Doing a "Green" Story, need your input

[jwight]

Jeff, some great suggestions here but what we really want to know is - when's your first time on air and will it be on streaming video?

[jefferios]

I will be first on air next week Monday morning. There isn't a live stream, but you can see the daily forecasts onlnie on the top of the weather page. Northland's NewsCenter NBC 6, CBS 3, My 9, and Northland CW for Duluth MN / Superior WI

I perfer to have a person to interview with their car versus over the phone, as it could be anyone. I will be focusing on the green aspect, so the panels how they are recyclable, the gas mileage, the low emissions and the size with one person driving.

I will get a small safety look of course from the local dealer with an interview. Otherwise I will continue to see you suggestions, I will plan to air this in two weeks.

[wiltjk]

Caveat: Always check any facts before using them yourself

The Green Verdict identifies one aspect of smart greeness is that it takes 3.5 hours to manufacture compared to 20 hours for domestic vehicles.

The Green Vehicle Guide is a great place for emissions cleanliness. You'll see that while hybrids will be best in overall emissions, there are many clean vehicles out there, of many sizes.

An unfortunate side-effect from well-meaning journalism published on "green" vehicles is that the public is left with the impression that green vehicles are small, boring.

Many comments I read are how if we are going to be green, we all must drive small vehicles.

This simply is false and hurts both the green movement and those who prefer to drive small vehicles. A Camery Hybrid and Jetta SportwagenTDI are exceptionally roomy.

A take you never see is that, driving green vehicles can be fun. Real fun.


I think the smart is the perfect poster child for having an exiting, fun driving experience while being consciously green. However, right next to it on the poster should be an Escape Hybrid or Highlander Hybrid showing the public large & boring can also be clean.

The cost of driving green is heightened with hybrids, but smart, Yaris, Civic, Focus, etc. are clean at a reasonable cost.

While smart makes a visible statement externally, it should be noted that inside, the smart provides more room and protection than many SUVs.

But just 2 seats? smart is a great second family car or primary individual car. Many tell me they need more than 2 seats. To determine if this really is true, I have them do the following:

• Put $1 in a can every time they are alone in their car
• Take out $1 for every passenger when they have passengers
• Give me the can at the end of a week or month

[rfernatt]

Don't forget the plastic body panels that can be changed by the owner, if they so choose!

Another aspect of 'greenness' should be decreased cost and environmentally friendliness of repair. If I can avoid that parking lot dent, I don't need to have it repaired with everything goes into auto repair (paints with VOCs, etc.). And, even if the panel is damaged, it's easy to replace and already clear coated/painted in an environmentally friendly way by the factory. Damaged panels, and pretty much the whole car, can be recycled.

Very little chance of parking lot dings and/or hail damage! I really hate parking lot dents.

Hey, even a low speed deer hit didn't destroy any panels and I repaired it myself.

[jimvw57]

You could start out with a small model of a car and move up in size until you get to a full size car.

Still sounds like we need to road trip up to help you out with some cars and bodies to talk to. Duluth isn't that far away....

How about 2 'BIG GUYS' getting out of a car, I could bring my oldest son along.....

[ahartz]

Hello I dont know if this will be of any use to you but I own a smart car and my dad is the owner of Smart Center Cerritos, we both could help you out with your interview if you need us to. I also work at the smart center, and people tend to be really concerned about safety and they like the idea of the interchangeable body panels. You could write about how 94% of the car is recycleable as well. I hope I have been some help to you with your article.

[PerryA]

The Smart spawned a fan base long before the car made an appearance in the US. Compare the owner experience of a Mini owner and a Honda Fit owner to the experience and devotion of Smart owners and fans. Not to predefine the outcome, but do other cars generate this same kind of emotional response? One question you might ask Smart owners (and the others) is, what kind of statement are you trying to make with your Smart (Mini/Fit)? If the answer is "none" then so be it. On the other hand, people might respond by thinking, "Gee, I didn't think I was making a statement, but I guess it's . . . "

You could follow up with some of the "but" questions. If someone says fuel economy - but doesn't the Prius get higher mileage in city driving?

There are a million stories in the big city, and no two are the same. This would give you a bit of a human interest angle and allow you to select comments that can also point you to the information side.

Example: I wanted to reduce what I was spending on gas every month to haul just one person back and forth to work and the Smart was a fun solution. BUT DOESN"T THE PRIUS GET HIGHER MILEAGE? Well, it's more than the mileage, I guess, I really feel different when I drive my Smart. It gets noticed, and people seem to love it - especially kids. SO YOU FEEL A BIT LIKE A CELEBRITY WHEN YOU'RE DRIVING YOUR SMART? Well, yes, but what's more fun is the questions. Everyone wants to know more about the car, and I find myself describing a lot more of the features that make it a very "green" choice, like the recyclability, the efforts to manufacture responsibly. Heck, I know more about this car and how it was made than any car I've ever owned, all because I keep getting asked questions about it and I guess that is actually helping to create more awareness of sustainability issues. SO, YOU DIDN'T START OUT TRYING TO BE GREEN? Heck no, I just wanted to save some money on gas and besides, the car is just plain cute and I liked the idea of driving something that was different from the pack.

You could then switch to narrative and describe a couple of factual elements like the plastic panels and the materials used to make the interior components and even refer to the plant in France.

Summing up, you could do a side-by-side with a couple of the key statistics: MPG for Prius/Smart/Mini, Price, etc. Then go to a close - In the end, the Smart doesn't always win on numbers, but people respond to the car on many levels. . .

[Neonspinnazz]

I'd love to help but these guys already took my ideas.

I'd tell them abou the safety first. Be sure to tell them about www.safeandsmart.com
And add some neat pointers to it...

[RVGRINGO]

And.......remind them that Smarts have been proving themselves in other countries for some eleven years.

[jefferios]

Remember, this story is targeting the Green aspect. People know a little about the car, but it needs to be GREEN