Shades of GreenEmily Bazelon takes readers' questions about the motivations and values of the environmental movement.

Slate senior editor Emily Bazelon was online at Washingtonpost.com on Thursday, July 12, to discuss eco-snobbery and the motivations and values of the green movement. An unedited transcript of the chat follows.

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Washington: Need/perceived need for external verification is a problem only you can fix. No point in hiding your Prius in a burlap sack because you're self-conscious about your eco-consciousness. Whatever, a car's a car. I say do your thing and relax, stop worrying about it. Uptight tree-hugger is kind of an oxymoron in my book.

Emily Bazelon: yes, well, if I just relax and stop worrying then what will I have left to write about? I'm a family columnist, after all, at least a couple times each month.

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Georgia: All cars send a message. I think it is great that some people want to send a message that they care about the environment. I live in an Air Force Base town and all I see are oversized trucks that people can't begin to afford and certainly don't need. I live next door to a guy with a huge truck and not one tool in his garage. My husband has probably 50 tools and we drive two foreign sedans. Hmmm ... I wonder who needs the payload more? And don't even get me started on SUVs.

Emily Bazelon: all too true. I had to rent a car a month ago, and all they had was this huge Jeep, and I felt like a fool driving it.

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Not a fan of Al: Why do you suppose no one took Al Gore to task for Live Earth? Rock concerts are huge energy suckers—no doubt hundreds of people had to be flown to various locations, and I wonder how many 18-wheelers it took to cart the stuff to each venue and then truck away the trash? I'm sure he could have come up with a more wasteful way to highlight the problem of excess carbon emissions, but I'm not sure how.

Emily Bazelon: I can't imagine no one has taken him task on this, but yes, it's a good point. I also don't know what sort of provisions he made to try to keep the waste and energy use down.

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Chantilly, Va.—I'm one of those Hummer people...: I bought a Hummer H2 two years ago because I liked it. It gets reasonable gas mileage (contrary to what the loons will tell you) and it has a lot of practical applications in my job. It also conforms to the same emissions testing the Prius does. I think there is this fallacy floating around out there that my truck emits massive amounts of smog. It just doesn't. No, it doesn't get 60 miles per gallon, but it gets just as good gas mileage as the minivans I see parked at my son's school every day. Why no harping on the minivans, huh?

And yes, I take my fair share of scorn from one of my greenie neighbors. We are actually very close and she mocks my truck in good fun as I mock her Civic Hybrid. She mocked me until the day last winter she spun out at the bottom of our hill and I used the winch to pull her car out of the gully! I think one important thing is that we realize it's still America and we all make choices. Given that, we all can be civil to each other regardless of what those choices are.

Emily Bazelon: You are right that you have chosen a car that's become symbolic of waste, and probably gets nailed for things that other cars don't get nailed for. And yes, civility is important. I don't know enough about the Hummer/minivan comparison to comment on it. But I do think that as a general matter, lots of people have cars that are bigger etc than they need. you could retort, correctly, that lots of people have big houses and fly more than they need to etc. I'm not sure where all of this finger pointing gets us, though.

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Washington—South Park: For South Park, no need to view it on YouTube. Southparkzone.com has them all. The episode on hybrids is one of my favorites; here's the direct link.

Emily Bazelon: great. Thanks!

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Fairfax, VA: I own a Prius and I'm vegan, and these two aspects of my life seem to drum up the most unnecessary, unwarranted hate I've ever encountered by people who don't know me. I don't advertise these things—in fact, I usually try to keep them a secret in order to avoid conflict. Articles in Slate about being ashamed of caring about the environment and an article today on MSNBC about vegetarians telling their story about their fierce temptations just fuel the fire. I honestly don't understand why I constantly have to make excuses for the choices I make, and put up with being called a snob and annoying in the process. I also have to express serious doubts that 57 percent of Prius owners bought the car to make a statement about themselves—gas prices alone would indicate these survey results are moot.

washintonpost.com: Vegetarian readers share tales of temptation (Post, July 11)

Emily Bazelon: If you don't advertise your Prius and your veganness, how do they become a subject of hate from people who don't know you? In a widespread way, I mean. I haven't read the piece you linked to, but I usually think it's important to air pesky questions and points of view, even if they're not in line with one's own way of thinking. It keeps life more interesting, doesn't it?

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Philadelphia: "Why does the Prius need to go 100 mph anyway?" Quite honestly, why do most cars need to go 100 mph? I mean, first responders' and other emergency vehicles, sure, but why do the rest of us need cars that go that fast? Personally, I think "light green" should be the minimum standard. There's no reason that in this day and age that most items shouldn't be recyclable, if not reusable. There's no reason that our gas mileage should be so dreadful - especially when the rest of the developed world seems to have figured out how to go farther on less. There shouldn't be tax incentives for people/companies to do good things (such as the Prius)—there should be tax penalties for people/companies who do bad things (because that would keep people from stopping at the Prius).

Emily Bazelon: honey, I'm with you. And so then the question becomes: how do we get there? If enough people want these products, then companies will make them—that's the way the market works, right?

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Portland, Ore.: I liked your column because I consider myself an "environmentalist" and strive to live a life that promotes this ethic from the foods I eat (organic, vegetarian) to the car that I drive, which runs on biodiesel. However, I think that in my town the conversation has been taken a little too far—as you suggested—as our local newspaper, "The Oregonian" had a column a few weeks ago debating which was the better car for the environment: a Prius or a car that runs on biodiesel.

The Oregonian columnist sought reader feedback and a majority of the folks cited the Prius. This even though my car, an '04 Jetta TDI, gets more miles per gallon then a Prius (55) and doesn't use any gas, just fuel that is made from local farmer's soy and canola fields—supporting the local economy while helping the Earth. Also, I look forward to the day in the near future when Prius owners will be faced with tons of upkeep to their vehicles' intricate electronic systems, while I can rest easy in the fact that my car needs only one oil change a year and I can expect the engine to last at least 200,000 miles. Plus, the only way that you can distinguish my car from any other Jetta is the simple TDI logo on the trunk.

And to all those haters that think of diesel as the smelly, more-polluted fuel of their youth: Do your research, as it is cleaner burning then gasoline. Finally, in Portland starting on August 1, all gas stations are required, by city ordinance, to sell both biodiesel and ethanol at their stations. Focus: So, did your family consider any other fuel-alternative vehicles before buying the Prius, or were you as guilty as your kids in wanting the "cool" toy over the many other alternatives?

Emily Bazelon: oh dear, now I have Jetta TDI envy. We didn't do that much research about alternatives before we bought the Prius (or at least I didn't). My own feeling is that it's interim technology: a pretty good option for now, but boy do I hope there are better mass available affordable ones soon. Esp now that I know my car's electrical system is in peril.

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Washington: Hello. Great article! Anyone with your level of self-awareness and sense of humor could not be a snob of any variety. I've often had the same thoughts as I ride my bike to work (for many reasons, environment being on the list). I've often thought the environmental movement needs good marketing, including a slogan, to appeal to middle America. After all, the super popular "Don't Mess With Texas" started as an anti-litter campaign by the state highway department. Glad someone is thinking along these lines.

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