I read an article somewhere (NYT, maybe?) recently about the fact that even with tax breaks and subsidies, hybrid cars are not a winning economic proposition. Nonetheless, people buy them for non-economic reasons, as a social and political statement. This is certainly not a new behavior, as most people who own fast cars in big cities don't actually drive them fast from stoplight to stoplight. Come to think of it, it's about the opposite — the people I remember driving like maniacs on the Chicago freeways were usually in low-end Japanese cars with lots of primer spots and great big spoilers to metaphorically show their manhood.
Since we're a Northwest-living, organic-food-eating, hybrid-car-contemplating, trash-recycling, sandal-wearing, co-sleeping, photovoltaic array-considering, eco-touring family that would otherwise fall into the yuppie demographic, that now makes us “greenies”. (“Guppie” is becoming an official term, but I like "greenie" better...) I was thinking about greenies as an economic force yesterday when we were at REI with the kid. There were a lot of other families shopping, too, with kids and strollers, except that unlike the usual mix of Graco and the occasional Maclaren in the rest of Seattle, every stroller was a Bugaboo.
I'm happy with “less of better” being a mantra for my generation, but I can't help but think that the majority are in the “more of whatever is on TV” WalMart Nation instead.
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