I agree that vandalism and hatred against Hummers or the Toyota Prius is wrong. You can disagree with people about the lack of sustainability in their choice of vehicles or if you believe they are driving a hybrid out of hubris, but damaging a vehicle or spewing hatred online is going too far.

He is also right that hybrids aren't the only answer to combating climate change and reducing foreign oil dependence. Diesel vehicles are also fuel efficient, though their overall emissions including particulates are often inferior to the best of the hybrid vehicles. But fuel cell vehicles using hydrogen from fossil fuels are self-defeating today because of the energy loss, so equating them with proven technology is incorrect. Flex fuel vehicles will be even more sustainable once an alternative feedstock to corn is employed.

While Brown was touting tolerance, he shouldn't have picked on people the seeming hypocrisy of people who have larger homes and also drive hybrid cars. Would he feel better if people in homes with excessive numbers of bedrooms and bathrooms drove an SUV as a second car? For families that often need to transport several people and/or equipment, an SUV can make sense, but if the secondary vehicle for driving a single person to work is a Prius, then bully for them for cutting their costs of transportation and living more sustainably.

Talking about sustainability while living otherwise is a valid criticism, but let's not come down too hard on people who are doing something while giving people who don't consider their environmental footprint a free pass.