In the opening 11 months of “Green RVing” the media interest in my North American adventure has been pretty demanding. The requests for interviews keep coming. I am continually inspired, witnessing the deep interest in energy conservation and independence. People seem generally moved to self-reliance and autonomy.
That said, with over 85 television appearances and a greater number of print and radio interviews, there is one question I am most often asked by the reporters as well as non-RVers I meet on the road. This week is certainly no different. With a hand full of TV, radio and newspaper interviews here in Vancouver, BC leading up to my appearance at the Earlybird RV Show, it’s clear the question knows no borders.
It goes something like this.
“Brian. How can you equate anything “Green” with RVing? How can you suggest that those gas-guzzling, road-hogging behemoths have anything to do with conservation? Do you really expect us to believe that those who operate Franken-buses and McMansions care at all about our environment and our planet’s natural resources?”
Like fire and ice, water and oil, they seem convinced that “Green” and “RV” are the dictionary definitions of oxymoron and some folks seem driven to remind me of it.
Is it misguided? Certainly. Is it envy? Perhaps. Is it my new found goal to debate them at every turn? Absolutely!
If the target of their angst is any “gas-guzzling, highway-hogging behemoth” then why not attack the 53-foot tractor-trailers that deliver computers, furniture, food, all of our “must haves” in a consumer based society?
Maybe we get a bad name, not for what we do, but for what our loud, boisterous critics do not do. Could it be they begrudge us because we ‘bring the far away to our own front door’ on a regular basis? Do they long for a more nomadic lifestyle and take aim at those eager and driven enough to actually live it?
I find it terribly interesting that the word “complain” has it roots in two words from Medieval Latin. It’s base comes from “forceful lamenting” according to the New Oxford American Dictionary. Can it be that we are the target of their complaints simply because RV’ers personify a lifestyle they wish they were free to live?
Lamenting that RVs are far from Green has little to do with fact and so much more to do with the color of envy!
To read the recent article by John Mackie of The Vancouver Sun, please click here. It is a great example of a reporter setting the record straight.
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To learn more about Conservation thru Exploration and Greening your RV, please visit www.BrianBrawdy.com
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Fred
Tom Hargreaves,
Hooray for you! You have the vision to understand that there is more to space-time than the average human knows about. I hope you become a designer of RVs. The industry needs SOMEONE to rescue it.
Tom Hargreaves
It seems to me that a good part of the issue is that so many people confuse “miles per gallon” with “gallons per day, month, or year.” RVs may get lousy fuel mileage while on the highway, but most of us are not on the highway all that much, and over a year’s time our vehicles haven’t used as much fuel as vehicles that get three times the miles per gallon but are driven five times as much. For me, “Green” means, in part, using less energy over the long term, and using less energy to do the things that I need or want to get done. Traveling and spending time in and exploring new places is one of the things I want to get done and using my trailer to travel and stay seems to be a pretty cost- and energy-effective way to do that.
Hang in there!
Tom