Holy cow (I just did a lot of self-editing there)! You have written a brilliant expose on the single thing that drives me close to the edge of sanity every day of my life--more so than any other single topic. To reverse this insane embrace of monstrous vehicles (mostly the pickup trucks you named) which are absolutely not needed, as assume, by most folks who buy them, would be a massive step toward saving the planet. (and make us all safer on the road, as you point out). I was completely unaware of the fact you pointed out, about vehicles over 6,000 pounds being a total tax write-off...what the hell? That seems like the number one feature to attack. Thank you for this article, a million times over. Please keep us posted on this precise topic!
Sadly, we have no ability to attack anything as the maga has total control for now. They will only do what musktrump tells them. So we much unite and fight harder and smarter in 2026 to vote out just enough to give democracy and integrity a majority in congress. I would love feed back about the best way to do that...which candidates should we support and how? Is the DNC of any value? What about the dccc?
I don't know any specific strategy but I think the nub of it is this: the Dems used to be the "working folks'" party, but is now (at least perceived as, and to some extent, I think correctly) as "the coastal elite's" party, looking down their nose at everyone in "flyover country"). That's why I'll go to my grave lamenting that Hillary was (unjustly, in my view) chosen over Bernie---Bernie absolutely would have been elected, as he is clearly the real "people's champion". The Dems, if they are to have any future, must absolutely and very clearly become the working stiff's party again, and field candidates with ZERO tie to Wall Street, for example. IMHO....
I agree with you.I think Bernie would have won. Just think of the trajectory we could have been on. Integrity would have been cool! The common good would have been front and center. Instead Trump became the tool of the CEO/billionaire class that is chipping away at our country’s soul.
Bernie Sanders puts out info on-line from time to time and is still active in the Senate. He is still the everyday persons' best advocate and I'm sure if you call or write, he will give you his best advice.
I send my money to individual candidates, not to organizations who may not support whom I do, especially in primaries. I focus mainly on Southern California and northeastern California candidates, Congressional and state assembly and senatorial candidates. I hope that's clear. (That's you, Teri.)
I appreciate your response. I never know if it's a good thing to send directly to candidates as I never can tell what they are spending their money on either, but maybe is just has to be an act of faith.
I have a lot of faith in the ones I support. They're clear on what they believe in and their differences with people like, say, Devin Nunes or that creep up in California's most northeast county.
No need to start your own party, as Politics1 dot com has a list of all of them which most have never heard. Select the "Political Parties" tab and make a choice. There are even parties that have never fielded a candidate.
I love your idea. Make it cool to use less rather than pump more. Make it cool to stand on your own versus relying on Saudi Arabia.
We need that new messaging system. Maybe something as simple as a magnetic bumper sticker. Make the message non confrontational. A magnetic bumper sticker is seen everyday but can still be removed for those time when you don't want it (funeral ...).
The messages would need to be short and non confrontational.
I suspect others will have much better ideas than mine but here are some from me.
Using less is a good thing
My electric bill is < $25 with solar
EV's blow the doors off gas engines
0 to 60 in 2.0 with an EV
EV's are faster and more powerful
Just say no to Billionaires <-- This is my favorite on this list
My other car is an EV
Support the Saudis drive big
Oddly enough if we got off oil, the Middle East, along with Russia would become powerless.
The original puritan message my ancestors brought to Plymouth in 1633: Waste not, want not. My parents still lived by this from 1948-2012. I do too. We're living on Social Security now. We put solar on our roof in 2016, so our son could fuel his 2016 Chevy Bolt. He hasn't paid for gas in nine years. We got a Chevy Equinox last summer. My husband thinks it will be cheaper to lease it than pay for gas (we're in California.)
I just ordered 2 magnetic bumper stickers that are about 1.5" by 12". There are small and not obnoxious and can be easily removed when you want.
We Make. Billionaires Take.
Billionaires Suck
The second one is a little blunt, but sometimes simple and blunt is a good thing.
I just ordered 50 of each. If anyone would like to put one on their car, email me at Joe.freiberger@gmail.com and I will mail you one when they come in, about the week of February 10. First 50 people. Let me know which sticker you want.
