{"id":2334,"date":"2015-12-11T09:29:10","date_gmt":"2015-12-11T14:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scorai.org\/?p=2334"},"modified":"2025-04-02T16:47:55","modified_gmt":"2025-04-02T16:47:55","slug":"the-matter-of-suvs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.clarku.edu\/hbrown\/2015\/12\/11\/the-matter-of-suvs\/","title":{"rendered":"The matter of SUVs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"suv\"<\/p>\n

I recently became aware of the fact that all of my departmental colleagues who teach and do research on sustainability drive sport-utility vehicles (SUVs). It shocked me. When SUVs first became very popular, sometime in the 1990s, there was a considerable backlash from the environmental block\u2014both activists and intellectuals. The SUVs\u2019 miserable fuel efficiency was considered fair game for public shaming, as were their owners. I took it as given that \u201cwe,\u201d the right-thinking people who care about the environment and sustainability, do not drive SUVs as a matter of principle and symbolism. I was wrong. So what happened? Is it the fate of all our righteous indignations that after a while we simply join the newest social practice and consumer preference?<\/p>\n

But that should not be all. When I commented to one young SUV-driving colleague with a wife and no children on this matter he pointed out to me that I fly around the world to professional meetings more than anyone else in my academic department and thus probably have the highest ecological footprint of us all. He is right. But I am not sure if the comparison is correct. If I stop attending international events and decline the nice invitations that I receive, my professional life as I know it will end. It is not the same for SUVs. And besides, what about the symbolism and the principle?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I recently became aware of the fact that all of my departmental colleagues who teach and do research on sustainability drive sport-utility vehicles (SUVs). It shocked me. When SUVs first became … Continue reading “The matter of SUVs”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":775,"featured_media":2338,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3549],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.clarku.edu\/hbrown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.clarku.edu\/hbrown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.clarku.edu\/hbrown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.clarku.edu\/hbrown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/775"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.clarku.edu\/hbrown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.clarku.edu\/hbrown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2334\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.clarku.edu\/hbrown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.clarku.edu\/hbrown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.clarku.edu\/hbrown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.clarku.edu\/hbrown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}