I hope you can go exploring offroad in a prius...

As someone who was raised in a "Tread Lightly" household, I always find myself saying "that's not treading lightly" and cringing when I watch videos and see ads depicting off-roaders as unthinking, uncaring idiots who have no regard for the land they abuse. One of the reasons I like all y'all on AAV is because we see eye-to-eye on how to respect the land we use for the sport we enjoy. @Ruffin'It, I think you need to check your privilege a bit and realize that instead of bad-mouthing people you barely even know and putting yourself on a pedestal from day 0, you should instead explore the forum a bit and realize that a lot of us are more like you than you think, and share similar views to those you support. Will we all agree on everything? Absolutely not. But can we agree to disagree and instead unite over the common cause we're all here to support, which is careful exploration of this great landscape we've been gifted with? Absolutely.
 
My post wasn't meant to address all people here directly, but rather acknowledge a general trend in the "community" (which is probably too restrictive a term) at large that I noticed pop up here as well; which is to speak degradingly toward people who consider themselves as "environmentalists" and/or those that tend toward preservation. I didn't mean to put myself in a pedestal. It wasn't (supposed to be) an "I'm better than you" statement or to whine about my offense. Rather a "maybe I'm in the wrong place, again" statement. It was prevalent during my years of Road Racing as well and I never felt it accurate or necessary. Efforts toward preservation aren't that much at odds with this lifestyle and I think concessions toward some sorts of conservation are needed for it to continue.
I think more was read into what I wrote than I intended. I just don't see the reason for the generalization of portraying those that lean toward environmentalism as the universal enemy.
Apologies to those I offended. Point taken.
 
My issue with the environmentalist's is the "closure" is management syndrome. In the Sierra Club's opinion, there is no room for any type of motorized transport in the back country...hell, even bicycles and horses bother them.

I have friends back east that have told me that they want to come out and hike Death Valley. I asked them just where in the hell they though they were going to hike to. They had ZERO concept of the vast distances in the west, and a lack of any type of facilities along the way.

As others have said, the folks at the extreme ends of the spectrums get all of the publicity, those of us in the middle just do what we can to make it all work. The folks on this forum have collected TONS of trash in the desert, donated $$$ to the Boy Scouts, donated to Toys 4 Tot's, just off the top of my head.

Go through some of the trip reports, I think you'll discover that you have more in common with most of us than you think you do.
 
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Back in the direction of original post: I'm not a west coaster and don't intimately understand all the nuances of Zero Emissions (and I haven't stayed in a Holiday Inn Express in a while). But I do understand that are other ways to achieve what CARB calls Zero.
I see Subarus (with gasoline combustion engines) labeled PZEV - Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle. I have personally driven a hydrogen-powered GM Equinox several years ago as a prototype. Chevy also had some experimentation with Silverado. My point being that its possible to meet ZEV standards without moving to plug in EVs.
 
I'm curious what the actual break even point is for true total carbon footprint between driving an existing, so-so-to-fair fuel mileage vehicle, and one thats very low to zero emission, factoring the actual real life carbon footprint of making that presumably zero emission electricity to run an electric car/suv.

Not being snarky, truly interested in knowing. It also takes a certain amount of energy to mine the raw materials, make them into usable parts, the batteries, transport to market, etc.
 
Wow.. interesting to see this thread alive again. I'll have to read the replies more in depth later.
 
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