Rant: SUV Tailpipe Emissions You Stink!

The vast majority of my 18 year running career has been spent training on the road.  I’m a morning runner – which is a good thing because I live in LA – filthy air capital of the country – and ozone levels are a bit lower in the AM. Fact of the matter is that according the American Lung Association, Los Angeles is the most polluted city in the nation and living in LA is like smoking a pack-a-day.  (You can see where your home town is ranked on the pollution scale by visiting the American Lung Association website.)  But I digress. 

Many is the time I have run past a big ‘ole SUV idling with a passenger in the driver’s seat talking on the phone, waiting for someone – whatever.  I hold my breath when I run by, but I know it’s useless to do so.  

These massive 12-passenger vehicles are everywhere here in LA, and they’re almost always occupied by one teeny weenie little person there in the driver’s seat talking on a cell phone.  WHAT ARE YOU PEOPLE THINKING ?!!!!! 

And here’s news to all of you SUV drivers out there – YOU STINK! 

Yes, I’ve been running the roads for many years and I am here to tell you that there really IS a difference in the stench and filth emitted from the tailpipes of SUVs…and amongst SUVs there are “stinky and REALLY stinky!”  It’s been my personal experience that in the “taxonomy of stink”, anything made by Ford wins, hands down! 

If you are currently driving a gas-guzzling SUV, number one, you are slowly going broke due to your folly and number two, consider this handy little comparison: 

In a 124,000 mile lifespan the following is true:

Ford Excursion (13 mpg)
emits 134 tons of CO2

Jeep Grand Cherokee (18 mpg)
emits 96 tons of CO2

Ford Taurus (23 mpg)
emits 74 tons of CO2

Honda Civic HX (36 mpg)
emits 48 tons of C02

Honda Insight (65 mpg)
emits 27 tons of CO2

It’s a free country.  People can drive whatever they want, I suppose.  But by the same token, I can express my opinion.  If you drive one of these monstrosities you oughta know – every time you step on that gas pedal, you contribute more than your share to warming our beautiful planet…and you’re stinking up my morning run!

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