Send this to Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Hakeem Jeffries, Jamie Raskin and get them all to read it into the Congressional Record and then to have a press conference about it on the Capitol steps, which will not be covered by any mainstream media but then that can be a story in itself that the online forums can cover. And, do a stream lined version (no personal stuff) and send it to local papers as a letter to the editor. They will not publish it, but at least the one person reading it so it can be declined will have it stuck in their head
Agree wholeheartedly! At 70 years old I can look back and say, for the most part, I have done what I could to help America rely less on fossil fuel. I have owned a Celica, Corolla #1, Corolla #2, a used Lexus RX 300, a Prius (2010 ~ now driven by hubby with 96k miles 😍), and a Lexus NX hybrid.
Used to take a lot of flack from my IL family through the years purchasing Toyota products until they recently jumped on the bandwagon and I am suddenly not as dumb as they thought I was 😂
My cars last a very long time and the Prius has needed almost no maintenance in 15 years!
I also shop at thrift stores as much as possible and do a lot of other things to try to cut down on my carbon footprint. 👣
Actually, Mary is not. Her point is why buy a truck to haul something huge a couple of times a year. Keep the sedan and rent a pickup truck if you actually need it, when you actually need it.
Water is another topic you should tackle. I’m reading a great book right now called running out. It’s by a man about your age who grew up in Southwest Kansas, and how the generations of family before him were a major contributor to draining that huge Plains aquifer to irrigate their farms. The water will be gone soon, and there are many governments and economic incentives in place for the people living there to do nothing to slow it down and in fact to actually waste the water more.
True. The Saudi's have been stealing water from the groundwater basin in AZ for years to grow alfalfa to send back to Saudia Arabia and feed their cattle. Gov Katie Hobbs terminated their lease last year but they still have other farms in AZ they can use...
The water faucet T thinks California has is mythical. In the Bay Area we have been conserving water since 1978. My family uses about 30 gallons per person per day. Low flow faucets, showers and toilets.
Well, I only shower every other day. The problem is my son, who insists on bathing!!! He's not getting the bill from EBMUD. But our water tastes better!
Great, great article! I am so sad you didn't win your Senate race Lucas. With you, Colin Allred, John Tester and Sherrod Brown just think how different things would be right now!! I'm in Cali now but am from Kansas City and my sis ter still lives there. When I visited her before election day, I was so encouraged by how many Lucas Kunce signs I saw... Thanks for all you are still doing! Why don't you become the leader of our "Shadow Government" ;)
I would add to your comment and information on cars a few other ways to improve our consumption ways. Buy old house, antique furniture and used vehicles. I am not sure of the exact numbers but in the USA new homes, new furniture and new vehicles are all far more expensive than older models. Save money and better for the environment.
I just ordered 2 magnetic bumper stickers that are about 1.5" by 12". There are small and not obnoxious and can be easily removed when you want.
We Make. Billionaires Take.
Billionaires Suck
The second one is a little blunt, but sometimes simple and blunt is a good thing.
I just ordered 50 of each. If anyone would like to put one on their car, email me at Joe.freiberger@gmail.com and I will mail you one when they come in, about the week of February 10. First 50 people. Let me know which sticker you want.
The Allied soldiers fighting in that bitter cold winter were fighting against fascism, a system of government that rejected the equality that defined democracy, instead maintaining that some men were better than others. German fascists under leader Adolf Hitler had taken that ideology to its logical end, insisting that an elite few must lead, taking a nation forward by directing the actions of the rest. They organized the people as if they were at war, ruthlessly suppressing all opposition and directing the economy so that business and politicians worked together to consolidate their power. Logically, that select group of leaders would elevate a single man, who would become an all-powerful dictator. To weld their followers into an efficient machine, fascists demonized opponents into an "other" that their followers could hate, dividing their population so they could control it.
the HCR message (I think)
-> the Battle of the Bulge : the German 'last stand' :: the Trump 2025 push : the end of MAGA
Well thought out article and you have barely scratched the surface of the true cost of "conspicuous consumption". Many folks are in dire financial straits due to being hooked onto this addiction that is aggressively marketed by those profiting from it.
