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02-11-2009, 07:27 PM | #1 | |
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BailOut's Interview: Conservation in 2009 and Beyond
Brian Morris is certainly one of the more unorthodox Yaris owners in the country. While the online subcompact community clamors about the latest supercharger or one of a gaggle of other ways to squeeze every available horse out of our displacement-challenged engines, Brian is somewhere coasting with his car turned off. He belongs to an up-and-coming (and often misunderstood) niche in the world of automotive enthusiasts, one that places emphasis on economy over ego and MPG over Max HP. We now know these men and women to be Hypermilers, intent on making a gallon of gas go further than anyone imagined possible. However, Brian's involvement in the Hypermiling community is symptomatic of a larger ideology, and a timely one at that. As the United States is drowning in its own energy dependencies, there are people out there waking up and realizing their consumption affects more than just this month's bills. Brian is one of those people. I wanted to sit down and pick his brain a bit about what he stands for in hopes that we could all take a lesson from it. His battle is a noble one, but it is admittedly against the grain of societal norms. It takes courage, discipline, and a spirit of individuality that few possess.
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Last edited by ChinoCharles; 02-11-2009 at 07:52 PM. |
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02-11-2009, 08:05 PM | #2 |
Brian: That was not the end of my active duty (I went on to serve 5 more years) but that was the beginning of the end of it. My perception of the civilian world changed dramatically at that time because I realized that it's not just a President that sends us to war, but the entirety of Congress. Along with senior cabinet officials every one of those folks was totally on board with Gulf War 1. They all understood that oil is a critical component of the American way of life and they were willing to sacrifice other people's sons to keep their hands on it. That also got me to thinking about how we in the developed world live, how we use things, why oil is so important to us, etc.
True. The President did not act alone. Brian: Let's keep it simple. I can sum up all of my feelings about that in one sentence: I feel that GWB is the worst President in my lifetime so far, and that he has done nearly irreparable harm to the image of our country and the way the world interacts with us. So President Bush did all that in less than 9 months to cause the 9/11 attack? Good write-up with a touch of a political slant. |
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02-11-2009, 08:06 PM | #3 |
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To deny that politics plays a part in the conservation movement would be irresponsible, no matter what side of the fence you call home. It is all connected, but I hope the interview didn't feel focused on it. Rather, I wanted to brush against it on the way to bigger ideas.
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02-11-2009, 08:34 PM | #4 |
Where's the pick up truck and the boat with the sterndrive? Those were not an efficient duo. I have no sympathy for people who drive 27 miles to and from work..... that is freedom of choice.
Have Brian post his award for conservation that he reveived (Lost in the hack :( ) and I think that speaks highly of him. Amazing that we can manage to point a finger at President Bush and blame it on oil! OMG The first Gulf War was in 1991 that's 18 years ago we were involved and to relate it to President GWB....... I will tell you who I have the absolute highest regard for..... the military that participated and anyone who was there or is there. |
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02-11-2009, 09:28 PM | #5 | |
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you forget the 80's.... you don't have to send thousands of troops to be in a war. |
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02-12-2009, 01:50 PM | #6 |
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I generally appreciate the interview with Brian. However parts of his responses strike me as disingenuous, to be sure:
"The hardest part for me was... well, it is difficult to explain as it was a combination of emotions. In its simplest form it was dealing with the guilt once I realized that I had lived so wrongly for the first 35 years of my life. So much waste, so much antipathy, so much disregard for the future - not only for the planet but for my own body. It can be difficult to admit when you are wrong about even a little thing, but admitting to a huge and lengthy string of errors can be downright sad. I had to work through those negative emotions and learn how to question myself, and more importantly how to be honest with myself about who I am and who I want to be, and how I want to leave my mark on the world." Not only are these thoughts unreasonable, illogical, and an exercise in self-indulgence, but these words are unbeleivable, to be sure. How profound, and deep, Brian. The man with a conscience over oil waste. A bit over the top, yea?!? I share his compulsion to save gas, and of course I do...I drive a Yaris too. However I'm not going to beat myself up for being a wasteful person for the first 45 years of my life. And yes, the flow of oil in the early 1990's was in fact worth fighting over. Are we to be made to feel guilt for that nobel fight? Like it or not, good or bad, we live in an oil economy, so get over it, that we sent young American boys to die in Kuwait. That is what soldiers do. They fight for our country and sadly, sometimes they give their lives. This is not to suggest that all fights are worth it. Vietnam certainlly was a waste of young American lives, but Kuwait and the defense of oil flow are very, very different. Yes, agreed GWB is the worse president. Ever! However to blame him entirely for all our oil woes is to show ignorance of the subject. Having fought there, been there, felt the danger of being in the middle east is not necessarily a qualification any more credible then those of us that have never been there. We have eyes. We have ears. And there are many other soldiers who've also been there, that would disagree with Brian. Good interview Chino, however a dark part of Brian's phsycy does come through. Regardless, I do appreciate Brian's contributions to conservation, and research, and consultations he has given all of us in finding better wasy to increase MPG, and can only be a good thing. |
02-12-2009, 02:08 PM | #7 |
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I don't even know how to respond to that. All I can say is I encourage all who read this to do so with a very open mind. Don't do Brian the disservice of pigeonholing his entire worldview based on a few questions.
