Fossil Fools Day?

Sean and I were very rudely introduced to this "day of action against the fossil fuel industry" yesterday. Olivia and I were heading out to a playgroup at Happy Bambino yesterday morning. When we got to the car, I found a note on the windshield (see picture). Turns out the right front tire was flat. MAJOR BUMMER.

Apparently we were not the only ones to suffer this act of vandalism. The Madison police department received calls all day reporting this "prank". Between 150 and 300 cars are estimated to have been involved. The incident is believed to be associated with Rising Tide North America and Fossil Fools Day. For more information, check out this website:
http://www.fossilfoolsdayofaction.org/category/front-page/

Many SUVs had four tires deflated, while Sedans tended to have two tires deflated. (Gee, I guess we should be thankful they only deflated one tire on our compact LEV with the cloth grocery bags and car seat base in the back seat.) Schmidt's Auto reported 120 service calls by 6:00 PM, and more calls were still coming in. The company was generous enough to cut its service call rate in half, lowering it from $40 to $20. One has to wonder how many other auto shops received calls throughout the day and how many total service calls were made related to this cowardly stunt.

Last night when Sean got home from work, he put the spare on and drove the car to the nearest gas station to fill the deflated tire with air. Unfortunately, there was a tear at the rim, so Sean took the car in this morning. We ended up getting two new tires. We had just replaced all four tires less than a year ago.

Let's brainstorm some of the consequences of yesterday's shenanigans to try and get an idea of how much additional fossil fuel waste was generated yesterday in the name of self-righteous radicalism:
- Energy wasted on telephone calls to the police.
- Energy wasted on telephone calls for auto service.
- Energy wasted on gasoline usage by auto services and individuals.
- Energy wasted on refilling deflated tires.
- Energy wasted on purchasing new tires.

Now let's make a list of ways in which fossil fuel usage was diminished:
- *cricket cricket*

As an owner of one of the targeted cars, I am of the opinion that the perpetrators behaved like sneaky cowards and did nothing productive for the cause of decreased fossil fuel usage. Their actions were a personal assault on me and my family, and this experience did nothing to encourage me to drive less. I would recommend to them to try other methods of getting their point across, such as forming an organized, public coalition to analyze information and approach local government with specific ideas for change; getting involved in local government, running for office perhaps, and addressing the needs of Madison and the greater Madison area in regards to local transportation; or approaching individuals in a respectful manner and sharing their information, opinions and ideas in such a way that the recipients will be left with smiles and enlightenment, not frowns and financial loss.

Here are some examples of what other people around Madison have to say. These are excerpts from several comments that were posted on-line in response to a news article about the incident:

- "I am going to waste resources and build an oversized garage to protect my full size truck (which I need for my environmental restoration business) from these idiots. "

- "This little stunt did much more harm to the cause of bringing awareness to irresponsible fossil fuel use and now it will be left to more responsible citizens and groups to clean up the mess this group left behind."

- "These so called environmentalists should really do a more thorough analysis of the cost of their 'pranks.' The additional use of fossil fuels to fix their misguided attempt to encourage people to drive less and the reduced good will to their cause far out weigh any attempt at a positive statement they were trying to make."

- "I am one of the victims from the flat tire incident from yesterday. It was bad enough that it happened, but the fact that I was trying to leave work early because my son was sick and needed to be picked up from daycare made for a very traumatic experience."

For the full article and comments, follow this link:
http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/279855

Well, this has been rather grave in tone, I know, so dear readers, please feel free to share any lighthearted experiences you had with April Fool's Day this year!