The 2009 North American International Auto Show took place this week in Detroit (yeah, I know, strange name — at least baseball doesn’t call it the North American World Series). The big story out of the show, besides the fact that the Detroit three are in pretty dire financial straits and the good-looking new Taurus, was all the green cars. Different companies are betting on different technologies — hydrogen, fuel cell, electric, plug-in, etc. etc. I have no idea what the car of 2019 will look like, but I hope to goodness it doesn’t run on straight gas, and it doesn’t get 20 mpg.

What kept coming up in coverage of the show, though, was the current cost of gas and how that may drive consumers back to buying big gas-guzzlers. It’s no secret that those in the upper echelons of Detroit wish gas prices were higher, as do I. Apparently Americans need incentives to buy cars that won’t destroy the earth we all enjoy.

I guess that’s what’s sticking with me. The story out of the show was never about the ethics of our car choices, never about the facts of climate change. There’s an assumption Americans will buy the biggest cars they can unless gas goes up — why not the other way round, O “Christian” nation of ours? Why can’t we work to change that assumption and make small cars cool? Why can’t we interview the many folks who spend the extra money to buy a hybrid not because it will save them gas money, but because their morals won’t allow anything less. Why can’t gas mileage be determinative because it’s important for our world, our children, our God, not just out wallets?