SUV Protest

I heard this on NPR today. I'm not sure why but I found it humorous.
It seems that in the St. Germain des Pres district of Paris
environmentalists are protesting the presence of monster SUVs by
letting the air out of the tires. They then leave a pamphlet on the
windshield explaining their motives.

Here is a link to today's show (September 13th):
http://theworld.org/latesteditions/09/20050913.shtml
You can listen to the entire show or scroll to the bottom and click on
the "Geo Answer Interview".

"[email hidden]" <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

I heard this on NPR today. I'm not sure why but I found it humorous.
It seems that in the St. Germain des Pres district of Paris
environmentalists are protesting the presence of monster SUVs by
letting the air out of the tires. They then leave a pamphlet on the
windshield explaining their motives.

Let me say that I've considered every possible protest against SUVs in the
city and rejected anything that could be considered "violence" or anything
that could actually inconvenience an SUV owner -- who am I to judge
whether or not a particular SUV is or is not a good solution for that
driver?

What I find works second best is the fake ticket thing for SUVs actually
blocking bike lanes. No damage, lots of education and thought.

What works best, of course, is a $100 East Village Special flying past a
hopelessly stuck $60,000 Escalade.

--ag

While SUV's get really bad press I imagine that in fact SUV's and pick
ups are the vehicles of choice for many environmentalists.
While tooling around central Paris or even downtown Chicago in an 6 mpg
Hummer is pretty sick, I think that many who consider themselves
environmentalists are involved in the types of outdoor activites for
which high clearance and 4wd are pretty important.
For myself I do a lot of back country hiking and rock climbing. Many of
the mountain roads that I use would be unpassable in a car. I will tell
you that my SUV does a lot less damage to roads and is a lot quieter
than the more fuel efficinet ATV's that wreak havoc in some of these
areas.
To me the culprits are not the folks that use these vehicles for
legitimate poor road and off road purposes but the manufactureres who
seemingly purposely make them less efficient than they could. And of
course the folks that buy giant SUV's and trucks but have no need for
them other than style are nowpaying an increasing "tax" in terms of
fuel costs. My guess is that this will be self correcting and "city
Hummers" will be a minor issue over time.

13 Sep 2005 15:03:19 -0700,
<[email hidden]>,

Quoted post said:

It seems that in the St. Germain des Pres district of Paris
environmentalists are protesting the presence of monster SUVs by
letting the air out of the tires.

Were I a Parisian driver, I imagine that by now I'd have done far
worse than letting air out of tires. In Paris, parking is a contact
sport. You often find a space that's almost large enough to park in so
you shove the cars ahead and behind until your car fits. Cars are most
wisely left parked in 'neutral' with the parking brake set. The bumper
heights of SUV don't facilitate this method of parking.
--
zk

Quoted post said:

I heard this on NPR today. I'm not sure why but I found it humorous.
It seems that in the St. Germain des Pres district of Paris
environmentalists are protesting the presence of monster SUVs by
letting the air out of the tires. They then leave a pamphlet on the
windshield explaining their motives.

So potentially someone in an emergency situation might run out to his
vehicle and be unable to get to the hospital, or his parents' home, or
his kids' school, or whatever. Yeah, that's really taking the moral
high ground.

Owners of SUVs already pay for their folly: they have to feed their
behemoths with loads of gas whereas I haven't had a fill-up in
weeks--and most days get to work on food power anyway:-)

--
Robert Uhl <http://public.xdi.org/=ruhl>
It's actually nice working on a totally doomed project. There is none
of the anxiety of dealing with `What if it goes wrong.' There is none
of the building up of expectations like `Damn, it will be cool if we
pull this off.' Just calm understanding that soon we will be told to
bend over. --Wayne Pascoe

gds said:

While SUV's get really bad press I imagine that in fact SUV's and pick
ups are the vehicles of choice for many environmentalists.

Even if that were true, in this day an age "environmentalists" are a
small slice of the population to worry about. Besides we .. I mean
THEY, they have Priuses now.

