Comments on: PBS to America: Fight Global Warming, Drive an SUV

By: AD

AD — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 14:12:19 +0000

crzwdjk, you’re absolutely right. I imagine NYC or Philly or Boston would be preferable to Phoenix or Las Vegas or Miami during a heat wave. Kalkstein’s statement is absurd. I guess he gave himself an out with that word “probably.”

By: geoffrey

geoffrey — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 18:05:38 +0000

Toyota has a prom^H^H^H sponsorship spot on PBS’Newshour depicting a vehicle as
witnessed from the drivers seat driven at a ..um.. shall we say “spirited” pace
on a serpentine circuit. At one point a cyclist is seen virtually riding on top
of the shoulder stripe. I as a cyclist would consider this in itself to be uns
afe but the spot seems to infer that is where “Toyota” expects cyclists to ride.
Our video goes on to depict the vehicle passing the cyclist on a bend with a s
olid centre line without crossing the line. This would infer the motorist did
not allow the three feet in passing a cyclist as presently required in at least
eight states.
Is Toyota by virtue of depicting the entire course of action from the drivers se
at encouraging drivers to drive too fast for conditions and unsafely (illegally
in a number of jurisdictions) around cyclists?

By: Angus Grieve-Smith

Angus Grieve-Smith — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 03:37:35 +0000

A condensed version apparently appeared in theaters (including the Regal Ewok on 42nd Street), and came out on video this week:

http://www.thegreatwarming.com/

None of the many reviews reprinted on the website mention Manhattan; maybe that’s part of what was cut. Or maybe it just went under their radar.

By: Joeventures

Joeventures — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 01:01:59 +0000

This is unbelievable! I’d be interested to hear a response from PBS… or at least that professor. Not that they could say much of any use.

By: Matthew

Matthew — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 21:18:00 +0000

PBS is becoming increasingly commercial and increasingly disappointing. I feel like the past few years have brought it a mere step away from commercial television, and that is really quite depressing.

Documentaries and reports like this make me feel hopeless when it comes to changing peoples minds about how we can live in this world.

By: crzwdjk

crzwdjk — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 20:23:09 +0000

“In every way imaginable, a northeastern U.S.-type urban setting is probably the worst you can possibly imagine for heat-related mortality.”
Except that’s patently not true. The worst setting I can imagine for heat-related mortality is a sprawling suburban-oriented city like Phoenix, built in an environment where without air conditioning life would be literally impossible for half the year.

By: ddartley

ddartley — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 20:08:00 +0000

Freaking out. I will keep in mind that I haven’t actually seen the docu, but I’m pretty much outraged at the insidiousness of both the message and its origins. Thanks, Aaron, for the good work.

Tell the following to everyone you know; put it on all your own personal blogs; make it your e-mail signature; pass it on to leading environmentalists and their organizations, and enlightened politicians that it might be picked up as a national slogan: “Cities are better for the environment.”

This story suggests to me that people like Sbloggers and their readers have conversing under an assumption that most people already know that, but this story says to me that concise word (“cities are good/better/the answer,” etc.) needs to get out there.

I’m going to write to Laurence Kalkstein and PBS, and will even try Alanis, if there’s something like a “contact Alanis!” link on her website, in the hope that they might make some public statement opposing the twisted message they’ve (maybe unwittingly) promoted. It would be nice to see some of them promote the notion that population density is far more energy efficient and far less polluting than suburbs, and that specifically because of climate change considerations, the US ought NOT generate more sprawl, and ought not create more demand for CARS! Quite the opposite in both cases; the US should encourage populations to condense more, and encourage demand for public transportation!

I encourage you guys to contact those people too. Who’s Alanis’s agent?!

By: brent

brent — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 20:01:15 +0000

Thank you for this- very insightful. I am glad Alanis did this project. It really exposes the real reason the â€œmusic industryâ€ has ceased to be relevant and is collapsing financially (not because of illicit downloads). Her types are not about challenging the system- they are about embracing it and making a free Toyota on the side. She is a Beverly Hills puke motoring around in her SUV all smug because she is changing the world with her environmentalism. Donâ€™t knock NY Morissette you dumbass!

By: Glenn

Glenn — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 19:41:04 +0000

Thanks Aaron, this was a nice comedy break on a Friday afternoon. Future Truck…so beautiful…so wrong.

Living in dense urban areas is perhaps the most environmentally friendly way to live a modern lifestyle.

By: Charles Siegel

Charles Siegel — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 19:24:18 +0000

Someone needs to expose the Prius myth. Here are some rough figures off the top of my head:

To stabilize world climate, we must reduce the world’s per capita CO2 emissions to about 1.5 tons per year (from all sources, including personal sources, such as your car and heating your house, plus the CO2 emitted to manufacture and transport the food and products you buy).

A Prius emits 2.5 tons of CO2 per year, if you drive as much as the average American (based on the fact that the average American car emits 5 tons and the assumption that a Prius emits about half as much as a car).

Therefore, a Prius emits almost twice as much as your total per capita emissions should be – if you drive as much as the average American.

Assuming that half your emissions are personal and half from the products you consume (as they are now), a Prius emits three to four times as much as your total personal emissions should be – if you drive as much as the average American.

Obviously, in addition to buying Priuses, we should drive much less than the average American now drives.

By: Clarence

Clarence — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 18:10:49 +0000

Aaron,

Nice piece of dissection. Of course I see this crap all the time when I see other videos which is why I think I will never stop doing the stuff I do – because we constantly have to battle people that put out this kind of misinformation…

Flashback over 50 years ago, check this little baby out sponsored by GM: http://www.archive.org/details/GiveYour1954

It will leave you aghast.

Poor Alanis, I am sure she thought she was doing the right thing.