I've been thinking for a while about making a "sticky" post that would talk about all the things we do in our household with a green purpose, and all the things we need to change.

But today, I decided to start a series of shorter posts to cover the same ground, instead, and am beginning with the obvious, our "status symbol": 

1. We have a Prius.

I've written often about this, from several different angles. A favorite is about my bemusement at those who deride hybrids as status pieces for the green bubble, or whatever claptrap they want to come up with. (Did he just use the word "claptrap"? What is he, 80?)

First of all, there is no green bubble. And second, it's true that Priuses are everywhere, and that does slightly dampen my enthusiasm for them, but just because they're popular doesn't transform them into "only" status symbols. The fundamental reason they were engineered and brought to market, other than to enrich Toyota, was because people wanted the advantages they offer.

We're getting 45 a gallon, which is only more delicious in the $4 era. But it was reducing the carbon we were putting into the atmosphere before gas shot off like a rocket, and certainly before it was a status symbol.

To ward off smugness, I'll tell you that we could have a bumper sticker on the Prius that says, "My other car is an SUV," but I'll cover that in a future post.