Editors of Consumer Reports can't shake addiction to gasoline cars, SUVs, pickups

KILLER CARS: Once again, the editors of Consumer Reports' widely anticipated Auto Issue seem to be ignoring climate change and the deadly impact of tailpipe emissions.

 

Only 3 environmentally friendly

cars make annual Top 10 list

 

Editor's note: I've revised and corrected the lead paragraph to indicate that the first gas-electric hybrid car sold in the United States, a Honda, arrived in 1999, and that Toyota introduced the Prius hybrid in 2000.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- More than 20 years after the first gas-electric hybrid car arrived from Japan, Consumer Reports is introducing readers to "our Green Choice designation."

In her column on Page 8 of the annual Auto Issue, a smiling Marta L. Tellado, CR's president and CEO, tells readers about "our Green Choice designations" -- dubbed "clean-air cars" -- denoted by a green leaf in the ratings pages.

"We will now incorporate data to identify how vehicles stack up when it comes to the amount of greenhouse gas and other pollutants they emit," which damage our health and the environment.

Leafing through the issue, all of the vehicles marked with that green leaf are either gas-electric hybrids like the Toyota Prius or fully electric, like the Tesla Model 3.

But only two hybrids, both from Toyota, and that lone Tesla Model 3 are among CR's Top 10 in the April 2021 Auto Issue.

The 2018 Auto Issue from Consumer Reports was the first to include an all-electric vehicle, even though a 2010 MIT study concluded 58,000 Americans die prematurely every year from tailpipe emissions.

And Tesla's Model 3 was the only fully electric vehicle on the 2020 Top 10 list.

Addicted to gasoline

Every single vehicle in the Top 10 should be either a gas-electric hybrid or electric, which have the least impact on our health and our climate.

Yet, for some unfathomable reason, the editors of Consumer Reports continue to recommend cars with gasoline engines, and large gas-guzzling SUVs and pickups, when there is a wide range of hybrids and electric cars available.

The magazine boasts the staff of its Auto Test Center "anonymously buy the vehicles, just like a consumer would, and we never base our ratings on models borrowed from the manufacturer."

Nor does Consumer Reports accept any advertising, so an auto issue that goes completely green won't affect the bottom line at the nonprofit Consumers Union, publisher of CR.

Caving in to Big Auto

Still, the magazine's auto testers cave in to automakers who have been slow to introduce hybrid and electric cars and trucks.

For example, the 2021 Toyota Sienna Minivan is being sold in the United States only as a gas-electric hybrid, and a gas-electric version of the 2021 Ford F-150 pickup -- the best-selling U.S. vehicle -- gets raves in an online CR report, but neither is on the Auto Issue's Top 10 list.  

The cover of the April Auto Issue shows three vehicles, including the new and unproven electric Rivian RIT pickup truck, and the fully electric Ford Mustang Mach-E, an SUV, the first Mustang with 4 doors.

The third vehicle is the Toyota RAV4 Prime, a plug-in hybrid.

But the RAV4 hybrid doesn't make the Top 10 list, either.

Ellen, please be kind to the planet, not just to your fellow humans, gorillas in Rwanda

LUNCHTIME IN RWANDA: Ellen DeGeneres, right, and wife Portia de Rossi with a mountain gorilla. The Ellen DeGeneres Wildlife Fund is supporting global conservation efforts for endangered species.

Talk show host is living large, 
aggravating our climate crisis

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- In these dark times for our environment, comedian Ellen DeGeneres is definitely part of the problem, not part of the solution.

Ellen signs off every episode of her mid-afternoon talk show with "Be kind to one another," and The Ellen Fund raises money to save the mountain gorillas in Rwanda.

But at home in California, Ellen drives noisy German and Italian sports cars or an SUV that guzzle gas and pollute the air with the same emissions that cause tens of thousands of premature deaths every year. 

Last October, Ellen surprised her wife, Portia de Rossi, with a silver Lamborghini -- not a silver Tesla. 

Solar energy?

Not much of a gift, when you consider Ellen chose deadly emissions over zero emissions.

And none of her enormous homes appear to be self-powered, as they could be with rooftop solar panels charging storage batteries that would run them at night.

Or, Ellen could cool and heat her homes using geothermal energy from the ground.

So, sadly, Ellen is aggravating climate change, and the warming that has sparked dangerous wildfires near her California homes and her wife's native Australia.

$77 million a year

That's irresponsible, given that she certainly has the means to convert all of her homes to solar power and geothermal energy, and buy a fleet of Teslas and other zero-emission electric cars.

According to Forbes, Ellen earns $77 million a year for her talk show hosting duties. The Ellen DeGeneres Show is now in its 17th year.

That doesn't include income from another TV production, Ellen's Game of Games, and the money she receives for endorsing several products and services.

LISTED FOR $49 MILLION: This photo of Ellen DeGeneres' Beverly Hills compound (from the Hollywood Reporter) shows the exterior and lack of solar panels. Ryan Seacrest bought the property in 2012. It was listed for $49 million.

