Green cars only

I happen to love Buffalo Wild Wings. So when I finally arrived back home after the first summer session, I was overjoyed to learn that one had just been constructed less than five minutes away from my house.

I was excited to finally take advantage of such an amazing opportunity, but when I finally pulled into the parking lot I was met with confusion.

From a distance I could make out two open parking spaces right by the main entrance. However, just as I was about to pull in I found myself faced not with a handicap-parking sign or a “reserved for staff” sign but rather with this peculiar specification: “Preferred: Fuel Efficient Vehicles.”

Now I was driving a Toyota Highlander – not exactly the leanest nor most fuel efficient car on the road – so feeling unwelcomed by the signs I sped off to a much more welcoming but distant space.

As I sat inside devouring boneless chicken wings of assorted flavors (it was cheap wing night) I saw plenty of other bulky cars drive up to those two spots only to turn away when they realized their cars were, like mine, not known for their gas mileage.
Even after a delicious meal I couldn’t put the signs out of my mind; perhaps because of the flood-class rain that drenched me as I took the much longer journey to my parking space. Maybe God wanted me to get a hybrid. Then again, maybe he just wanted me to blow off those lame signs that, with the word “preferred” on them, were probably not legally binding.

I am still wondering what the point of those signs are. If it’s supposed to be Buffalo Wild Wings’ way of showing that it cares about the environment I’m certainly not impressed.

I have found that when it comes to environmentalists, there are some that espouse using economic stimuli to solve problems like global warming, and there are those rely more in creating a sense of moral responsibility.

How many times have we all been told not to leave our water running or the lights on because we are killing the planet? The problem with trying to create a sense of personal responsibility is that it often devolves into a game of guilt. Meanwhile some people actually have decent reasons to own large cars and some people lead lives busy enough that they could probably be forgiven for forgetting to turn off the lights every once in a while.

On the other hand, solutions more based in economics, like a tax on carbon or a cap-and-trade solution, where polluters are issued permits and are free to trade them, avoid dishing out blame but simply make everyone pay their fair share for the emissions they produce.

I certainly think that’s a better solution than arbitrarily punishing drivers through exclusive parking spaces for “fuel efficient” vehicles.