Kill the Dream Cruise! Retired teacher wants to end Woodward's fun run
On a Saturday in August every year, more than 1.5 million people and 40,000 muscle cars, street rods, exotics and collector cars descend on Detroit for the Woodward Dream Cruise. The Cruise is a 12-hour petrol-powered ode to 50s and 60s and the days when Woodward Avenue -- the Boulevard of Dreams! -- was the heart of Cruising, USA. Now in it's 12th year, the entire cruise and the satellite events that surround it during the weekend are being protested by a 63-year-old retired schoolteacher named Joellen Gilchrist.
Her complaint is that the Cruise is environmentally unfriendly, and her protest is part of the Step It Up campaign that has an admirable goal -- to convince Congress to reduce carbon emissions by 80% in time for 2050 -- that targets "the world's largest one-day celebration of car culture." The Cruise features vehicles from before the passage of the Clean Air Act, so they aren't sterling examples of eco-friendly motororing. But as AutoblogGreen rightly points out, most of the vehicles in the Cruise don't get many miles outside of events like the Cruise and the random joyride. While she aims to keep her protest friendly, even humorous, it might make more sense if she simply protested the commuters headed to and from work every day. This kind of enthusiast event, however, provides a target that will be sure to get some attention.
Intriguingly, even The Sierra Club has remained on the sidelines. The Club hosts a Green Cruise the weekend before -- sans motorized appliances -- and the folks who don't like the cruise simply spend the weekend out of town.
[Source: Detroit Free Press via AutoblogGreen]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Talis 3:34PM (4/17/2007)
What a complete load! Some people need to just shut the hell up. I bet she drives a RX400h thinking shes actually helping the environment because it's a hybrid.
Reply
Car Designer 3:43PM (4/17/2007)
As a Detroiter, I can tell you that she is going to be ridiculed for the rest of her life. What a waste of everyone's time...she needs to retire to Florida and drive a golf cart like all the other grandmas, that would be environmentally friendly.
Reply
Shawn 3:36PM (4/17/2007)
The eventual goal of environmental groups is the total elimination of cars...Just as PETA's goal to eliminate meat from human diet.
Reply
aman 3:37PM (4/17/2007)
Why can't she just admire the cars like the rest of us?
Reply
aman 3:38PM (4/17/2007)
Why can't she just admire the cars like the rest of us?
Reply
CaliberSRT4 3:40PM (4/17/2007)
So why doesn't she protest cars and roads altogether? People need to get off the "It's gotta be my way" train.
Reply
Jay Evans 3:55PM (4/17/2007)
"part of the Step It Up campaign that has an admirable goal -- to convince Congress to reduce carbon emissions by 80% in time for 2050"
Admirable??? Do you guys have any clue as to the ramifications of that!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh, and I love "Kill the Cruse" but they ask you to attend the Live Earth concerts that will probably add more global CO2 than all the Woodward Cruses past, present and future.
Reply
The Other Bob 3:55PM (4/17/2007)
This is why even enviro-sympathetic people like me just cannot stomach environmental activists. I wonder how big a hole her house is burning in the ozone layer in heating and cooling? And her car, no matter what it is also creates pollution.
Vehicles emit 315 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in the United States each year -- about 20 percent of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions. It's a lot of pollution, but people shouldn't act as if it's even a majority of where our pollution comes from.
Let's say we eliminate cars next year, we will still need to clean up 80% of our pollution. Even if we ban smokestack emissions, they will just move the factories to places like China where they don't care, making matters worse.
Dream on people. Dream on.
Reply
Andrew Gillett 3:58PM (4/17/2007)
people don't realize that the cruise was going on long before it became an "official" event 12 years ago. People have been doing it for years, roll down woodward any night during the summertime and you will see hundreds if not thousands of classic cars, mixed with a bunch of street racers that still drag there to this day. Come on, besides ruining the official title, does she really think this would stop anyone from driving up and down woodward?
Reply
Chet 3:58PM (4/17/2007)
I think her odds are 1.5 million (people) to one.
No, ten million ($) to one.
Someone should tell her she'd have a greater impact if she could get Yellowstone closed. Think of all the miles and miles traveled by large & laden vehicles to get there...
