Wall Street Journal- Treehugger Edition
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.25.05
We were scratching our heads while reading the Journal today- the rabid anti-treehugger fishwrap has a cover article on "Common Industrial Chemicals in Tiny Doses Raise Health Issue" covering the toxic effects of small doses of Phthalates, BPA and perchlorates. Then there is an entire section on The Car of the Future, including an interview with Amory Lovins and a good article on the current state, and future potential, of alternative fuel technologies, which they have deigned to make available online for free. We read the Journal to get the view from the Dark Side- we may have to start watching Fox! ::Wall Street Journal
eee eee
"one of the few Priuses she could find at the time. She paid full price for the car -- $25,765, about $8,000 more than a comparably equipped Corolla"
Comparing a mid-sized hatcback to a compact sedan Corolla, in which many features of the Prius aren't even offered at any price (LCD screen, keyless engine start, smooth CVT transmission, quietness of electric only propulsion, better safety ratings, etc), is pretty misleading, but hey, it's the WSJ.
Funny how people will pay for a moonroof, stereo, big engine, AWD, mag wheels, etc, without complaining... But when they have to pay for a hybrid, it's a "premium" and they whip out the math to see if it will pay for itself. If it's not free, the whining starts.
Nobody buys a car - or a feature on a car - so that it pays for itself. Why do people expect the hybrid technology to be free, especially at this stage when economies from mass production aren't there yet? If people really wanted to spend as little as possible on cars, the Toyota Echo would be a best seller in the US.
It's also not very fair of them to give gas saving numbers for the Accord hybrid only since it's basically a "muscle hybrid" and not all that fuel efficient (about the same as the Accord 4 cylinders)...
Aside from that, it's nice to see the WSJ pay some attention.
Sorry for the rant...
and today's story about canin PR "Why Have Sponsors
Gone Barking Mad For Deals With Dogs?" lists Natura (organic and natural dog food supplier) several times w/in the first few lines!