Is your Prius turning your kids (and you) into eco-snobs? In a word, yes. The Prius is a statement of vanity, one of "hey, look at me, I'm better than you, more eco-responsible, more whatever." Same church, different pew. The H2's statement was one of flaunting wealth, asserting dominance, and openly broadcasting the fact that the buyer was an asshole.

Leaving aside the South Park "smug" trope, there's a greater issue at work here. As long as our consumer society is hung up on identifying itself by its purchases, true responsibility will never be possible. If you cared that much about reducing your carbon footprint, you'd move to a large city like New York or Boston and take the commuter rail and the subway everywhere. You'd go to the farmer's markets in a large urban center, buy local rather than buying organic if local went a shorter distance to get to you, swap out your air conditioner for either a swamp cooler (if your large city of choice wasn't a humid area like NY or Boston) or good old-fashioned toughing out summer...or at the very least keep the A/C thermostat at 75. You'd make real sacrifices rather than "hey look at me" consumer purchases, which only makes you a liberal asshole rather than the H2-driving conservative asshole.

What makes me laugh at all this is that any economic conservative, acting simply to conserve his own financial resources, does more to help the environment than the Shakespearean sound and fury of most liberals. Where lefties talk and make movies and sing songs, the Adam Smith disciples and true capitalists are more likely to take meaningful microeconomic action. Were lefties and watermelons (Green on the outside, Red at their core) truly concerned about the environment, that fact would piss them off a lot more than it seems to in reality.

All the Inconvenient Truths, Spurlock McGurgles, and Live Earth concerts in the world don't make a lick of difference if you're not willing to shift the entire paradigm of your thinking---and if that's not enough for you, resources cost money, and I'm willing to bet that even at the Prius's significant gas mileage you're still spending an assload of money compared to the subway/rail commuter, money that could be better spent...well, just about anywhere.

Great post. Love the liveral a-holes vs. conservative ones. And very salient point about a consumer-driven society still defining itself by its purchases.

C'mon, MonsterDog, tell us what you really think. Yeah, a pose is a lot easier to strike than true, significant change. That's why AC's will still crank in July, LiveEarth concerts will generate megatonnage of trash and Prius drivers will still drive and feel like that it's an answer.

If you're driving toward a cliff, the Hummer is the shortest drive and the Prius is a little more oblique, but you will still get to the cliff. If Emily wants to make a real gesture, teach her kids how the bus system works and support mass transit.

The Prius drivers perform a useful function, though. If enough of something is sold to create a solid market, maybe we'll get better, sustainable transportation options we all could use.

Disagree. The Prius is a step towards all electric or hydrogen powered vehicles. It saves gas now, which is exactly the opposite of what a hummer does. And it's easier to park

Wow, very judgemental and holier than thou. Honestly, I'm just glad there's an environmental bandwagon for people to be jumping on. I'll take a bunch of little Priuses over a fleet of big ass Hummers any day. Ten years ago even the environmentalists were driving SUV's (seriously, I remember a letter to Sierra magazine from a guy saying it was imperative he have one to drive into roadless areas to go hiking). It's easy to criticize and say people should be doing more; I'd rather pat them on the back and let them feel a little superior. Why alienate people and label them (watermelons)? I could be a much better environmentalist, but hey, at least I'm trying.