Democratic nominee for president Barack Obama turned his attention to climbing gas prices and the auto industry last week. Obama steered clear of any contentious comments – like telling would-be voters to stop driving their gas-guzzlers. He did, however, say that change was in the air.
From Reuters:
We’ve seen that this quarter. People are changing their behavior and we’ve seen a slump in the sales of SUVs and big trucks and a drastic spike in cars both medium size and small.
… [Car manufacturers] have done a better job of investment than they have in the past. There’s still more work to do, and the federal government should help them do it
Obama has targeted fuel efficiency in past speeches and his comments indicate a will to increase federal standards if he’s elected president.
As we’ve reported before, a focus on driving less will have a dramatically greater impact than better MPG. Obama seems to think so too; he’s also come out in support of “greater bicycle and pedestrian usage of roads and sidewalks, and re-commit[ting] federal resources to public mass transportation projects across the country.”
Photo via flickr by LarimdaME.
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This article makes the writer seem like a moron, with no real world understanding of the economics and factors involved.
Yes oil is bad for the environment, but it is a vital component of modern society, and if BP stopped all their production, there are dozens of other companies that would quickly take its place.
And it’s not just since 2000 that BP have been involved in green technology, they’ve been involved in solar power since 1973, long before most people even cared about the environment.
And I don’t think there’s any hypocrisy by oil companies reducing their environmental impact, and spending millions on R&D to do so, the only hypocrisy is from environmentalists who say they want oil companies to be greener, but then complain when they are.