September 2001

(The following is intended for duplication and distribution on the windshields of large, gas-guzzling sports utility vehicles everywhere, especially in wealthy suburbs...)

Dear SUV user,
Hi! Don't throw me out! This is a friendly letter to you, proud owner and driver of a sports utility vehicle, informing you of some things you may not have been aware of, or taken into consideration, when you arrived at the decision to purchase your popular motor vehicle.

Safety
Many SUV users have stated that they enjoy driving their vehicles because they "feel safer" driving them. The rationale for this is that in the event of a crash, being inside a larger vehicle - and being higher off the ground - will protect them from injury. If you don't mind us saying so, isn't that just a little, uh, selfish? If you smashed into a sedan and killed everyone on board, but were barely hurt yourself, would you really want to survive with all that guilt hanging over your head the rest of your life? Think about it.

Also, statistics indicate that SUVs aren't as safe as you might think. A.J. Nomai writes in The Free Heretic Online (www. geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/1818/) that SUVs' "high centre of gravity makes them more likely to roll over when trying to avoid an accident." Their enormous mass requires greater stopping time, and studies have shown the vehicles' brakes to be inferior to those of most passenger cars. Nomai goes on to say that "last year in the U.S., 5,447 people were killed in crashes involving a car and an SUV - that's over 1000 more deaths than in crashes involving two cars."

Pollution
You may have heard about this phenomenon, climate change. Greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons, nitrous oxide and a host of others, are being emitted into the Earth's atmosphere by human activity. These trap the sun's rays and increase the planet's temperature. Automobiles account for nearly 50% of the world's greenhouse gas output. I'm not sure if you were informed by either your automotive dealer or the automotive industry's marketing campaign, but you are driving a horribly fuel-inefficient car.

The SUV's "light truck" designation allows for lower fuel economy than a standard passenger car - according to the excellent website www.suv.org (maintained by Friends of the Earth) - the most enormous of the SUVs, the Ford Excursion, gets a fuel economy of 3.7 miles per gallon (1.3 km per litre) compared to say, a Volkswagen New Beetle which get 27.5 mpg (9.7 km/L). The average fuel economy for SUV models is 13 mpg, which is still gas-guzzling by any definition.

It may be hard to visualize a correlation between your own individual choice of personal transportation and the gradual warming of the entire planet. But the correlation is direct. Sports utility vehicles now account for 25% of all new vehicles sold in North America. According to the Sierra Club, Arctic sea-ice has shrunk 5.5% since the mid-1970's and the zone of continuous permafrost has retreated 100 km north. We don't wish to pin the blame you on personally, or pretend that you would single-handedly reverse the global warming process by trading in your SUV for a smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicle, or using public transit, or biking or walking, instead of driving. But it would help.

Economics
How much do you spend on gas each month? How does it feel when you're $150 poorer every time you fill your behemoth's tank? What about insurance? The danger SUVs represent to other drivers has pushed up your premiums. And the big motor companies in Detroit and Oshawa are making a killing off your participation in the SUV craze - due to inflated prices, light trucks (including vans and pick-up trucks) constitute half of U.S. sales but make up 2/3 of their profits, says suv.org.

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If you're still reading at this point, you may be thinking, "I've heard all this before." We know you have your reasons and/or justifications for your choice of transport. We obviously don't approve of it, but we understand. Driving an SUV gives you a sense of adventure, allowing you to escape from the rat-race of the city and retreat to the beauty and serenity of nature. Did you know only 5% of sports utes are ever driven off-road? We'll let you ponder the paradox of "enjoying" nature while contributing to its destruction on your own.

And we know, you enjoy your vehicle's comfort, and appreciate its convenience, especially for errands like groceries, laundry and taking the kids to some athletic practice. That's hard to argue with. But how comfortable is breathing when the air is choked with smog, and how convenient is it to drive and park when the roads are clogged with vehicles that are so damn big? Perhaps you are a rugged individualist who believes that "bigger is better" and in the "survival of the fittest" - screw everybody else, I'll drive a big, ugly biosphere-spoiling, pedestrian-squashing monster if I want, because "I've earned it"? In that case, all your individuality has earned you is a comfy spot being pinned beneath the fat swollen thumb of market-driven neo-conservative ideology. Way to go.

And if you've bought one because you are an insecure speck of a human being whose prime concern is what your next-door neighbours a hundred feet away think of you, then how would it feel to get tagged with a bumper sticker that reads "I'm Changing The Climate!"? (see www.changingtheclimate.com for more info) And how does it feel to know your kids and their friends are making fun of you, that they call your beloved mechanical bride a "Gran Viagra"? Think about it. Really. It's not too late. Yet.