Do you own a View Blocking Vehicle?

S.U.V.'s, how much do I loathe them? Let me count the way. I'm an environmentalist, a greenie, so you might think I hate them because they are big and imposing on forests and natural areas and are the poster child for exploitation of the planet. Not so. I think they are useful, utilitarian vehicles for environmentalism, as such vehicles are a mainstay for getting through rugged country with scientific monitoring equipment, for wildlife work, for conservation efforts, even just to go camping -- they rock. Their mileage isn't an issue with me either. Although, if everyone has got to have one because they like "riding in style," well, supply and demand sort of says because of you, the price of gas is gonna be higher than if you all were in Smart Cars. I mean, c'mon. Well, how about Global warming concerns? Well guess what: SUV's don't cause global warming. If we'd get on with going solar, we'll cut down on CO2 so fast, it wouldn't matter if twice as many SUVs are on the road, or even ten times as many. If you took every SUV off the road and replaced it with a Prius, the buildup rate of CO2 levels would not slow down for a day. If everyone had Priuses, we'd all be driving more anyway -- we could afford the gas!
Nope, my one and only complaint about SUVs is they block views. You can't go anywhere that's architecturally important and get a respectable shot without one of the ugly beasts ruining the view. They're View Blockers. VBV's.

Global warming is real.

[Not my photo. I found it on Google. As soon as it freakin' freezes here , I'll take a picture]

Global warming is real. When I was a kid growing up in the 70s, and you notice this as a school kid, the morning after Halloween almost always had frost on the ground here in San Joaquin Valley. By the 80s it was a few days after Halloween, by the 90s it was a week later, and now it's almost two weeks later, almost to Thanksgiving. This year the ground hasn't frosted yet, and It's December 1st. But that's because of normal weather variations. It never frosted here in other years, too. But ON AVERAGE, there's been change. I guessing that global warming since I was born in 1963 has been about 3 degrees. At least that's what it looks like out here. And just think, I might never have drawn this conclusion had I not remained living here my whole life.
At the same time, look at how much everyday life has changed to use more energy all over the world. Next, look at how much the CO2 level in the atmosphere has shot up since 1963. Next, look at the accelerated glacial melt. That's as direct a link to temperature change of an unnatural rate as you'll ever find. Our environment is showing lots of stress. We are trying to document these changes and their effects in order to prove this is true, scientifically, on paper, but as for me, no paper proof can compare to the frosty grass proof I've observed here at home.