OrganicBunny.com Travel

Subaru Good For You?
by Laura

Here's a recent news story that warmed our little bunny hearts. It all started when we noted that the Subaru Outback was the highest rated small SUV in the EPA's Green Vehicle Guide. The kudos: the Outback is a partial zero emissions vehicle (PZEV) that meets the nation's most stringent standards for GHG emissions. Vehicles earning the PZEV emission rating are 90% cleaner running than the average new vehicle, and all of Subaru PZEV vehicles meet California's SULEV (Super-Ultra-Low-Emission Vehicle) exhaust emission standard for 15 years/150,000 miles, as well as its zero-evaporative emission standard, and have a 15 year/150,000 mile emission defects and performance warranty.

"These vehicles with PZEV emissions rating have extremely tight pollution controls," says Tom Easterday, senior vice president of Subaru of Indiana Automotive. "And, the burning of fuel is so complete, that in very smoggy urban areas, exhaust out of the tailpipe can actually be cleaner than the air outside."

For more info on PZEV regulations, see: www.driveclean.ca.gov

We thought that was great as a final product! But how is this enviro-friendly SUV produced, we wondered? Is there any earth-friendly consideration there? We were shocked: here's where we discovered the REALLY good news.

"The average household in America sends more to a landfill than our entire Subaru manufacturing plant," said Easterday. "The Subaru plant was also designated a Backyard Wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation in 2003. Deer, coyotes, beavers, blue herons, geese, rabbits, squirrels, ducks and other animals live on our plant property in harmony with the Subaru manufacturing facility." In fact, according to GreenBiz News, nothing from the Subaru plant's manufacturing efforts goes into a landfill. "Ninety-nine percent of the waste materials generated by plant operations are either recycled or reused, with the remaining 1 percent being sent to a waste-to-energy plant."

If only we could be as clean-living in our modest household! And the good news doesn't stop with this particular Subaru plant in Lafayette, Indiana. The entire company is thinking green: in a recent partnership with Interface, Inc., Subaru is offering incentives for Interface employees in the U.S. who choose to drive Subaru vehicles. Subaru will sponsor the planting of thousands of trees through American Forests' Global ReLeaf program, making the operation of the vehicles "climate neutral" for the first 60,000 miles, and equating to the sequestration of 21.6 metric tons of carbon per vehicle.

An earth-friendly company, making an earth-friendly product, in an earth-friendly manner - what more can we ask for? We give Subaru a big bunny thumbs-up!