“Sitting at a restaurant table in Munich in the summer of 1932, Hitler designed the prototype for what would become the immensely successful Beetle design for Volkswagen (literally, the "car of the people"),” says the Hitler Historical Museum’s website. He then said to the head of Daimler-Benz: “Take it with you and speak with people who understand more about it than I do. But don't forget it. I want to hear from you soon, about the technical details."
This week, Obama imposed on American car manufacturers strict fuel efficiency and emissions standards, to be introduced in 2012. Manufacturers will reportedly get extra pats on the head for cranking out electric cars like General Motors’ Chevy Volt – which will soak American consumers for about $40,000. In other words, they’re going to make cars only hippies want, at prices only CEOs can afford. Don’t like it? Then ride a bike or take the bus.
These aren’t going to be Hummers or 4x4s, because the simple laws of physics dictate that the heavier something is, the more energy it takes to move it. These are going to be little bitty cars like the ones I see in Paris, none of which are physically capable of hauling both me and my luggage to the airport. Sure, there are hybrid electric buses around the world that run partly on electricity and can do that – but when they have to keep up with traffic on the highway, that’s when the diesel fuel kicks in and starts drowning polar bears all over again.
“Americans just have to get out of their big cars,” a French friend sighed to me recently.
“Yeah, I’m sure your girlfriends find it really sexy that you can ‘lift’ your scooter into its parking spot and that they have to take the subway to meet up with you on your dates,” I replied.
That’s environmental paranoia in a nutshell for you. It isn’t really about the environment, it’s about control. You, too, are going to be forced to look as stupid as the guy pulling ten canvas bags out of his faux leather man-purse. If you dare show up at any grocery store in Toronto, Canada, without your own ratty, reused bags, you’ll be charged five cents for each one – a tax on your audacity, collected by the City.
It’s the same thing in Paris. On one particularly cold day, the Parisian cashier in the Palais des Congres’ Galeries Gourmandes simply assumed that I didn’t require any bags for about forty purchased items. When I said, after she had rung me up, that I indeed did, she snapped that it would cost me five cents apiece. I replied (in French): “Oh, here are two Euros, then. Please make it one bag for each item. It’s far too cold outside for this time of year, so I’d like to go home and burn them to do my part in combating climate change.”
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