The SUV

"Federal figures show that four-wheel-drive SUVs average 17.3 miles per gallon and on some larger models that goes down to 12. Hummers are even worse. In comparison, the average petrol-fuelled saloon manages 30mpg. In a country where, according to the US department of energy, per-capita energy consumption has been about 4.5 times greater than the world average, the debate over SUVs is inextricably linked to the broader national debate - namely what responsibility America has to the rest of the world and how it should go about fulfilling it. "You could say that the American way is to do what you want when you want," says Weinstock. "But there's another American way where people pull together for the common good and we try to set an example for the rest of the world."

In January, anti-SUV campaigners launched a particularly strident offensive airing a TV ad which suggested that through their gas guzzling, SUV drivers were inadvertently supporting terrorists. (The sort of countries that sold the petrol to them also fund terrorists, geddit?) The ultimate aim is to inflict pariah status on the vehicle. "We want to stigmatise ownership," says John Tagiuri, one of the founders of Earth on Empty. "We want the SUV to epitomise greed, waste and global climate change. We feel that if we galvanise a movement and keep a discussion going, if we make it uncool to drive SUVs then we are doing our part in the fight."