I guess because I'm a bit of a nerd, I love well researched articles....the numerous comments I see on facebook like "I hate trump" or I can't wait till he's gone, are somewhat meaningless. We all feel that way and comments like that do nothing to move the resistance forward. Research does. As everyone now accepts we cannot rely on any corporate media to get out any word that the direction trump is taking us in is bad (and we can't just say trump, it is the entire elected GOP except Lisa Murkowski). So we need great research to show us how to reach the non choir members. It does seem that the rest of the world, including China is moving away from fossil fuels, so it may just be a matter of time, but maybe a lot of time till the oil industry in the US also catches on and says fossil fuel is no longer profitable. As other nations no longer want/need our oil they will get the message. China seems to be already way ahead of the world in developing solar energy and I think the EU may have recently reached the tipping point where more energy is from renewable sources. Especially now, they all know that relying on the US for oil is no longer tenable, so it is to their advantage to focus on local renewable fuel sources. In the US the bet we can do is vote with our pocketbooks. Let the lower income maga folks buy the big trucks that get 10 miles to the gallon so they can support the industry of their choice (but they'd better not complain at the price of gas since that is what they vote for). The rest of us, as we can, we need to replace vehicles with at least hybrids. And, as we can support the solar panel industry even as tax breaks are removed. It would be interesting to get a feel for what young people these days think about vehicles. My grandchildren want the cheapest, least frilly vehicle they can find. The industry may sort of naturally change in 10-15 years as these kids become consumers and the old folks that support the GOP drive less and less and the maga folks just have less and less money for gas. It is all up to us as consumers.
France's energy is largely provided by nuclear, which is very clean in terms of carbon emissions. Virginia just signed legislation for a "fusion" nuclear power plant. We've never done fusion before. All nuclear to this point has been fission. Fusion would be a game changer. But nuclear has a lot of socil obstacles to overcome.
I’ve been a proponent of less reliance on consumerism for a while now. One needs to look no further than Christmas to see how sheer consumerism has bastardized a holiday that’s supposed to be about a refugee who was born in a barn.
As a rural, small agriculture business owner, I currently use my Ford Explorer as my truck and have considered upgrading to the F-150 simply because it is way easier to load trees, dirt and equipment into a truck bed over the back of my Explorer. I do ,however, agree with your napkin math that most people (predominantly male) own trucks simply because they are COOL when fitted out with enormous tires and are used for mud runs on weekends. They should own a two seater to commute and leave the truck parked until the weekend. There must be a way to get the mindset to change for alternatives to fossil fuels. Maybe a surcharge on gas puzzles? Perhaps electric vehicle charging station companies can ramp up their installation of charging stations in rural areas which make it more convenient for electric vehicle owners to charge their vehicles locally. In my area in west central Missouri, I have not seen a single charging station available anywhere until you get into south Kansas City. This is not sustainable for rural adopters. There are ways to make EVs cool but without infrastructure, it isn't sustainable.
The newer EVs have great mileage range. I have a 2013 Chevy Volt hybrid (no longer produced). I bought a slow charger for my garage when I bought the car (overnight charging, 110v, so no need to upgrade the electrical ) and only needed to get about 10 gal of gas every 3-4 months. I still love that car, Chevy always seems to shoot itself in the foot.
Its coming. I don't know where you live but it showed 261 charging stations in Kansas City. It's not there yet, but coming. I believe it was part of Biden's infrastructure act.
Holy cow (I just did a lot of self-editing there)! You have written a brilliant expose on the single thing that drives me close to the edge of sanity every day of my life--more so than any other single topic. To reverse this insane embrace of monstrous vehicles (mostly the pickup trucks you named) which are absolutely not needed, as assume, by most folks who buy them, would be a massive step toward saving the planet. (and make us all safer on the road, as you point out). I was completely unaware of the fact you pointed out, about vehicles over 6,000 pounds being a total tax write-off...what the hell? That seems like the number one feature to attack. Thank you for this article, a million times over. Please keep us posted on this precise topic!
Sadly, we have no ability to attack anything as the maga has total control for now. They will only do what musktrump tells them. So we much unite and fight harder and smarter in 2026 to vote out just enough to give democracy and integrity a majority in congress. I would love feed back about the best way to do that...which candidates should we support and how? Is the DNC of any value? What about the dccc?
