Speaking of Hummers, perhaps it is environmentally responsible to buy one and squash a Prius with it. The Prius hybrid is, of course, fuel-efficient. There are, however, environmental costs to mining and smelting (in Canada) 1,000 tons a year of zinc for the battery-powered second motor, and the shipping of the zinc 10,000 miles -- trailing a cloud of carbon dioxide -- to Wales for refining and then to China for turning it into the component that is then sent to a battery factory in Japan.....and then the Prius is constructed at Toyota's plant in Tsutsumi, from there the cars are shipped across the Pacific by container ship to California. Then the cars are moved by rail and car carrier across the continent.
So if you live in somewhere like, let's say, Minneapolis your car battery has traveled completely around the world to get to you..... spreading your carbon trail across the globe.
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