FWIW, I can relate to a 4x4 being used up in the mountains, on trails,
etc., but it's sad that the SUV thing continues down here in the
beautifully paved streets of Orange County, California. I think I saw
about six Hummers, detailed and highly waxed, on my short walk today.

That's the most bizarre thing ... that the "profile" is to have a
highly waxed Hummer that never goes off-road. It is a demonstration of
conspicuous consumption in its purest form.

"the spokesman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. 'We don't want
SUVs to be seen as a sign of wealth, but something that is associated
with an imbecile.'"

Yeah, I'd say we are there. Anti-science imbeciles who have a religous
disbelief in global warming perhaps.

gds said:

While SUV's get really bad press I imagine that in fact SUV's and pick
ups are the vehicles of choice for many environmentalists.

Even if that were true, in this day an age "environmentalists" are a
small slice of the population to worry about. Besides we .. I mean
THEY, they have Priuses now.

FWIW, I can relate to a 4x4 being used up in the mountains, on trails,
etc., but it's sad that the SUV thing continues down here in the
beautifully paved streets of Orange County, California. I think I saw
about six Hummers, detailed and highly waxed, on my short walk today.

That's the most bizarre thing ... that the "profile" is to have a
highly waxed Hummer that never goes off-road. It is a demonstration of
conspicuous consumption in its purest form.

"the spokesman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. 'We don't want
SUVs to be seen as a sign of wealth, but something that is associated
with an imbecile.'"

Yeah, I'd say we are there. Anti-science imbeciles who have a religous
disbelief in global warming perhaps.

Sorry for the double post. I gave the first about a half hour before
firing the second ... and then they both popped through. I issued a
cancel on the one, but I don't think cancels are honored as well as
they were in the good old days. Sorry again.

"[email hidden]" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I heard this on NPR today. I'm not sure why but I found it humorous.
It seems that in the St. Germain des Pres district of Paris
environmentalists are protesting the presence of monster SUVs by
letting the air out of the tires. They then leave a pamphlet on the
windshield explaining their motives.

Letting the air out is a bit much. There are anti-SUV bumper stickers, but I
think these magnetic ones on eBay are funnier.

http://tinyurl.com/cmk97

Sticking on the one that says "[censored] You Cop" should be good for a laugh.

Robert Uhl said:

So potentially someone in an emergency situation might run out to his
vehicle and be unable to get to the hospital, or his parents' home, or
his kids' school, or whatever. Yeah, that's really taking the moral
high ground.

In an emergency situation, people should call 911. The last thing we
need is a guy in a hummer driving like a madman to get somewhere.

Rich

Robert Uhl said:

So potentially someone in an emergency situation might run out to his
vehicle and be unable to get to the hospital, or his parents' home, or
his kids' school, or whatever.

Yeah, and what if the poor guy with the homemade bombs needs to blow a
hole in his apartment wall to get out in case of a fire? We'd better
not bother him either!

Quoted message said:

Owners of SUVs already pay for their folly...

Not enough. And the rest of us are paying too much for their folly.

- Frank Krygowski

gds said:

While SUV's get really bad press I imagine that in fact SUV's and pick
ups are the vehicles of choice for many environmentalists.
While tooling around central Paris or even downtown Chicago in an 6 mpg
Hummer is pretty sick, I think that many who consider themselves
environmentalists are involved in the types of outdoor activites for
which high clearance and 4wd are pretty important.
For myself I do a lot of back country hiking and rock climbing. Many of
the mountain roads that I use would be unpassable in a car.

I don't know what your roads are like. But I recall during the 1970s
driving a VW Beetle or a VW Bus into some very remote mountain roads
for backpacking and camping trips. I recall one trip where the Bus
couldn't make it up a steep, gravelly dirt road, so the four passengers
had to get out to reduce the weight as I drove on through the steep
part. No big deal.

4WD isn't necessary for most backcountry work. That idea's just
another product of the ad-man's fantasies.

