Luxury Holidays and SUVs Are Badges of Shame Now
Climate protesters have realized there’s great mileage in making people feel ashamed of their consumer choices. The car and air industries should worry.
Climate activists have found a potent new weapon: Shame.
Photographer: NurPhoto/NurPhotoThe windshields of large cars parked in my Berlin neighborhood were plastered this week with angry messages on lurid orange stickers. The owners were told that: “Driving an SUV causes serious climate damage,” “SUVs harm your unborn child,” and “Driving an SUV causes impotence.” That last one may have been a joke.
Sports utility vehicles have long been hated by the more civic-minded among us. They tend to consume more fuel, spew out more pollution and take up more parking space. It’s been suggested that their size and weight are also partly to blame for the rising number of pedestrian road deaths.