I don't know any specific strategy but I think the nub of it is this: the Dems used to be the "working folks'" party, but is now (at least perceived as, and to some extent, I think correctly) as "the coastal elite's" party, looking down their nose at everyone in "flyover country"). That's why I'll go to my grave lamenting that Hillary was (unjustly, in my view) chosen over Bernie---Bernie absolutely would have been elected, as he is clearly the real "people's champion". The Dems, if they are to have any future, must absolutely and very clearly become the working stiff's party again, and field candidates with ZERO tie to Wall Street, for example. IMHO....
I agree with you.I think Bernie would have won. Just think of the trajectory we could have been on. Integrity would have been cool! The common good would have been front and center. Instead Trump became the tool of the CEO/billionaire class that is chipping away at our country’s soul.
Yes, its heart breaking!
Bernie Sanders puts out info on-line from time to time and is still active in the Senate. He is still the everyday persons' best advocate and I'm sure if you call or write, he will give you his best advice.
Check my Substack. https://open.substack.com/pub/sharonlawrence/p/elections-an-action-plan-for-voters?r=a5esd&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
As near as I can tell, the DNC and the DCCC have never had any value.
So what is your alternative, if any? Create your own party?
I send my money to individual candidates, not to organizations who may not support whom I do, especially in primaries. I focus mainly on Southern California and northeastern California candidates, Congressional and state assembly and senatorial candidates. I hope that's clear. (That's you, Teri.)
I appreciate your response. I never know if it's a good thing to send directly to candidates as I never can tell what they are spending their money on either, but maybe is just has to be an act of faith.
I have a lot of faith in the ones I support. They're clear on what they believe in and their differences with people like, say, Devin Nunes or that creep up in California's most northeast county.
No need to start your own party, as Politics1 dot com has a list of all of them which most have never heard. Select the "Political Parties" tab and make a choice. There are even parties that have never fielded a candidate.
I love your idea. Make it cool to use less rather than pump more. Make it cool to stand on your own versus relying on Saudi Arabia.
We need that new messaging system. Maybe something as simple as a magnetic bumper sticker. Make the message non confrontational. A magnetic bumper sticker is seen everyday but can still be removed for those time when you don't want it (funeral ...).
The messages would need to be short and non confrontational.
I suspect others will have much better ideas than mine but here are some from me.
Using less is a good thing
My electric bill is < $25 with solar
EV's blow the doors off gas engines
0 to 60 in 2.0 with an EV
EV's are faster and more powerful
Just say no to Billionaires <-- This is my favorite on this list
My other car is an EV
Support the Saudis drive big
Oddly enough if we got off oil, the Middle East, along with Russia would become powerless.
The original puritan message my ancestors brought to Plymouth in 1633: Waste not, want not. My parents still lived by this from 1948-2012. I do too. We're living on Social Security now. We put solar on our roof in 2016, so our son could fuel his 2016 Chevy Bolt. He hasn't paid for gas in nine years. We got a Chevy Equinox last summer. My husband thinks it will be cheaper to lease it than pay for gas (we're in California.)
I just ordered 2 magnetic bumper stickers that are about 1.5" by 12". There are small and not obnoxious and can be easily removed when you want.
We Make. Billionaires Take.
Billionaires Suck
The second one is a little blunt, but sometimes simple and blunt is a good thing.
I just ordered 50 of each. If anyone would like to put one on their car, email me at Joe.freiberger@gmail.com and I will mail you one when they come in, about the week of February 10. First 50 people. Let me know which sticker you want.
Send this to Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Hakeem Jeffries, Jamie Raskin and get them all to read it into the Congressional Record and then to have a press conference about it on the Capitol steps, which will not be covered by any mainstream media but then that can be a story in itself that the online forums can cover. And, do a stream lined version (no personal stuff) and send it to local papers as a letter to the editor. They will not publish it, but at least the one person reading it so it can be declined will have it stuck in their head
Great idea! You people are cool!
Agree wholeheartedly! At 70 years old I can look back and say, for the most part, I have done what I could to help America rely less on fossil fuel. I have owned a Celica, Corolla #1, Corolla #2, a used Lexus RX 300, a Prius (2010 ~ now driven by hubby with 96k miles 😍), and a Lexus NX hybrid.