BTW, of the SUV owners I know, the one (and only) one who bought it for
"backpacking, rock climbing, yada yada" does those activities about
once per year. The rest of the time he drives it the three miles to
work and back.

And I was with him the first time he took it into the woods - about 100
yards. He freaked about the possibility of cosmetic damage, then
decided to slowly back out.

As a conservative estimate, I'd say 99% of SUV owners have no practical
need for the monstrosities. The trend is driven by a combination of
conspicuous consumption and stupidity.

- Frank Krygowski

"[email hidden]" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I heard this on NPR today. I'm not sure why but I found it humorous.
It seems that in the St. Germain des Pres district of Paris
environmentalists are protesting the presence of monster SUVs by
letting the air out of the tires. They then leave a pamphlet on the
windshield explaining their motives.

Here is a link to today's show (September 13th):
http://theworld.org/latesteditions/09/20050913.shtml
You can listen to the entire show or scroll to the bottom and click on
the "Geo Answer Interview".

Article in The Times this morning.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-1778863,00.html

"Ecowarriors go into battle against 4x4s - with cycle pumps"

Includes...

"DRIVERS who park gasguzzling 4x4s overnight in Paris are receiving an
unpleasant surprise in the morning: flat tyres. A gang of young activists
are deflating the tyres of what they regard as anti-social urban tanks which
clog the narrow streets of the Left Bank."

"To the amazement of furious owners, the police say that it is not a crime
because property is not damaged. "We have had complaints, but it is not
clear that any offence is being committed," said an officer at the sixth
arrondissement."

"They expel the air slowly without setting off the vehicles' alarms, fixing
open bicycle pump hoses to the tyre valves and returning later to collect
their equipment. They leave a leaflet explaining their action."

Cheers, helen s

"[email hidden]" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I heard this on NPR today. I'm not sure why but I found it humorous.

Something else folks might find humorous, on the topics of SUVs:

http://www.capsteps.com/sounds/suv.ra (requires Real Audio)

--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
Personal page: http://www.geocities.com/cpetersky/
See the books I've set free at:
http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky

Rich said:

Quoted message said:

So potentially someone in an emergency situation might run out to his
vehicle and be unable to get to the hospital, or his parents' home,
or his kids' school, or whatever. Yeah, that's really taking the
moral high ground.

In an emergency situation, people should call 911. The last thing we
need is a guy in a hummer driving like a madman to get somewhere.

Ambulances cost money.

I live about six blocks from a hospital. Does it make more sense to
drive the five minutes thereto or wait around for an ambulance which
will take longer to arrive?

--
Robert Uhl <http://public.xdi.org/=ruhl>
Contrary to popular opinion there often is a right answer.
--Carter & Sanger, Thinking about Programming

--
mark
<[email hidden]> wrote ...

Quoted message said:

I don't know what your roads are like. But I recall during the 1970s
driving a VW Beetle or a VW Bus into some very remote mountain roads
for backpacking and camping trips. I recall one trip where the Bus
couldn't make it up a steep, gravelly dirt road, so the four passengers
had to get out to reduce the weight as I drove on through the steep
part. No big deal.

A lot of the backcountry roads here in Colorado may well havde been
negotiable in a VW Beetle or Bus in the '60s and '70s, but the dramatic
increase in SUV traffic on these roads, the excess weight of modern SUVs,
and lack of maintenance have made these roads impassable for anything
without big fat tires, lots of clearance, and either very low gearing or a
fair bit of low end torque. Even with an SUV, travelling these roads can be
a difficult, unpleasant experience. Hiking them, OTOH, is fairly pleasant
and not a whole lot slower than driving on them.

VW bugs/busses were designed in an era when lots of roads weren't paved, so
it's not surprising that they do well off pavement. I recall John Muir's
repair manual "How to keep your Volkswagen Alive" devoting a fair bit of
attention to off pavement travel in busses and bugs. I still see a fair
number of VW based offroad vehicles around my part of Colorado, most of them
obviously used off-pavement more than on (unlike the SUVs I see).

