Such a transition can’t be done overnight, and it’s possible that we will always be depending on some amount of oil for various purposes (providing lubrication for electric motors, if nothing else.) What is clear is that the less we burn, the more money we save, and the better off our country is politically, militarily and economically.

Artmic, what is disappointing is that folks like you have made any intelligent discussion of this and other issues impossible. Anyone who disagrees gets a hearty “fuck you” in place of any reasoned argument. As the numbers involved in the discussion have increased, the maturity level of political discussion in the USA (and, to be fair, other parts of the world,) has clearly gone downhill. Anyone who disagrees with us is obviously evil, evil, evil, evil. Bush is Hitler. Obama is Stalin. And so on.

William Tecumseh Sherman put it best:

“Vox populi? Vox humbug!”

4 cylinder engines are the way to go. America – being one of the world’s most resistant countires on CO2 reduction, would just have to start cutting down on their emission in order to be more sustainable. The American public is definately becoming more aware of this problem and with the help of companies, it is possible to be more sustainable.

If you go outside America, the mentality of a V8 muscle car is so 80′s with those unrefined engine noises and cheap body tin metal. .. yet, it’s viewed as being cool in America. This is the 21st century – we value efficiency and sustainable living.

Furthermore, to correct Artmic this is not a political issue…it’s a sustainability issue. Politicians may use them to target more environmentally aware voters, just like compaies targeting their customers. You can say that it’s a business issue as well then.. the fact of teh matter is taht it’s regading the future of our earth and future generations. Start reading more and if you do more research, you would have seen that the CO2 in recent decades have increased by more than 10 folds due to industrialisation and increased living standards. So before you tell someone else to do more research, try doing yours first. And most people are not stupid, people have brains to decide whether what they’re watching on TV is “shit” or not by evaluating against other sources. People who couldn’t care less about the earth and sustainable living are probably from the PAST, living in denial. Most will think of them as scums on earth…. probably wishing they could just flick them into space, out of this earth.

Directly to your argument, this*is* a relatively small contribution of the world’s CO2, unfortunately while small in proportion it’s massive in relation to the earth’s ability to process it in this extremely short period of time. It tips the scales enough to not only have large consequences in the environment directly (eg, small degree changes, polar ice caps, etc) but accelerate a global environmental change that we will not be able to reverse even with the actual reductions in CO2. Don’t forget that while we reduce CO2 (etc) emissions, the ability of the environment to process these pollutants is also changing and not in a direction that’s helpful.

fractino of a Fahrenheit degree has large consequences

Why don’t you all just take a look at the % of CO2 in the atmosphere, and then the % of our CO2 Contribution to that, if you do, you will never think we are causing any global warming or climate change.
But i guess most people are too stupid and lazy to give a fuck to do their own research. They see shit on tv, so it must be “TRUE”.

I have a DD ex NASA E36 M3, one of my kids has a tricked out (M3 bumper, mirrors, LTW Rep Wing, Coilovers, etc) E36 318is….and his is a blast to drive. Sure, I miss the HP, but momentum cars are fun too! And the MPG are a lot better then my M!