Karma’s Gonna Get You
Since Bush has decided that America is addicted to oil (hmmm…wonder where he got that idea?) his administration is considering a requirement that some of the biggest SUVs meet fuel economy standards for the first time.
According to NPR, “Vehicles weighing between 8,500 and 10,000 pounds have been exempt from the standards. If regulators change the rules, automakers would likely have until 2011 to meet the new targets.”
Cheerleaders (Heart) Hummers!!
Currently, Hummers,Yukons and others are so big that they are not required to follow the pretty lame fuel economy standards that currently exist because they are too big. I guess the original idea was that people would only use vehicles like this for hauling and for businesses. Apparently the geniuses looked out the window and realized that every suburban housewife now has one too. (And there’s even a song on iTunes about the diminutive devil-drivers.)
Interestingly, it is American car companies that will be hardest hit by making the modifications, since they make the greatest percentage of giant SUV’s. The forward-thinking (ha ha) GM is downsizing like crazy in order to stay afloat already. Karma’s a bitch, GM! I, for one, won’t be sorry to see you and your behemoth cars die.
Starre Vartan
Starre Vartan is founder and editor-in-chief of Eco-Chick.com and the author of the Eco-Chick Guide to Life. She's also a freelance science and environment writer who has published in National Geographic, CNN, Scientific American, Mental Floss, Pacific Standard, the NRDC, and many more. She lives on an island in Puget Sound with her partner and black cat. She was a geologist in her first career, and still picks up rocks wherever she goes.
