Global Warming - Bill McKibbens

Global Warming

The works of Bill McKibbens have been an area of controversy. Mr. McKibbens argues that a major cause of global warming is the cars that people drive today. Now days it is not uncommon to see many SUVs around that are driven by people who have them so that they feel confident and know that they could potential go off road if the need would arise. Others argue that it is not a bad thing to drive SUVs for looks. The age of station wagons and vans have passed and now to fit the whole family in a car people feel they must have a SUV.

The usage of SUVs for the purpose that they are meant to be used is not bad, but sadly only 5% are actually used in this manner. As my family owns a SUV I know that there are many benefits that a SUV can have. We not only use it for hauling bicycles, kayaks, boats and other loads, which is much more convenient than a car. But we have also use it to go on some roads and trails that are impassable without four wheel drive. When going in the outdoors to kayak, mountain bike, climb, or backpack it is hard to find areas that are easily accessible without taking some unmaintained roads. Not that I am sticking up for SUVs but I believe that they have there purposes but are often abuse and used for the wrong reasons.

The rise of global warming is in direct correlation with the popularity of the SUV. In the past 13years the world has had the hottest 11 years on record. There is no denying that the world is warming up, but people are denying that is has something to do with the number of SUVs driven. Americans now produce 12% more CO2 and is a fact that with cars getting worse gas mileage they are also letting off more emissions that are causing the global warming.

Works Cited

McKibben, Bill. "Driving Global Warming" The New World Reader. Gilbert Muller

Houghton Mifflin, 2005. PP 401-404.

http://www.suv.org/environ.html