By way of introduction to this post, In the past, I kept a separate global warming blog.  I’m going to move those posts here.  I haven’t been good at keeping up because of book deadlines and a delightful four-footed whirlwind of puppy energy named cricket (see www.threedogsblog.comif you are interested those details).  But playing with a puppy or pulling socks out of it’s teeth don’t keep a person from thinking, even though it does make it hard to type.  At the beginning of the year, I predicted that climate change would lose traction this year as Americans fatigue easily.  For a while, it seemed that high gas prices kept it in at least the top five election topics, but of course, the wave of economic news has drowned almost everything else out.  That frightens me, since climate change does not become less of a long term threat just because other things also need attention.

So on to a mix of economics and long term energy:  the process of buying a car.  I had though my last car (a 2003 CRV) was my last gasoline car.  It would have been, except for various reasons I just gave it to my son and his family before I had originally planned to replace it.  Alternative energy cars have found the market more slowly than I wanted.  Instead of waiting for an alternative energy car I wanted, I had to buy now.  My needs:  must seat three adults and three dogs periodically (leaves out things like the FIT and the Prius).  Must not be ridiculous to drive with one person.  Must be capable of long driving trips.  30K or less.  My wants:  leather seats (so they don’t become festooned with dog hair), heated front seats, and a nav system.  I alos wanted something that wasn’t just a gasoline car.  I already use the bus a few times a week, and I don’t have a tough commute anyway – I can walk in an hour on a pretty day.  So it’s not like I drive a lot, but when i need the car, I need it (driving o speeches, driving to conventions, driving to see my son).  Hybrids were all too small or too big – no just right for this goldilocks.  Semi-sensible choices with enough room like the Highlander were too pricey, and didn’t have much gas mileage improvement anyway.  So I bought a Subaru Outback.  It’s beautiful, but it’s a little sad.  It is a PZEV vehicle (meets CA emission standards – yeah for CA),  so it doesn’t put too much awful stuff into the air.  It’s manufactured at a plant that recycles.  But it would have been nice if it got 40 miles to the gallon, and a little engineering could have done that.  I should have been able to buy a good car for the future now.