It’s Getting Hot In Here

Yesterday, the Washington Post reported that General Motors’ bid to sell the brand to a Chinese heavy equipment manufacturing company fell through. Unless the contract is picked up quickly, no more Hummers will be manufactured.

Hummers have been notorious as environmentally unfriendly vehicles and a source of controversy ever since they were introduced to the public. The most fuel-efficient Hummer averages about 16 mpg, a frighteningly low number when considering that some hybrids get an average of upwards of 40 mpg. That’s more than double the fuel-efficiency of the Hummer.

The popularity of the Hummer brand has declined in recent years. The brand was popular soon after its release, with 71,524 Hummers sold in 2006. By December 2009, sales were down 85%.  Stock prices have continued to drop, and GM recently filed for bankruptcy.

The discontinuation of the brand is a good sign. Continue reading ‘The Hummer is history’

I wrote this the other day after I watched the State of the Union Address and wanted to share it with all of you. 2009 was a disappointing year in many ways, but we also accomplished a lot, and the President’s speech got me thinking. So here goes…

I’m running on empty. I’m exhausted. School plus my job plus the all of the environmental organizations I’m involved with equals something that’s probably not sustainable. But I’m going to keep working. Along with all of the rest of you amazing people, I’m going to keep making sure that my voice is heard.

Some (okay, many) of the things in the President’s address were disappointing. Coal and nuclear will never be clean sources of energy. But the fact that the President spoke about clean energy at all gives me hope. In his own words, he called for, “a comprehensive energy and climate bill with incentives that will finally make clean energy the profitable kind of energy in America.”

I’m going to go ahead and call that one a success. Continue reading ‘Response to the State of the Union Address’