Used to take a lot of flack from my IL family through the years purchasing Toyota products until they recently jumped on the bandwagon and I am suddenly not as dumb as they thought I was 😂
My cars last a very long time and the Prius has needed almost no maintenance in 15 years!
I also shop at thrift stores as much as possible and do a lot of other things to try to cut down on my carbon footprint. 👣
Lowe’s will rent you a pick-up truck for practically nothing to haul your lumber/appliance home.
COOL, Mary Beth! GOOD TO KNOW!!
YOU ARE MISSING THE POINT OF THIS DISCUSSION!
Actually, Mary is not. Her point is why buy a truck to haul something huge a couple of times a year. Keep the sedan and rent a pickup truck if you actually need it, when you actually need it.
I appreciate knowing this information.
Water is another topic you should tackle. I’m reading a great book right now called running out. It’s by a man about your age who grew up in Southwest Kansas, and how the generations of family before him were a major contributor to draining that huge Plains aquifer to irrigate their farms. The water will be gone soon, and there are many governments and economic incentives in place for the people living there to do nothing to slow it down and in fact to actually waste the water more.
True. The Saudi's have been stealing water from the groundwater basin in AZ for years to grow alfalfa to send back to Saudia Arabia and feed their cattle. Gov Katie Hobbs terminated their lease last year but they still have other farms in AZ they can use...
Shame on "us" (whoever that might be) for letting that happen! The Saudi's couldn't take it on their own, right? But yeah, I agree 100%
The water faucet T thinks California has is mythical. In the Bay Area we have been conserving water since 1978. My family uses about 30 gallons per person per day. Low flow faucets, showers and toilets.
You can even do better than 30 gallons/day with the use of modern deodorants.
Well, I only shower every other day. The problem is my son, who insists on bathing!!! He's not getting the bill from EBMUD. But our water tastes better!
Great, great article! I am so sad you didn't win your Senate race Lucas. With you, Colin Allred, John Tester and Sherrod Brown just think how different things would be right now!! I'm in Cali now but am from Kansas City and my sis ter still lives there. When I visited her before election day, I was so encouraged by how many Lucas Kunce signs I saw... Thanks for all you are still doing! Why don't you become the leader of our "Shadow Government" ;)
We need more thoughtful, well-researched, and detailed articles like this.
I would add to your comment and information on cars a few other ways to improve our consumption ways. Buy old house, antique furniture and used vehicles. I am not sure of the exact numbers but in the USA new homes, new furniture and new vehicles are all far more expensive than older models. Save money and better for the environment.
Estate sales are very big in the Bay Area.
In the South Bay Stacy's are the best run of the pack.
Ah, I only get the estate sales in Berkeley and Oakland, for the most part, but I will check them out. Thank you!
Lucas' new cool.
Just say no to billionaires.
Paycheck guys do it better.
We "little guys" built America.
Just say no to the Saudis.
We build. Billionaires take.
I just ordered 2 magnetic bumper stickers that are about 1.5" by 12". There are small and not obnoxious and can be easily removed when you want.
We Make. Billionaires Take.
Billionaires Suck
The second one is a little blunt, but sometimes simple and blunt is a good thing.
I just ordered 50 of each. If anyone would like to put one on their car, email me at Joe.freiberger@gmail.com and I will mail you one when they come in, about the week of February 10. First 50 people. Let me know which sticker you want.
Billionaires Suck.
Heather Cox Richardson, Substack, 24Jan25:
The Allied soldiers fighting in that bitter cold winter were fighting against fascism, a system of government that rejected the equality that defined democracy, instead maintaining that some men were better than others. German fascists under leader Adolf Hitler had taken that ideology to its logical end, insisting that an elite few must lead, taking a nation forward by directing the actions of the rest. They organized the people as if they were at war, ruthlessly suppressing all opposition and directing the economy so that business and politicians worked together to consolidate their power. Logically, that select group of leaders would elevate a single man, who would become an all-powerful dictator. To weld their followers into an efficient machine, fascists demonized opponents into an "other" that their followers could hate, dividing their population so they could control it.
the HCR message (I think)
-> the Battle of the Bulge : the German 'last stand' :: the Trump 2025 push : the end of MAGA
in a word -> "Nuts." to The 2025 Project
My uncle sustained a serious head wound in the Battle of the Bulge.