$24M beach house

Last July 4, CNBC.com reported Ellen was selling her beach house in Carpinteria, Calif., adding: 

"Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres is known as a house flipper, and has bought [more than] 12 houses in 20 years. Take a look at the oceanfront estate ... that she and wife and actress Portia de Rossi are selling for $24 million."

A CNBC video shows the roof of the beach house, and there isn't a single solar panel in sight -- this, in California, where the sun shines nearly every day and could zero out her energy bill, and reduce the demand for electricity from a utility that can't always generate the power residents need.

Greta Thunberg

On her show last Nov. 1, Ellen interviewed Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old environmental activist, and promised viewers she and Greta would discuss what viewers and audience members could do to ease the climate crisis.

After the break, Ellen announced her show was dedicating $100,000 to a web page on EllenTube: Join Greta Thunberg & The Climate Crisis Movement.

But that was as far as she went. 

When Greta said she had stopped flying, Ellen didn't pledge to sell her private jet, nor did the world's funniest women tell us she would convert all her homes to solar power and buy electric cars.

In fact, Ellen made no reference to her profligate lifestyle or any steps she would take to ease her tremendous impact on the environment.

Read: How Tesla is helping me

 cut the cord to the utility company

Pope and Europeans lecture The Donald on importance of saving our environment

In this photo from Getty Images, everyone but President Trump looks like they just heard about a death in the family. Of course, as usual, Trump is behaving inappropriately after meeting Pope Francis in Rome.

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

After their meeting today in Rome, Pope Francis gave climate-denying President Trump an encyclical urging action to slow climate change.

And at the G-7 summit in Sicily the president plans to attend later, worried European leaders are expected to push back against Trump's threat to pull out of the Paris climate accord.

The pope also appeared to refer disdainfully to how heavy the 70-year-old president is from stuffing his face with ice cream, fried chicken and Diet Coke.

As he shook the hand of first lady Melania Trump, the pope glanced at Trump, who dwarfed Francis, and asked, "What do you give him to eat, potica?" referring to a high-calorie Slovenian cake.  

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Pope Francis called those who build barriers "not Christian," referring to the then-GOP candidate's desire to build a wall on our southern border.

Trump said the comments were "disgraceful."

At the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, President Trump says, "Impressive! How did you get Mexico to pay for it?" The cartoon is from Nate Beeler of The Columbus Dispatch in Ohio.

In a shocking omission, no all-electric car makes Top 10 list at Consumer Reports

Honda will show an all-electric version of its Clarity fuel-cell sedan at the New York International Auto Show in April. 

The Chevrolet Bolt EV Premier, with an MSRP of $41,780 and a range of 238 miles on a full charge, is being sold in seven states, including New Jersey, according to Green Car Reports.

 -- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The annual Auto Issue from Consumer Reports crowns the 10 best new cars of 2017, but every single one of them uses gasoline.

That's really bad news for the environment, and for readers who are looking for a zero-emissions vehicle to reduce their carbon footprint.

Climate change

In fact, the nation's leading consumer publication published a letter from a 20-plus-year subscriber in the previous issue:

"I am writing ... about something troubling that I just realized," said Charles Dunn of Fairfield, Conn.

"Nowhere in the past 10 years have I read anything in CR about climate change and the effects that the products reviewed ..., namely automobiles, among others, have on the environment.

"This bothers me even more because while mileage ratings have gone up in some classes of vehicles, they are still very poor for SUVs and pickups, which a majority of consumer are buying.

"If CR cares about our global climate future, it's imperative that CR hold manufacturers accountable for improving mileage standards and offering more hybrid-electric vehicles."

CR claims 'active role'

The editor defended the magazine's record of "holding automakers accountable for fuel economy over the past decade."

She also said testers have identified "discrepancies" between the official fuel-economy rating on window stickers and real-world experiences; and added that CR "is a champion for increased fuel-economy standards."

But nowhere in the response to Dunn's letter or in the annual Auto Issue does CR mention the role EVs can play in slowing climate change or cutting the 58,000 premature deaths from auto emissions annually in the United States.

The "10 Top Picks" article in the April 2017 issue declares:

"The best new cars of 2017 are outstanding all-around performers -- shown to be reliable, safe and satisfying."

Only one of the 10 is a gas-electric hybrid, the Toyota Prius, which CR says gets 52 mpg.

There's no mention of the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV, which has a range of 238 miles on a full charge; or other all-electric cars, including the BMW i3, Nissan Leaf, Volkswagen e-Golf and Hyundai Ioniq Electric.

Among luxury SUVS, Consumer Reports crowns the Audi Q7 as one of the top 10, even though it struggles to get 20 mpg, instead of the zero-emissions Tesla Model X. 

See: In 2018, EV finally makes Top 10 list

Tesla says the zero-emissions Model X, with seating for up to 7, is the safest SUV you can buy.