Thankful For or Do/Don't Care?

"Groagun" (groagun)
11/28/2014 at 17:00 • Filed to: None

Sitting back and looking at the automotive Industry as a whole at the moment you can pull out a dozen or so 'BIG' stories that grab the headlines most days. As OPPO and Jalopnik are consumer sites, the difference between them and more inside industry sites like autonews.com often differ.

For those of us who consider ourselves enthusiasts, how many of us visit autonews.com and if so how often and how many have an actual subscription? Sometimes the difference not just in stories is vast but the way(s) in which the same story is covered is the 'BIG' difference.

I've been wondering for sometime as many of my posts have elicited numerous and varied responses. Some are positive and some negative. I have no problem with people disagreeing or arguing points of difference and opinion with me. The problem occurs when respondents clearly have no real knowledge of what they are talking about.

I work in the business so that charge may be unfair but if you have the time and passion to not just stop by and read posts on sites like OPPO or Jalopnik, but actually take the time and thought to write a response, then I feel you deserve to be heard.

So here we are at Thanksgiving, at least for Americans, and in the next headline I'm going to tackle, I'm wondering whether or not you are Thankful or Do or Do Not Care at all?

Top of the charts at the moment is the OPEC decision to keep production high and the resulting low gas prices at the pump.

I think the average 'Joe' is thankful no question. As enthusiasts we should be savvier than the average 'Joe' and the question of whether or not we care is an interesting one.

I would surmise that we wouldn't care only if we had more money than we knew what to do with. The really interesting point is determining the reason(s) we do care.

First and foremost is always easy: cheap gas leaves more money in our pockets. I'm interested in whether or not you care that the idea of conservation and the resulting technology to lower fuel consumption is actually being debated amongst the large auto manufacturers and the government itself.

C.A.F.E. standards, Corporate Average Fuel Economy, have a review in 2017 and many are calling for the easing of the standards and goals that have been set out. The primary reason is the new 'abundance' of oil around the world. That position assumes because there is so much, we really don't need to conserve. Do you believe that?

As the standards are set at the moment, passenger cars have a target of 35.2 mpg and by 2025 a target of 55.3 mpg has been set. Combined targets are a more compelling calculus as it's more representative of the whole automakers portfolio. Combined cars and trucks in 2014 are targeted at 31.4 mpg and for 2025 it's 48.7 mpg.

Do you care? You should! While math on this great holiday may be the farthest thing from your mind, it really does matter to the world you live in, even your tiny little slice right now and especially to those younger members sitting around your dinner table this holiday.

We should care hard targets like 48.7 mpg combined C.A.F.E. targets for 2025 seem impossible today. Setting targets and goals is important and provides the path to success.

I could go all 'Environmental' on you and talk about mother Earth and all of that but truth be told, the planet will be fine. It has nothing but time on its' side. We however do not! The arguments that emissions are harmful to the environment are correct but not the one we should be making.

The truth is that damage to the environment is a crime against humanity itself. We are the ones that suffer the consequences. This giant floating rock has the time and ability to heal itself. We have but a blink of an eye to live our lives and pass it along to the next generation. Poisoning our environment is directly poisoning our selves.

Fossil fuels are going to be with us for some time, you can take that one to the bank. Using less and eventually not using any at all should be the final goal. I have no idea if we can achieve that.

The benefits of striving towards that are enormous, both today and for tomorrow. The greed and instant gratification of those who actively argue and campaign to do otherwise should be seen for what it is: wholly unadulterated selfishness.

So, I hope you're thankful for all you have, the best to you and your family. I hope you care to provide them the very best and healthiest future possible.

DISCUSSION (4)

ly2v8-Brian > Groagun
11/28/2014 at 17:34

We need to work to get more cars off the road. Most don't seem to care about cars, so a better solution for them will get them out of the driver seat. The trouble is that because of urban sprawl in the US, changing the requirement that you need a car to get anywhere will be a difficult challenge.

We also need to be more responsible. Electric cars aren't the most environmentally responsible option right now. They are heavily resource dependent. For these to be a viable option they need to have a lot more output for far less resource consumption.

We need to cut fossil fuel dependence. Just about everything right now uses some sort of petroleum products. One of the keys is whether we can create bio-plastics that are as good as and as affordable as their Petroleum based counterparts.

Needless to say there are a lot of things we need. We need to conserve, resources are not infinite, and not enough is happening to be able to gather extra-terrestrial resources.

But one can be thankful that things are improving on this front.

norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback > ly2v8-Brian
11/28/2014 at 18:02

nuclear power and hydro power are our two most viable options right now I feel.

ly2v8-Brian > norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback
11/28/2014 at 18:17

Nuclear is the best, minus the waste, but better Fission reactors may get more out of fissile material before it becomes waste. Hydro is a great source of constant power but large dams alter the local environment permanently. But both methods have great output.

norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback > ly2v8-Brian
11/28/2014 at 19:14

Yeah, there are a few drawbacks for both but currently they are probably the two strongest, most plentiful sources of energy we have.