Well thought out article and you have barely scratched the surface of the true cost of "conspicuous consumption". Many folks are in dire financial straits due to being hooked onto this addiction that is aggressively marketed by those profiting from it.
I see giant houses for a small family as one of the biggest wastes of our resources.
I guess because I'm a bit of a nerd, I love well researched articles....the numerous comments I see on facebook like "I hate trump" or I can't wait till he's gone, are somewhat meaningless. We all feel that way and comments like that do nothing to move the resistance forward. Research does. As everyone now accepts we cannot rely on any corporate media to get out any word that the direction trump is taking us in is bad (and we can't just say trump, it is the entire elected GOP except Lisa Murkowski). So we need great research to show us how to reach the non choir members. It does seem that the rest of the world, including China is moving away from fossil fuels, so it may just be a matter of time, but maybe a lot of time till the oil industry in the US also catches on and says fossil fuel is no longer profitable. As other nations no longer want/need our oil they will get the message. China seems to be already way ahead of the world in developing solar energy and I think the EU may have recently reached the tipping point where more energy is from renewable sources. Especially now, they all know that relying on the US for oil is no longer tenable, so it is to their advantage to focus on local renewable fuel sources. In the US the bet we can do is vote with our pocketbooks. Let the lower income maga folks buy the big trucks that get 10 miles to the gallon so they can support the industry of their choice (but they'd better not complain at the price of gas since that is what they vote for). The rest of us, as we can, we need to replace vehicles with at least hybrids. And, as we can support the solar panel industry even as tax breaks are removed. It would be interesting to get a feel for what young people these days think about vehicles. My grandchildren want the cheapest, least frilly vehicle they can find. The industry may sort of naturally change in 10-15 years as these kids become consumers and the old folks that support the GOP drive less and less and the maga folks just have less and less money for gas. It is all up to us as consumers.
France's energy is largely provided by nuclear, which is very clean in terms of carbon emissions. Virginia just signed legislation for a "fusion" nuclear power plant. We've never done fusion before. All nuclear to this point has been fission. Fusion would be a game changer. But nuclear has a lot of socil obstacles to overcome.
Fusion energy will be here in about 10 years (for the last 50 years)!
Seems optimistic to me, but I'd be happy to be wrong.
LOVE this. We have two 2014 Chevy Sparks and love them!
I’ve been a proponent of less reliance on consumerism for a while now. One needs to look no further than Christmas to see how sheer consumerism has bastardized a holiday that’s supposed to be about a refugee who was born in a barn.
As a rural, small agriculture business owner, I currently use my Ford Explorer as my truck and have considered upgrading to the F-150 simply because it is way easier to load trees, dirt and equipment into a truck bed over the back of my Explorer. I do ,however, agree with your napkin math that most people (predominantly male) own trucks simply because they are COOL when fitted out with enormous tires and are used for mud runs on weekends. They should own a two seater to commute and leave the truck parked until the weekend. There must be a way to get the mindset to change for alternatives to fossil fuels. Maybe a surcharge on gas puzzles? Perhaps electric vehicle charging station companies can ramp up their installation of charging stations in rural areas which make it more convenient for electric vehicle owners to charge their vehicles locally. In my area in west central Missouri, I have not seen a single charging station available anywhere until you get into south Kansas City. This is not sustainable for rural adopters. There are ways to make EVs cool but without infrastructure, it isn't sustainable.
The newer EVs have great mileage range. I have a 2013 Chevy Volt hybrid (no longer produced). I bought a slow charger for my garage when I bought the car (overnight charging, 110v, so no need to upgrade the electrical ) and only needed to get about 10 gal of gas every 3-4 months. I still love that car, Chevy always seems to shoot itself in the foot.
I don't remember the numbers but something like 80% of trips are 40 miles from home.
chargerfinder.com
Its coming. I don't know where you live but it showed 261 charging stations in Kansas City. It's not there yet, but coming. I believe it was part of Biden's infrastructure act.
Which Trump is clawing back.
Interesting conflict of interest between Trump and Musk. It will be interesting to see who wins.
You are using the pickup truck in the way it was intended to be used. There is nothing wrong with that.
I say, once again, Lucas, you get it. It's sad that so many others don't. I'll be your supporters for so long as you keep trying.