Murphy's Law: Save the polar bears? Trade the Prius for a V8

In a well intentioned effort to mitigate climate change, people buy hybrids and electric cars to limit their carbon footprint and stop melting the homes of our fluffy friends up north. The trouble is, these cars do not do this.

The car that cemented itself as the darling of eco-conscious celebrities and Jill Stein voters the world over is the Toyota Prius. While the Prius was taking the Whole Foods parking lot by storm and everyone became concerned with fuel economy and energy impact scores, we collectively decided that traditional big V8 SUVs were the enemy.

Weirdly though, the gas-guzzlers harm Johnny Polar Bear and his friend Mr. Ozone less than most of the hybrids and electric cars. This is because, like everyone who has ever bought a Prius, its designers were not thinking. As they traveled the globe sacrificing everything that makes a good car on the altar of Environmental Protection Agency fuel economy testing, they did an awful lot of polluting.

While eco-friendly cars use less at the pump, the pollution caused by the production and scrapping of these vehicles does just as much environmental harm as the burning of additional gasoline for a traditional vehicle. All cars have a basic production cost to manufacture their various components; what makes hybrids and electric vehicles different is the production of extra batteries.

As an example, hybrid car batteries use rare earth metals that produce an enormous amount of pollution when they're mined, leaving some local areas in China environmentally devastated. Also, a controversialstudy by CNW Marketing Research wrote that, from production to scrapping, a Hummer used less total energy than a Prius. While the initial study had flawed assumptions about the lifespan of different vehicles, the pollution from battery production it examined continues to be a problem with hybrid/electric cars.

Batteries make these cars heavier than normal, so road, tire and brake dust are increased. This dust makes up more of the total particulate emissions from a vehicle than traditional exhaust, and does more to harm human health, according to the journal Atmospheric Environment.

The Norwegian Institute of Science and Technology found that electric vehicle production generates about double the climate change potential of a traditional car, and that the electric vehicle supply chain represents significant increases in human and freshwater toxicity, and freshwater eutrophication, which kills animal life via excess richness in water nutrients caused by toxic runoff. Worse, if the grid is powered by coal, as about 30 percent of U.S. power is produced, the electricity to charge a car emits more carbon dioxide than burning gasoline. Electrically powered cars are getting better, but the technology is still years away from any positive impact.

If you really want to save the planet, avoid “green” cars.  Buy a light, old car.  And don’t ever buy a Prius.  They are terrible cars and they are ugly.  In the hybrid’s case, all that glitters is not green.  I like the Earth, so if you’ll excuse me, I need to go buy an old muscle car.