Quoted message said:

4WD isn't necessary for most backcountry work. That idea's just
another product of the ad-man's fantasies.

True, but as the big heavy SUVs tear up the roads smaller vehicles have more
and more trouble negotiating them

Quoted message said:

BTW, of the SUV owners I know, the one (and only) one who bought it for
"backpacking, rock climbing, yada yada" does those activities about
once per year. The rest of the time he drives it the three miles to
work and back.

And I was with him the first time he took it into the woods - about 100
yards. He freaked about the possibility of cosmetic damage, then
decided to slowly back out.

As a conservative estimate, I'd say 99% of SUV owners have no practical
need for the monstrosities. The trend is driven by a combination of
conspicuous consumption and stupidity.

Here in Colorado the number is probably more like 80%, but that's still a
lot of conspicuous consumption and stupidity.

--
mark

"gds" wrote...

Quoted message said:

While SUV's get really bad press I imagine that in fact SUV's and pick
ups are the vehicles of choice for many environmentalists.
While tooling around central Paris or even downtown Chicago in an 6 mpg
Hummer is pretty sick, I think that many who consider themselves
environmentalists are involved in the types of outdoor activites for
which high clearance and 4wd are pretty important.
For myself I do a lot of back country hiking and rock climbing. Many of
the mountain roads that I use would be unpassable in a car. I will tell
you that my SUV does a lot less damage to roads and is a lot quieter
than the more fuel efficinet ATV's that wreak havoc in some of these
areas.

I do a fair bit of backcountry hiking and climbing myself. I drive my Honda
Civic as far as I feel comfortable on dirt roads, then I park it and start
hiking. Many of the roads I use have been trashed by large numbers of big,
heavy SUVs that these roads were never designed to accomodate. Driving these
roads in any vehicle is a slow, uncomfortable process and entails a
significant risk of cosmetic and mechanical damage to the vehicle, while
walking them is not bad at all (except when a motor vehicle comes by). My
back country trips entail up to 200 miles of paved or good dirt road,
followed by 3 or 4 miles of really bad road that requires an off road
vehicle. With those numbers it makes a lot more sense to drive a passenger
car as far as practical, then walk when the road deteriorates.
--
mark

Claire Petersky said:

http://www.capsteps.com/sounds/suv.ra (requires Real Audio)

That's pretty good :-)

Here's another catchy tune:

Oh oh, you and me
In our sport utility vehicles
Cruisin to 7-11
For a bag of Frito Lays

Oh oh, you and me
In our sport utility vehicles
We'll slam into four wheel drive
And pick up a dozen eggs

QT video clip at:

http://www.bigidea.com/videos/veggietales/vt022/clip04.htm

RFM

14 Sep 2005 09:31:21 -0700,
<[email hidden]>, "Fritz M"

Quoted message said:

Claire Petersky said:

http://www.capsteps.com/sounds/suv.ra (requires Real Audio)

That's pretty good :-)

Here's another catchy tune:

Oh oh, you and me
In our sport utility vehicles
Cruisin to 7-11
For a bag of Frito Lays

Oh oh, you and me
In our sport utility vehicles
We'll slam into four wheel drive
And pick up a dozen eggs

QT video clip at:

http://www.bigidea.com/videos/veggietales/vt022/clip04.htm

Here's the opening tune from the "Rocky Dino Opera"
http://bikesexual.org/dinos/opera.html

A MIGHTY FORTRESS
Key: G Tune: "Luther's Hymn"

A mighty fortress is my car,
My great strong box of steel,
My shiny sporty four-by-four,
My urban sex appeal.
This safe on wheels may crash
And small cars I may smash,
Some slobs may be dispatched
But I shall not be scratched,
My sport ute is my fortress.

The world can see how cool I am,
How excellent is my life-style.
All tongues proclaim the brands I buy
My choices are such high style.
Now get out of my way,
Bike bums in spandex gay
And stupid old ladies!
Leave the road to me
In my shiny fossil fortress!

© 2001-2004 Lee Henderson.
Licence granted for free performance and reproduction for study.
--
zk