Should I be ashamed to say....

[Aggie_Ama]

This morning I had to take Clifford our big red Dodge 1500 to get the oil changed and some routine maintenance done. I call it Clifford because Clifford never fit in his house and the truck doesn't fit in the garage.

Anyway, 5-6 days a week we drive my little gas sipper Dodge Caliber, Gretchen. She is slow but has all the nice bells and whistles and gets 28 mpg. But this morning I realized Clifford is such a joy to drive. The feel of being high up and the Hemi oh lord, no worries getting on the highway with that engine. I feel sad ashamed to say even with its horrible gas mileage (15-16 mpg), all those polutants I know we shouldn't be emitting, humongous tank ($85 fill up) and the fact that it fits no where to park I wish I could drive it everyday. Maybe it is my native Texan blood but there is no liberation in my 4 cylinder! Of course he will still sit parked 5-6 days a week, no changing that.

I am just saying it has become so horrible to drive a truck or SUV (and much of it can't be denied), I feel almost guilty most days owning one as I hear ranting about them but dang there is just too much fun in owning a truck. There I said it, no need to draw the firing squad. I didn't want to start an inflammatory thread just saying.

Anyone else have a guilty pleasure you feel like you shouldn't enjoy this much? Maybe you like caffeine too much, eat fried food, don't like compact flourescent bulbs, watch TV?

[tulip]

Everyone has a different set of standards. Good for you for driving the Caliber as often as possible--you are making positive change and that's what matters. I feel guilty when I drive to anywhere under 5 miles from my house, and I drive a VW Rabbit (which doesn't get nearly as good mileage as one would expect, but it sure is fun to drive!).

Taking airplanes significantly increases my carbon footprint, but I allow myself an annual trip to Europe regardless. Next year it'll be Italy--the plans are already being developed. Since I work from home (no commute) and live in a small house that I'm upgrading to modern energy efficiency standards, I figure it's okay to go to places that I love, even if they are far away.

I would like to buy a small pickup truck--a Nissan or Toyota. I would greatly facilitate getting things like mulch from the city leaf recycling program. They don't deliver! I would also keep my little car. I guess I feel a little funny about one person owning two vehicles, but you can only drive one at a time.

[redrhodie]

I feel kind of guilty about my need daily for both a shower and a bath. I've tried cutting the baths down to not every day, and I fill the tub less than I'd like, but I just can't give them up all together. My skin just doesn't feel right when I don't take my bath at night, and I don't sleep as well.

My last apt had a double size jacuzzi, and I really had issues with that (it took almost half an hour to fill!), but still used it almost daily. At least the tub here is small-ish, and I'm not using electricity to power the motor.

[Pax]

I get my speed jolly's from a motorcycle that gets 55mpg, so I don't tend to feel too guilty about it.

[Blueberry]

My Element - it only gets 21-23 (on a really good day). But, I haven't found another vehicle I can haul kayaks on top of, bikes on a hitch (without scraping) and still have room for "stuff" when going on vacation (at least that gets better mileage). But it's nice to drive

CA

[SouthernBelle]

Since I'm commuting, I can go several days without driving. But when I do drive, I feel so fast and powerful. The funny part is that's it's a 4 cyl Ranger. No power there!

[Pax]

Since I'm commuting, I can go several days without driving. But when I do drive, I feel so fast and powerful. The funny part is that's it's a 4 cyl Ranger. No power there!

I took my '01 Ranger in for an oil change last week, the mechanic looked at it and said "how do you manage to own an almost eight year old vehicle and only have 40,000 miles on it", I said "I ride a bicycle, scooter, and motorcycle most of the time"...he replied "no, seriously, how do you get around?"

[tulip]

I'm having a really hard time justifying my desire to have cable TV. I don't watch much TV, but I do like to have choices. I can justify the very basic level, but then I don't get things like ESPN and DIY (This Old House!). I have rabbit ears now and only get ABC, NBC, and CBS--not even PBS. And that will all go away come February anyways.

Why do I fret over these things??

[OakLeaf]

Motorcycling, and my love of motor racing.

I save up environmental points for most of the rest of my life, just so I can blow it all in the twisties...

[Blueberry]

I'm having a really hard time justifying my desire to have cable TV. I don't watch much TV, but I do like to have choices. I can justify the very basic level, but then I don't get things like ESPN and DIY (This Old House!). I have rabbit ears now and only get ABC, NBC, and CBS--not even PBS. And that will all go away come February anyways.

Why do I fret over these things??

We got the $50 ($10 after the "rebate") converter box. With our rabbit ears, we now get more channels. Might be worth trying - we're pretty much opposed to cable too

CA

[Crankin]

I generally don't feel guilty about too much.If you can afford it, who cares? Life is too short to feel guilty.

[Eden]

I'll admit to hating compact florescent light bulbs.... I'll put them in the basement, in the porch lights, but forget it, in my actual living spaces. I don't care how much they claim to have made them better the light quality s-u-c-k-s

[Tuckervill]

I'm with you, Eden. I'm not putting them in my reading lamps. I barely tolerate them in the kitchen, but that's where the light is used/needed the most. I can tell the difference in the light, and I don't like it.

Karen

[Flybye]

If you move to the west - Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and some of Utah, trucks and suv's largely outnumber smaller vehicles. Just a different perspective. I guess we have more open air to ruin
Gas prices have changed that.
I don't like to recycle - it is a pain in the rear. We don't have sidewalk recycling - for some things it is a 20 mile drive to the recyclers. Hate it, hate it, hate it. I recycle newspaper, plastic bags, and aluminum.

[Aggie_Ama]

Whew, glad to know we can't all be perfect. We have cable and love it. We can't get Travel Channel, Versus, ESPN (bleck the man likes it), Discovery Channels, Biography, History, Science. Oh and to boot we have a ginormous TV my father gave us, I don't know the size but it is somewhere between 55-60". Ridiculous but I didn't buy it and you should see Science/History/Discovery HD.

Eden- My husband loves the compact flourescent, I am indifferent. The full flourescents can be a trigger for my borderline migraine. We only have replaced one bulb thus far with the compact so I am not experiencing that yet. We turn our lights on so rarely we have only had one bulb go out in 2 years.

Fly- I live in Texas and I would say most native Texans own at least one truck. It is in our mentality, culture, we need them. Not always sure why but we think we need them. In our case we have had the truck one year today, we used it as a truck for about the 5th time this weekend. Moved a bit of furniture twice, got some dirt, went camping, that is all. My car can handle the weekend camping but not the extended trips where multiple ice chests are taken.

Oh and I like sweets, Mexican food, caffeine with reckless abandon, driving my truck, driving in general, hate recycling (we don't have curbside), still trying to break leaving water running while brushing teeth, take a nightly soaking bath once it cools down out. House is all electric, yard has grass (hey we are xeriscaping as we replace). Jeez, if I listened to the media or some people I am the reason there is a hole in the ozone, water is in short supply and trash not biodegrading.