This is a tough subject because folks tend to be very touchy about how they (and their stuff) get around.
Our conveyances are seen & used as symbols of 'status';
Having things shipped to us extra-fast is also seen this way.
Just one extreme example of the above=> the 2010 Hummer H2 - 6.2L:
A huge thing, weighing in at over 3 tons (dry & unloaded), with a gigantic engine & matching fuel usage.
In some places there are alot of these on the roads despite fuel being ~$4/gallon.
Most of the time these have no passengers=> and are used ONLY by the driver.
Hard to imagine using something that large, heavy & thirsty just to go to the store for bread, but it happens alot...
(Many families of 5 have nice campers which easily sleep them all that are smaller and weigh a great deal less. Most camp cottages are smaller & lighter too.)
So, is this monster being mentioned because of it's terrible fuel economy ?
Nope.
It's here because it clearly shows how we're reducing the planet to rubble via excessive consumption of materials.
About 6300 pounds of metal, plastic and who knows what all else is used just to make this disgustingly huge obscenity.
Sell it to someone ultimately insensitive; add all it's fluid weights, 4 adults and the stuff they carry around and there you have close to 4 TONS of wasteful excess.
Let's have a quick look at jet airplanes now...the commercial sorts used for ferrying around people & packages very FAST over long distances.
They are gigantic (mostly) and none of them are able to remain aloft unless ALOT of power is applied every single second.
When they stop using fuel, they just fall out of the sky like huge bricks; but this mention is not about their safety.
It is here to point to just ONE, single fact:
Commercial airports use so much fuel each day that it must be measured in TONS instead of gallons - and this fuel is much too expensive for use in cars or trucks.
Jets burn the stuff in gallons-per-second/per engine, and so they must carry tons of this fancy, expensive fuel just to move around without crashing down.
Next lets look at 18-wheelers, the sort we see everywhere all the time; zipping around on the roads in countless thousands, daily.
They are huge, heavy & use LOTS of fuel continuously (even when empty).
Most folks do not remember that there used to be very few of these on the roads and that most trucks were smaller.
Used to be that trains carried stuff more slowly over long distances, and that trucks were mostly used locally for bringing stuff to stores.
A simple, short way of explaining this:
"State-of-the-art trucks can begin to approach the ton-miles per gallon of trains (350+ ton-miles for trucks vs. 400 to 450 ton-miles for rail)."
-BUT- this leaves out some very important factors, like all the oil, tires, brakes and other consumables needed by EACH 18-wheeler, and most folks do not know that many of those huge truck engines use as much as 20 gallons of oil which must be changed quite regularly; remember - this is for EACH truck, whereas a train has several engines and can haul hundreds of cargo cars in each. Put that freight back onto trains and it will get around slower, but ALOT less wastefully.
The shortest possible explanation is that if we can just need less stuff, and allow it to move less quickly, we can greatly ease the load on our beautiful planet's resources.
Do we care enough to make a point of doing this ?
Created by a peaceful inhabitant who loves this planet and all the other peaceful beings it is shared with.
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