I was walking home from the food coop past NYU and saw this truck. They’re all over Manhattan, basically limousines. Rich people travel by giant truck, I guess as some luxury.

It was sitting there not moving. The passengers weren’t in it but it wasn’t empty.

A guy in a suit—the driver—was sitting in it, engine idling, I presume with the air conditioning on because it was around 90 F (32 C) and humid.

Yes, people who aren’t even there are paying for a guy to dress inappropriately for the weather to run the motor of a vehicle weighing maybe ten times more than the people it might transport to run air conditioning.

I presume the people were visiting the NYU building the truck was closest to, which is its business school. NYU claims to operate one of the greenest campuses in the nation, but there are subway and bus stops short walks from here and they aren’t using them.

We might as well pour gasoline into the Hudson River and set it on fire. Nearly none of this waste and violation of NYU’s claims is necessary beyond satisfying addiction.

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After that revolting display, I saw a few yards behind another truck with a guy running the engine, this time running air conditioning with the window open. I wouldn’t have thought he could outdo the first guy.

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I was ready to go home to post about those two trucks when I saw this third one a few blocks later. What do you know, a few people got in to a truck that had been sitting there, engine on, air conditioner on.

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I turned the corner and there was another giant black truck, engine on, presumably air conditioner too, no passengers, driver wearing too much clothing for the weather.

The point isn’t just these trucks or that there were so many so close in space and time. Everyone sees them all the time. Others probably passed that I didn’t notice since I wasn’t trying to look out for them.

The point is our culture, increasingly devoid of “Love your neighbor as yourself” and “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Let’s restore these disappearing values.

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EDIT: About an hour after I posted the pictures above, I went out past the spot of the third picture above and saw FIVE big black trucks. As best I could tell, there were independent, not a large group, and definitely not carpooling. I couldn’t fit them all in one picture so here’s four plus the fifth below.

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I don’t know if I should cry more or vomit. Families become refugees to extract the minerals and fuel for this addiction, plus

• the suffering the pollution from the container ships and factories to make the trucks
• then coming out the tailpipe
• then when it breaks, dumping the waste
• the helplessness, dependence, entitlement resulting from people not knowing how to walk places
• the obesity

I could go on.

• ← Which way of living embodies more love: Picking up litter or walking past it?
• I love how hurting others less (ie living more sustainably) teaches me more about the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. →