Environmentalist?

There are many different levels of environmentalism. Some of you who know me well may not think Smithy = environmentalist. I'll be the first to admit it, I'm green when it's convenient. My pet peeve is when people leave the lights on (random), but I don't really care too much about listed species under the ESA.

Yet, somehow my law schooling has focused on environmental law. It was kinda by accident. But sure enough, I'll be graduating in May with the Environmental law certificate and starting an environmental law-related job in the Fall. And while I would rather throw out glass than drive it to the recycling center, my environmental law classes have started to rub off on me a little. This semester I'm taking Energy Law which gets me thinking about Mikes and my energy consumption...

Lots of scholars are saying oil is peaking and coal isn't far behind (which makes up most of our electrical generation - I just wrote a policy paper on this...). Is it weird that almost every household I know has 1 car per driver? Aren't cars such an inefficient way of getting around?

So I've been thinking... maybe Mikes and I should swap our awesome Honda for an 4-wheel drive/AWD such as this:

After all, in Utah you need something to get around in the bad weather (i.e., up the canyon to ski fresh powder for mikes). Who knows when the poor Jetta will poop out. But I'd love to get this in its place:I've been wanting one of these for a long time. With graduation just around the corner, I think it's about time to get one... but then again, I also would love a new fridge, bay windows for the front room, and bedroom furniture for the guest room.