Originally Posted by I-Like-To-Bike
Would you consider mooching beer from your neighbors whenever you got thirsty more moral than keeping a dozen beers in your refrigerator to cover the same need to quench your thirst on occasion? Or perhaps buying beer by the piece (at a bar for 10 times the price per drink) is a real solution to cutting down "unnecessary" consumption? Do you think ownership of the beer, rather than total consumption is the "problem?"
The beer analogy has probably outlived its usefulness. Back to cars.
A car is a ton of raw materials removed from the earth and fashioned, with the use of much energy and the side production of much pollution, into a vehicle. In a few years, that car will be buried, burned or recycled, again with the use of much more energy and the side production of much more pollution. In the few years of its "life," it will serve one master, as a private car, or many masters, as a rental car. Whether this car serves one master or many, the energy and pollution that accompany its "birth" and "death" will be the SAME. Obviously (to everyone but you), the car that serves many masters, as a rental car, makes
more frugal and efficient use of the energy and pollution that enabled its birth and death.
DUH!