't demonise whole groups of people ffs!

I DO have 2 kids which us obviously a shit decision in terms of carbon output but I'm not sure I'd equate that with driving a Range Rover

You can’t equate it because it’s much worse for the environment. Incomparably so. But as with all these silly environmentally superior threads it’s convenient to you to justify your children but you didn’t mind not having a 4x4 so that’s your hill to die on. Also people who just wanted/could afford 2 children so suddenly having 2 children is totally fine but more is AWFUL.

@MsTSwift

There’s a poster on here with nine children 🙄. Puts the odd suv into the shade.

When you're too old and infirm to wipe your own arse, one of those kids will be doing it. Another will be keeping the power grid going, another working at a processing plant preparing your food, another a chemist dispensing your analgesics...

We all owe that poster a debt of gratitude.

We have a huge Range Rover from 2014. Bought when OH had to drive up and down the country with a bad back. We wouldn't get a quarter of what we paid if we sold it now - and it's such a comfy car.. btw I don't do school drops off etc..
and we are vegetarian. And I buy organic bedding/ towels / food/ clothing as much as possible. In fact - I'm the only one who drives it now and I wfh so it hardly gets used.. but when I do use it- bliss... so comfy...

@Chunkymenrock

Everyone justifying them of course on this thread. I am so sick of people driving round in them full of excuses and arrogance.

I'm sick of people pretending to be oh so morally superior when I bet they destroy the environment in other ways. Children? Meat? Pets? Holidays? Heating?

@SickAndTiredAgain

I never thought that someone would judge based on our vehicle. Interesting concept

People judge based on everything. Even if not from an environmental view, people judge cars.

Yup. There was even a South Park episode about it a decade ago. In it, people who drive hybrid cars generated so much atmospheric smug from huffing their own self-satisfied farts that they created a storm which destroyed San Francisco. Great episode! "Smug Alert."

Our car is possibly classed as an SUV, but it’s on the smaller side. It has a small petrol engine and is pretty economical to run. It also shuts off two cylinders when it doesn’t need the extra power to save emissions.

We probably could use an EV for most of our driving but I’m not convinced they’re the panacea everyone thinks!

@Justheretoaskaquestion91

I DO have 2 kids which us obviously a shit decision in terms of carbon output but I'm not sure I'd equate that with driving a Range Rover

You can’t equate it because it’s much worse for the environment. Incomparably so. But as with all these silly environmentally superior threads it’s convenient to you to justify your children but you didn’t mind not having a 4x4 so that’s your hill to die on. Also people who just wanted/could afford 2 children so suddenly having 2 children is totally fine but more is AWFUL.

I'm not denying that, but that's not the point of this thread and you're wilfully misunderstanding what I'm asking. I actually ideally wanted 4 kids but stopped at 2 because of the environment - not ideal still as I've acknowledged but the validity of my question still stands.

ALSO, and this was kind of my point - I had kids because my life would have been worse without them (I thought) and that would have an impact on me every day for my entire life. I don't think driving a big polluting car or flying long haul would have that same impact. That was my point.

@Bleepingtons

Sorry I went AWOL. I don't think I worded my original post well because the "etc etc" was also meant to cover the other things that are totally optional but also not great for the environment so I put SUVs in the title but of course I'm aware that the planet will not be saved if everyone starts driving a prius.

For what it's worth, I'm vegan, drive an EV, don't fly, only buy secondhand etc but am not perfect. I DO have 2 kids which us obviously a shit decision in terms of carbon output but I'm not sure I'd equate that with driving a range rover. If someone on here has decided NOT to have kids because they want a big car and long haul holidays then kudos to them.

Not sure I'm explaining myself very well- I just am interested about how ppl get comfortable about making relatively small decisions (car, holiday, having a balloon arch at a party) which they know are objectively not environmentally friendly.

BTW a lot of the reasons here I totally get, some of them are effing nuts though (I'm looking at you climate change deniers 👀).

Well there you are.

Anyone who hasnt got kids for whatever reason, can ask how you how you can live with the fact that you've got kids. Theybhavent got any kids so anyone with even one kid isnt thinking about the environment.

Not just one but 2.
How do you feel comfortable with the decision that you've made that you know isn't environmentally friendly? Which is in fact the worse thing you can do for the environment. Have 2 kids in the western world.

You manage to live with your actions. I imagine it's the same for everyone else.