A few nights ago I was pondering why it is that so many people I know who consider themselves to be forward thinking and globally/socially conscious have purchased SUVs. In particular, quite a number of my ex\’s have ended up buying, driving, and adoring their utes, much in the same way that hipsters refuse to be separated from their iPods (\”I don\’t know how I ever lived before it; I love it; I can\’t live without it; it\’s the best thing, ever\”).

Oh yes, and these are, for the most part, all people who don\’t go camping and in fact rarely leave their suburban or urban enclaves. The exception to this being my brother, who actually does go off road and camping quite a bit; his SUV is often covered with mud, so I don\’t give him a hard time about it. Then there\’s someone else I know who owns a Lexus SUV, and then yet another with one of those limited edition Eddie Bauer SUVs, and on and on…

Come to think of it, it could be that the people I know with SUVs is nearly the same amount of people I know without one. Though discounting family members (you can\’t help what you\’re born into) and people I don\’t actually stay in touch with (not because of their SUVs but you could say that\’s emblematic of a larger problem of incompatible gestalt), perhaps the ratio isn\’t so bad. Bike riders and small car users definitely out number the SUV owners.

Anyway, so today I stumbled across this on one of my favorite blogs, Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space, which is sort of a New Urbanism blog from the perspective of a DC resident (heart). Quoting him: \”According to Bradsher, internal industry market research concluded that S.U.V.s tend to be bought by people who are insecure, vain, self-centered, and self-absorbed, who are frequently nervous about their marriages, and who lack confidence in their driving skills.\” To quote , I LOLed at that one.

Over the past few years, SUVs have started to take over the world. Seriously. It\’s not just in the States anymore. Urban city dwellers who never leave London are driving SUVs! Drivers in Italy are trying to squeeze their SUVs down the narrow, ancient roads, while drivers in Spain are trying to park their SUVs in tiny parrallel parking spaces that are meant for Fiats or two Vespas. Back in DC, I lost track of the number of times Maude and I would be sitting on our balcony overlooking New Hampshire Avenue, watching people back their SUVs up over a smaller car\’s front bumper, scratching or denting the hood in the process. Because the SUVs are so \”sturdy,\” the drivers don\’t even notice, and drive off without leaving a note on the damaged car. After a few years of this, cars are beyond pock-marked. Then there are the people who attempt to park their Hummers on the streets — I\’m not going there as it\’s too obvious.

There was an interesting article in WaPo a few days ago about the link between coffee culture, car culture, and traffic congestion. I\’m losing interest on writing this at the moment, so I\’m just going to point out the obvious: the whole world has to face rising energy costs, with the rising gas costs (petrol, oil, and even natural gas just to be a pisser) being some of the most quickly escalating. Not only is the cost of oil going up, but the planet is running out of it. The global community is also now facing yet another year where the price of coffee will rise. And it\’s no longer just gas and coffee, as anybody who goes shopping for nearly any natural resouce will tell you, prices are rising on everything. Bicycles, tea, and community gardens are looking mighty good right now. Damn tree huggers.

P.S. My ideal car is a pick-up truck. I want to drive around DC in May when all the students are putting their furniture out on the curb for trash collection, put it in my truck, haul it off to be donated or sold, and put any money made toward Manna. Since Georgetown and Dupont Circle students are throwing out $5,000 leather couches that have only been used for nine months, why not take their Daddy\’s money (more or less) and put it back into the residents of the city instead of into a landfill? In a perfect world…