Defensive driving
October 17, 2007Even residents of enviro-friendly Seattle buy large gas-guzzling cars; they just feel more defensive about it than they would if they lived elsewhere.
Yesterday I saw a minivan-like vehicle (I don’t know exactly what it was because I know nothing — I mean NOTHING — about automobiles) with a license plate that read, “4R4SONS.”
Oh, OK. All right. Since you have four sons, I’ll grant that you have a legitimate need for a minivan.
But why have four sons? Given the rate at which the world’s population is depleting its resources, wouldn’t three have been more than enough?
My Track Record 
See comments 1 and 3 below linked article.
may be 4R4SONS stands for "for ride for sons"Of course, if (s)he has less than 4 sons (or children in general), why the minivan?In any case, let's just hope (s)he's not on the cell phone while driving …
Hi Greg – I couldn't agree more, except to say why wasn't 0 kids enough!I'll be posting a review of the book "The World Without Us" in the next few days on my blog, which touches on this issue as well.Paul – a fellow ultrarunner and member of VHEM.
Speaking of sons, Happy Birthday to Phil.
Perhaps the SUV owner was an adopter and not neccessarily a procreator? In that case, this person was doing the world a great service. Let us hope, but probably not.I'd like to be an adopter some day, I think.
Billy: I think there's a big difference between saying that the Earth would be better off without us — the viewpoint that those comments seem to be rebutting — and saying that the Earth would be in better shape ecologically if there weren't quite so many of us. I believe the latter.Roslyn: Thanks! More on that topic is forthcoming.Meghan: Good point — and it's not a purely hypothetical one, because I know someone who has four adopted sons. A great guy.