01/11/99 Sport-Utes and America's Greed Problem

Sport-Utes and America's Greed Problem

I was appalled to read about the Ford Excursion and the advent of the super-jumbo sport-utility van (''Ford's green dilemma,'' The Corporation, Dec. 21). I recently met a British couple visiting the U.S. and asked them to share their observations of American society. Their first comment referred to the unrestrained excess of American society--gargantuan vehicles on the road (as compared with Europe), napkins by the stack on your tray at fast food restaurants, and the general prevalence of the throwaway mentality. I encounter this perception of unbridled excess in America often on business trips to Europe.
America, the self-appointed morality policeman of the world, would do well to recognize that it produces a grossly disproportionate amount of the world's greenhouse gases, which have increasingly destabilized the global climate. The Ford Excursion is symbolic of a selfish society with limitless greed and an insatiable need for instant gratification. America must recognize that it shares the world with other peoples, and act with responsibility.
Oliver Sommer
Sedona, Ariz.