Reconciling my SUV Guilt

For a while now, I've realized that it's probably a bad thing that I drive an SUV. I recognized that driving an SUV makes a pretty substantial ecological footprint, and that the world would be a better place if I opted for, say, a Toyota Echo or an electric golf cart instead.

On the other hand, given the number of people I know that have been in some pretty serious car accidents, I feel much better with a vehicle (Mercules, see the legend) that has some pretty extensive safety features. And no, rolling up on top of working-class motorists isn't one of them. That, and my family cottage (as well as my uncle's place, and my grandmother's place) is pretty much in the middle of nowhere, meaning some fairly substantial snow tires / traction control are requried to make the trip in the middle of winter.

I've tried it in a rear-wheel drive before. It wasn't pretty.

So, I thought that I was stuck with SUV guilt, as a result. Doomed to wander this planet, forced to shut my mouth whenever environmental issues became the subject of conversation.

Enter TerraPass.

Initially launched as a professor's project at the University of Pennsylvania, the idea is that an ecologically-minded driver can punch in their vehicle and driving habits, and receive a rough estimate of what it would cost to fund a project to counteract the environmental impact. So, in my case, I need a utility pass that costs roughly US$80 which covers roughly double the impact of my present driving habits. For Andrea's Civic, it'd be roughly half the cost.

I bought a membership that renews itself annually.

I'm not sure which I'm going to enjoy more - feel justified in taking part in environmental discussions, or seeing what people say when they see the TerraPass sticker in the back of my SUV.

Now if there's only some way they could factor in the geo-political cost of consuming non-renewable resources... Hmmm.