Seth Godin writes about the environment:

As a marketer, my best advice is this: let’s figure out how to turn this into a battle to do more, not less. Example one: require all new cars to have, right next to the speedometer, a mileage meter. And put the same number on an LCD display on the rear bumper. Once there’s an arms race to see who can have the highest number, we’re on the right track.

My response, in an email to Seth:

If the only factor in fuel consumption were miles per gallon, your mileage LED would be great.  But it’s not, and I’d argue it’s not even the primary issue.  My family has two vehicles: a minivan (20mpg) and a Suburban (11mpg), and under your calculation we’re losing the “more” arms race in spectacular fashion.

But we have four kids, so a 3-row vehicle is a necessity, and my baseball coaching and real estate rehab activities make the Suburban the perfect mix of passenger room and cargo room.  But that’s only the “we don’t have any other choice but to be wasteful” part of my argument, and it’s the smaller and weaker part.

My primary point is that we do fundamentally important other things to conserve.  We bought a house 1.5 miles from my work to drastically my commute.  Our house is close to our kids’ preschool, elementary school, (future) middle school, and (future) high school to shorten that commute to about a mile to mile and a half for each (we’re in a midsize town of 45000 in North Carolina).  We combine trips wherever possible.  We accelerate slowly.  We fly only rarely (more an economic decision than an environmental one, but still).  We live in a smaller-than-average house, even with six of us.  We use compact fluorescents.  We reduce, reuse, and recycle (yeah, I know, give us a gold star).

In the end I think your suggestion of a mileage meter does more harm than good.  Because it tells people that only one number matters.  Buy a Prius and your environmental job is done.

How about a different number on the back bumper: gallons of gas used in the past 30 days.  It’s not about more, but then again part of the comprehensive environmental challenge is to change the more mindset, not just recalibrate what we measure.

Thanks for blogging and posting your email address.  I appreciate the chance to interact.