Ferrari incompatible with protecting wildlife ?

There's a knee-jerk reaction by enviornmentalists that "rich people want to destroy the environment", and an association that all F-car owners are rich, and with the transative property -- you, as a F-car owner, want to kill the enviornment one exhaust stroke at a time.

I live a mile from the "most environmentalist University" in the nation in a city always listed as one of the most environmentally conscious in the nation. Here, I'm always associated with being an environment killer, because I am an automotive journalist -- especially one that has written a column called "Top Ten Reasons I Hate The Prius". (One is that it is worse for the environment than any other new car made due to the sourcing of materials and production process.)

When I went to Boston University, I lived in the "Enviornmental Awareness House", albeit mostly because it had the largest room of any dorm on campus, and my roomate was able to score the room after living in the house his Freshman year. We were both Business majors, and the rest of the people in the house doubted that we could care about the environment and be business majors. The fact that I refused to recycle anything other than glass bottles (for which there was a deposit, but that wasn't the reason) made a couple of the ladies very angry, even though I explained that I had proof that (way back then) paper and plastic bottles weren't being used enough by companies enough to create a market to support even the small amount of voluntary recycling, therefore recycling bins like ours were being picked up and transferred to depots, where it would be processed and after a few weeks, the material would be picked-up again and sent to landfills. Obviously this was a net-negative for the environment. I was told that we were "making a statement", but I would say "so talk -- it's free, but your actions should be positive."

Like most topics, people's personal beliefs are based mostly on marketing and the overheard statements of parents and friends, or by media commentators whose only interest is to sell advertising space -- rather than actual facts. The rich or F-car drivers not caring about the environment is just another one to add to the list, along with generalizations about people in political parties, religions, socio-economic classes, races, and other stereotypes. You can go through an entire debate about why a 3X8 is better for the environment than a Prius or electric-grid Nissan Leaf if you think the person can grasp the concepts (like you did successfully), or you can simply walk away.

...but personally, I'm proud of you for setting the record straight!!!

 

There is a widely held assumption that all sports cars are gas guzzling gross polluters. Not (necessarily) true.

As with every car, mileage is highly dependent on how it is driven. A day at the track will go through a tank of fuel in no time flat, but for normal about town driving, my fun cars get better gas mileage and have lower emissions than most of the huge SUV's that crowd the streets.

I used to try to explain that to the people that sneered at me about it. Now I no longer bother. Let them think what they like.

 

Agree, and sports cars tend to lead the way in lightness and efficiency.

If someone is concerned about protecting wildlife, they could go get their SUV crushed and recycled and that would be a win all around.

 

What's incompatible with wildlife is a human population growing without bound on this finite planet -- ask your friends what they are doing about that when the subject arises again

 

I'll usually respond with something like this, tied up with an SUV commuting comment.

If they had true concerns they'd do a carbon footprint analysis and soon realise that their attitude to Ferrari ownership is symbolic of their ethical myopia and little else.

 

I was listening to talk radio over the last couple of days on a long 1500 mile trip.

One subject on the show was that right now the agriculture on this planet can sustain 10B people with their current consumtion levels. If temperatures go up 2dC agriculture may only be able to support 3B people at current consumption levels. If all these people worldwide consumed like the average american, agriculture can only support 5B people right now.

I do not consider this a long term problem! Right now, nobody (excepting for china*) is attempting to get their populations under control. So, inevitably, world population will overshoot agricultural production and bad things will happen. Then later when the worldwide population gets back in check, the survivors will not let it happen again.

(*)A couple of european countries have birth rates under the level needed for constant population levels.

 

We all have hypocrisies - those who are most vocal about them in others tend to be the folk who are most embarrassed by their own

 

I sometimes try to remind people that the key to a performance engine is burning the fuel in the engine, rather than the exhaust pipe.

With a technically literate crowd, I can also explain that, of the two combustion processes for octane, the one that produces more power is the one that results only in CO2 and HO2 (and energy). Carbon MONoxide is the result of inefficient combustion -- which produces less horsepower.

Or I could mention the efficiency of lighter weight vehicles.

Or that my Alfa Spider -- without a cat -- passed the emissions requirements for *new* cars, right up until the state (MA) determined it was too old to have to pass emissions.
Or that the Alfa, when new, got highway mileage comparable to a Prius today.



For the most part, I can see people shutting off their ears, somewhere during the discussion.

People prefer the bumper sticker slogans to correct answers.

As evidenced by the media now apparently ignorant of the difference between carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide.

 

I drive daily fuel efficient cars. Just because I drive a Ferrari and hot rods, doesn't mean I over pollute or waist energy. Hey if you are really serious about the environment stop watering , fertilizing, and bagging your lawn grass. And heating your swimming pool nobody swims in etc. I admit the things I like most stink: hi performance cars,race cars, big piston engine aircraft,motorcycles, steam locomotives. But the amount of total mileage I drive yearly is small.


Ago

 

Time for new friends?

 

Heres a cure, stop hanging out w idiots.

I fired all my friends who went off the edge. Lifes too short for that bs

 

Tell them you offset your carbon footprint by taking the natural gas bus.

 

As I have made a deliberate choice to live very close to work. 1.6 miles, to be exact.
Over the 20 years I have worked here, I imagine I have saved thousands and thousands of tons of Co2 due to this choice.

Plus, wear and tear on...me.

A few thousand miles a year on my Ferrari is not going to offset that.

 

Though Ferraris in specific tend to be abysmal in both categories...

 

I saw a Testarossa last year with a sticker in the back window that said "I Hug Trees". Made me chuckle!

 

Laugh of the day by far. Thanks, after all the latest news I needed a great laught.

 

Can we get a translation of your article, would love to read it. I once heard the most enviromentaly friendly car was a jeep Cherokee. they last a long time,andd due to the metals used, use comparatively little energy to create and are easily recyclable.

Would love nothing more than to point out to hybrid users how thye are destroyin g the enviroment.

 

Something else to consider:

Because Ferrari's are so low and aerodynamic - they only kill half as many flying bugs as family saloons do, and only a quarter as many as big 4x4's do!

 

People are aiding water shortages by recycling as well. I bet there are people that have low volume flush toilets, only water the grass once a week, and do a number of other things to save water, but rinse out each recyclable container prior to recycling. How much water is being wasted doing this? I say a sticky can is an environmentally friendly can.
Also, I understand that when the auto was first developed, it was considered the answer to the horse dung pollution problem. I wonder if a hundred years from now, people are standing around asking "what are we going to do with all the hazardous byproducts of these batteries from our hybrid and electric cars"? Sometimes the seemingly glorious answer to an existing problem comes back to bite you in the long run.

 

In your zeal you are assuming that the average Hybrid owner really gives a ****.