xcel
10-12-2006, 02:14 AM
The oil company’s objective: keep the junkie hooked. (http://www.dailyevergreen.com/story/19369)
Haley Paul - The Daily Evergreen - Oct. 10, 2006
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/GM_EV-11.jpg
If GM kept their EV-1s on the road for all to see, the public would inquire and eventually want.
As I was sitting in the historic Kenworthy Theater in Moscow this past weekend, I looked around and saw the place nearly empty. Apparently, the mind-numbing plot lines, redundant one-liners and physical pain that a movie like “Employee of the Month” offers on a Saturday night is more appealing to the average college student than the informational documentary “Who Killed the Electric Car?”
Upon viewing this movie, however, I found I was surprised, moved, angry and happy. I found that through a documentary - often stigmatized as the epitome of boredom - I got all I could have ever asked for out of my emotional-roller-coaster, movie-going experience.
The filmmakers of “Who Killed the Electric Car?” quite effectively uncovered what I feel to be one of the most bizarre and shocking occurrences in modern day consumerism.
In a nutshell, California, in the early 1990s, passed a zero-emissions law with the hope that in the not-so-distant future, automakers would weed out inefficient, gas-guzzling, internal-combustion-engined cars. General Motors responded to the law with its EV-1: a quiet, battery-powered, nonpolluting electric car. It was a reasonably priced, extremely viable alternative to the cars we drive today. What proceeded to happen after the car’s introduction into the consumer market is where the documentary really delivers.
The American automakers, in collaboration with oil companies and the U.S. government, ended up squashing the electric car because they quickly realized their alternative product was too effective, too reasonably priced and too much of a reality. They realized that two things would happen if they kept their EV-1s on the road for all to see, inquire about and eventually want.
First, demand for GM’s previously popular and traditional models would fall out of favor and result in loss of profits. Second, America would quickly become independent from foreign oil and no longer need gasoline - that black gold of Big Oil - to feed their addiction.
If the junkie doesn’t want a fix, then what good is the dealer?
I challenge everyone at WSU to see this film, check out its Web site or just get curious over this strange, outrageous and unethical circumstance we find ourselves in today. There is the technology to completely rid ourselves of foreign oil for transportation purposes. In a world so concerned with being efficient and effective, we must ask ourselves: How can we make such strides in technologies such as wireless communications, computers and medicine, yet still use a dirty, outdated and inefficient technology from the turn of the 20th century?
The electric car is not a technology to be developed, worked on or improved for the future. The electric car is a reality, and it is time for consumers to become aware of the issues. We must stop obediently buying everything multi-billion-dollar advertising campaigns tell us we want and start thinking for ourselves, if we are going to have a better future than the one currently facing us.
Haley Paul - The Daily Evergreen - Oct. 10, 2006
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/GM_EV-11.jpg
If GM kept their EV-1s on the road for all to see, the public would inquire and eventually want.
As I was sitting in the historic Kenworthy Theater in Moscow this past weekend, I looked around and saw the place nearly empty. Apparently, the mind-numbing plot lines, redundant one-liners and physical pain that a movie like “Employee of the Month” offers on a Saturday night is more appealing to the average college student than the informational documentary “Who Killed the Electric Car?”
Upon viewing this movie, however, I found I was surprised, moved, angry and happy. I found that through a documentary - often stigmatized as the epitome of boredom - I got all I could have ever asked for out of my emotional-roller-coaster, movie-going experience.
The filmmakers of “Who Killed the Electric Car?” quite effectively uncovered what I feel to be one of the most bizarre and shocking occurrences in modern day consumerism.
In a nutshell, California, in the early 1990s, passed a zero-emissions law with the hope that in the not-so-distant future, automakers would weed out inefficient, gas-guzzling, internal-combustion-engined cars. General Motors responded to the law with its EV-1: a quiet, battery-powered, nonpolluting electric car. It was a reasonably priced, extremely viable alternative to the cars we drive today. What proceeded to happen after the car’s introduction into the consumer market is where the documentary really delivers.
The American automakers, in collaboration with oil companies and the U.S. government, ended up squashing the electric car because they quickly realized their alternative product was too effective, too reasonably priced and too much of a reality. They realized that two things would happen if they kept their EV-1s on the road for all to see, inquire about and eventually want.
First, demand for GM’s previously popular and traditional models would fall out of favor and result in loss of profits. Second, America would quickly become independent from foreign oil and no longer need gasoline - that black gold of Big Oil - to feed their addiction.
If the junkie doesn’t want a fix, then what good is the dealer?
I challenge everyone at WSU to see this film, check out its Web site or just get curious over this strange, outrageous and unethical circumstance we find ourselves in today. There is the technology to completely rid ourselves of foreign oil for transportation purposes. In a world so concerned with being efficient and effective, we must ask ourselves: How can we make such strides in technologies such as wireless communications, computers and medicine, yet still use a dirty, outdated and inefficient technology from the turn of the 20th century?
The electric car is not a technology to be developed, worked on or improved for the future. The electric car is a reality, and it is time for consumers to become aware of the issues. We must stop obediently buying everything multi-billion-dollar advertising campaigns tell us we want and start thinking for ourselves, if we are going to have a better future than the one currently facing us.