Hybrid Soccer Moms

I want to drive a hybrid vehicle.

I really, really do.

However. I have two small children (read: carseats), and neither my husband nor I are small people.  We also plan to have another child biologically, and perhaps adopting one or two after that. There's no world in wich a Prius fits our needs. In fact, with our transportation and cargo needs, we're looking at something in the small SUV or minivan range. I can't fit me, the husb and the girls as well as a week's worth of groceries into an economy car.

I'm not even going to be going into how unutterably impractical a SMART car would be for even a single Mama with one little one, much less my herd.

So today I want to talk a little bit about driving green with a family. Face it, some of us are just not going to fit into a Civic or a Prius. Either you're large people (take my best friend--she and her husband both are over six feet tall. And not just an inch or two, significantly.) in general, or you have a large number of people in your family. Heck, even with two kids, you've got to factor in carseats, then booster seats, then carpool for us Soccer Moms, carpool to the pool, carpool to the mall.

Come to think of it, us Soccer Moms have been green in our travels for a long tome--we OWN the carpool!

Carpooling is a great way to manage transportation resources. We've chosen to send our oldest daughter to an Elementary school that's in our district, but not our home school. As such, we have to provide our own transportation and give up our seat on the school bus. I don't mind driving Peyton to school, but I admit, I am concerned with the amount of gas I'll be burning every day. Burnt gas = exhaust = greenhouse gas emissions = bad juju. But, I do know of at least two other families in our area whose Kindergarteners will be attending the same school, so we're planning on setting up a carpool come August. Not only will I save at least a tank of gas a week (likely more!), there will be one car on the road for our combined families instead of three.

That's green on multiple levels!

But, like I said before, I REALLY want to drive a hybrid. Specifically, I want to drive THIS hybrid. That's right, kids. It's a hybrid minivan.

I'm in love!

Why has it taken so long for the minivan to go green? Why aren't there more hybrid minivans? Why isn't there specifically a Kia Sedona that's a hybrid? Why--wait. Why can't I buy one now?!

I got so excited when I saw the Toyota Sienna Hybrid. I want one. I'm ready to sell my Kia for one. It's paid off in July, I'm ready to roll that payment over into a brand-new hybrid minivan! But...I can't. Not yet. For now, the Toyota Sienna Hybrid is only available in Japan as the Toyota Estima.

Have no fear Moms and Dads. There are other options that ARE available at your local car dealership--just not minivans. Check out these two links for Hybrid SUV details:

HybridCars.com
US News Ranking and Reviews

I know. Some of you are thinking "Hybrid SUVs? Aren't they still gas guzzlers? What a waste of money!" But, to quote the article from hybridcars.com,

"It’s true that hybrid SUVs do not reach the level of fuel efficiency of smaller hybrids in terms of miles-per-gallon. Yet, miles-per-gallon is a non-linear and counter-intuitive form of measurement. An apparently small jump in fuel efficiency—for example, from 14 to 16 mpg—saves as much oil as increasing fuel economy from 35 to 50 mpg, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists."

Is it the same as going from an SUV to a small, economy hybrid? Likely not. But if you need the room for carseats and cargo and, well, people, going from a standard SUV to a hybrid SUV is still a green idea. It's not a big change, but those small changes we're all making add up. Recycling here, canvas grocery bags there, standard SUV traded in for a hybrid--it's one more change that can accomodate your growing family, but still help to respect our environment.

After all, even one small drop of rain raises the level of the sea!