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02-12-2009, 03:27 PM | #8 |
Pretty cool interview and post, regardless of one's own political views.
Thank you Chino |
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02-12-2009, 03:33 PM | #9 |
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Don't thank me!
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02-12-2009, 03:54 PM | #10 | |||
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seriously, why do people defend W? Quote:
No one blamed W "entirely for all our oil woes." You are twisting words, because there is no other way to make what bush(es) has done sound right.. Oil > life? seriously dude, I have a friend who is still recovering from brain damage from an IED... I would gladly take the train or walk to be able to talk to him... Before you blast other people and say there is something wrong with them for feeling bad about destroying the planet and supporting violence, take a look in the mirror man. Sorry to continue taking this thread off track - good interview man.. But I think(as has been shown here) if people don't get it by now, they never will. |
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02-12-2009, 04:33 PM | #11 |
Start looking to the good things in life and be thankful for what we have. I think tomorrow I will see some granola crunching birkenstock wearing person and I will avoid running their ass over even though they blame everything on President Bush. Every time I drive past a President Bush basher I will make an effort not to hit them with my gas gulping yaris. Screw hypermiler's I fought for the oil...... I get to use it
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02-12-2009, 04:47 PM | #12 | |
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This is not to suggest that oil should be here to stay. No, quite the contrary, and Brian is correct in saying that we should get off oil ASAP. But today, now, we need oil. And if our oil supply was halted now, and in the next second, very quickly we all would suffer. It is sad you don't understand this. Perhaps if you put the Karl Marx book down for a minute and thought about it, you might see the light, and see just how important going to Kuwait and fighting to keep the oil flowing was. Regardless, we can all agree that our future is better if we find ways to get off our oil adiction, and that is something we all can agree on. |
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02-12-2009, 04:50 PM | #13 |
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02-12-2009, 05:23 PM | #14 |
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Again with the word twisting, misinformation, and name calling. Bailout didn't force anyone to come here and read this. He's not hurting anyone, or insulting anyone who doesn't believe the same thing as him. He is just sharing his views on things that are wrong and steps he is taking to make them better. If you disagree, that's fine - I'm pretty sure the world is screwed no matter what we do at this point. But I see no reason for all the anger in here... (although I'd be crazy trying to understand someone who still supports bush)
"grrrr you dirty hippy minding your own business and not hurting anyone - I'm gonna run you over for trying not to destroy the environment" Please, if you wish to call me names or show me how stupid I am, my PM box is always open.. Let's hope this thread can still serve its purpose, which was to give some insight into the mind of a hypermiler :D |
02-12-2009, 08:30 PM | #15 | |
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No, USA sucks , car parts are to cheap , gas is to cheap , and 0% interest rates kill the world , hay but life goes on ,you should live it one day at a time , because you might not be here tommorrow that being said nice interview Charles. |
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02-12-2009, 10:33 PM | #16 |
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when gas first crossed the $3/gallon line, i slowed down. i drove a 92 crown victoria at the time, and went from 18mpg to 25+mpg. i preached hypermiling, driving 55, and when my CV kicked the bucket i bought a geo metro and averaged 40+ consistantly. bought my yaris because of it's practical fuel consumption, and averaged high 30's and low 40's the first 10k. tracked my fuel consumption on cleanmpg.com.
when gas prices recently tanked, i started driving like i was 16 again. i've been averaging low 30's (winter tires/winter gas don't help, but i could do a lot better...) it's fun to go fast. im no english major, so i apologize for rambling. but my point is, i take away from this renewed intention to take very important things into consideration when living day to day life. regardless of your political views, YOUR actions affect the environment you live in, and MY actions affect the environement YOU live in. so thinking about these things when you live your day to day life is very important on many levels, and stepping up and making a real commitment to choose this as your way of changing the world and leaving your mark is commendable and difficult. if you leave terrorism and war and all the headline politics out of the discussion, the political trend over the past 8 years has been very damaging to environmental issues, and would be a more proper debate... it is silly and unamusing to debate the interviewee's personal motivation for what caused him to change his life in a dramatic manner, he was sharing personal experiences and describing what lit his fire, not picking a political fight. if you want to fight politics, turn on fox news and yell at the Tv. personally, im suprised nobody here commented on him bringing up Reduce Reuse Recycle, as thrifty yaris owners, we seem to be a club of people making an economical car just the way we like it, often times with things that didn't cost us a ton of money. and then when we buy new toys for our cars, we trade and barter the original or used fancy parts between ourselves. we are a commune of yaris hippies, sharing the love and joy of our simple transportation. and my beer is empty so im done for now. |
02-12-2009, 10:55 PM | #17 |
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^^^ Best post ever?
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02-12-2009, 11:28 PM | #18 |
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For once I agree with Chino , one of the best posts ever.....
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