Reply
Fabulo 4:05PM (4/17/2007)
"Retired teacher should move to Florida, will not be around in 2050"
Reply
Dave 4:07PM (4/17/2007)
"part of the Step It Up campaign that has an admirable goal -- to convince Congress to reduce carbon emissions by 80% in time for 2050"
"Admirable??? Do you guys have any clue as to the ramifications of that!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Uh, no, Jay, why don't you tell us? Let me think about it--less pollution? Less dependence on foreign oil? Wow, yeah, those are some serious ramifications, man ...
Reply
Mike 4:09PM (4/17/2007)
Lame, she needs to die already.
Reply
iamhoff 4:10PM (4/17/2007)
It would be interesting to see what the "carbon footprint" is of the Dream Cruise...not just the participants but those who might simply fly in, rent a car, and take in the glorious sights...and compare it to what the "carbon footprint" would be of the various Earth Day festivals. Where are the biggest ones? Berkeley/San Francisco? DC? Figure out how many people flew in/drove in, didn't carpool from their swanky hotels (don't get me started on the fossil fuels necessary to heat/cool/clean a hotel), and ate crappy "festival" food (methane emissions, anyone?). I'm quite sure that Woodward is much less environmentally impactful than Earth Day.
Environmentalists. Putting the Mental into the enviornment (at least when it suits them).
Reply
dskinner 4:19PM (4/17/2007)
Though a bit outrageous, I can see her point. The fact of the matter is, why tarnish a great staple of American society? In the grand scheme of things, this "official" event has an extremely small share in global warming.
Ms Gilchrist should spend more time trying to get poeple to ride the bus or buy a Prius than she is protesting a great American tradition!
Reply
Mr. Red 4:20PM (4/17/2007)
I have been to the cruise about a dozen times, and the guys that run it are fanatical over it, if she tries to go through with it one of them will bump that old hag off...
http://www.burnedbytheman.com
Reply
Jay Evans 4:24PM (4/17/2007)
#12 I didn' think so Dave....
http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Columnists/Corbella_Licia/2007/04/04/3914710.html
Here's a hint and that's just to meet the Kyoto 1990 level. 80% is shutting down the whole country.
"According to the Environment Canada web site's summary of 2004 GHGs, to meet our Kyoto target Canada must reduce emissions by 195 megatonnes (a Mt. is one million tonnes.)
But what does that mean? In 2004 Canada's GHG emissions were 758 Mt., which is 34.6% above our Kyoto target of 563 Mt.
So, forget about just banning SUVs. Park every plane, train and automobile and we remove 145 Mt. of CO2 emissions. Close down every mining operation with its 15.4 Mt. That would leave us 34.6 Mt. short.
Shut down all commercial and institutional CO2 emitters with their 37.9 Mt and, hooray, we meet our targets just barely! But who wants to shut down hospitals and cookie factories?
Oil, gas and coal industries produce 154 Mt -- or 20% of this country's CO2.
Shut that down, along with agriculture at 54.9 Mt and we'd be the darlings of the international Kyoto club by exceeding our targets by almost 14 Mt.
Of course, freezing in the dark is hardly an option for most Canadians who can't abide the thought of paying more for their gasoline."
Reply
james 4:25PM (4/17/2007)
Who cares what she drives. She brings up a good point. Driving because you work 50 miles away is different than getting as many cars as possible for a cruise. She might drive a luxury car but if she drives it only on occasion she is doing her part. I too like the pleasure of driving but if we all have the attitude that it's our right to drive for no apparent reason then we're not helping anyone. People drive enough to get to work and while they should look into alternatives it's much more practical to cut out some of these extra activities.
Reply
Don 4:26PM (4/17/2007)
You gotta love these uninformed idiots intent on wrecking everyone else's fun.
If she thinks this ONE event is going to make a dent in emissions...pfft.
Reply
Chris 4:48PM (4/17/2007)
over the next 8 years China is building 562 more coal plants, and no one cares. I hate people like this that think that cars are doing all this damage when they only account for 14% of the CO2 released.
If you want anything to change go to China and tell them to stop heck India is building 213 more go talk to them. Till then sit down and shut up.
Reply