Eco-Rant

As I was driving to work today, I spotted a dark, wide cloud of smoke hovering above the car in front of me. I looked at it and peered around to see if maybe there was a nearby fire. No fire. I then peeked around the front of the car. Of course. A huge semi-truck with a smoke stack (hereby referred to as a spout) on the side which was continuously releasing gas into the air. I get really steamed up about these trucks. I once called the cops because there was a huge truck in front of me on the highway (which of course was also spouting clouds of smoke right in front of my car) with a ton of cardboard in the back of it. As it sped down the road, big pieces of cardboard just flew off of it and on to the grass. I was livid. When I called the cops, they didn't seem to care much. They took the license plate and asked where the truck was headed, but I doubt they ever did anything about it. So anyway, after I see this pavement truck ahead of me on my way to work, I started counting to see how many I could spot on my way to work. Come on, it's a 40 minute drive each way, and especially in the morning when I'm half asleep I have to do something to keep myself busy. I counted 12 semis (with the big spouts) and 5 large trucks (significantally larger than my little Mustang) pulling large piles of things. I meant to blog about this awhile ago, but on my way home from work a couple of weeks ago I was stuck at a red light. I glanced to my left where one of the schools was letting out. The parents were waiting to turn left as I was waiting to go straight ahead. Every single vehicle waiting to turn left was either an SUV or a full-sized mini van. There were nine of them. I felt like I was watching the opening scene of Weeds. Which, by the way, is turning out to be a fantastic show. I just recently picked up on it, and I'm very glad that I did. I just started Season 3.

So my question is this: Why can't they work on some type of hybrid semi-truck? I know it may take a long time to develop something like that (since most, if not all, semis take diesel), but don't you think that's a little more important than some of the hybrid cars they've been creating? Plus, all of the hybrids are so expensive that most of the people in the lower/middle class who are driving around beaters to save a few bucks that are also putt putting around, spitting out smoke can't exactly afford to swap them out for a brand new Toyota Prius. So what kind of good are these cars doing? I truly feel like these cars were made because of the recent "green" trend. Yes, in the process of developing ideas to boost car sales, they came out with some nice cars that are very efficient on gas and the environment, but that wasn't their main objective. If it was, they would've also come out with some more affordable cars so that everyone (who cared) would be able to drive one. Don't get me wrong, I would love to hop into a Prius and only have to fill the tank once every two weeks, but who can afford that? /end rant