I'm one of those who do believe that we've had an impact on the environment, and I try to do sensible things in terms of recycling, etc. However, I simply don't believe we have great options in vehicles yet. From everything I've heard, travel in the US is quite different than in Europe. I live in the Western US where there is no public transportation and traveling to Denver for dinner or an evening meeting is a 120-mile round trip (60 miles each way) and visiting my family means an 1100-mile trip one way! I'm not aware that there are electric vehicles at this point which will let me jump in and drive 500+ miles in one day, or 1100 miles in two days.
I also live at 5000 feet in an area where it can be 60 degrees one day and we can have two inches of snow and ice the next day. A mid-size SUV with 4WD like my '99 Blazer makes perfect sense for my family in this situation, and by US standards it is NOT a gas-guzzler. In town I get around 16, and 20 or 21 on the highway. People can think anything they want to, but each of us needs to find his/her own practical solution to transportation issues. The US is still a country set up for automobiles, and that's the right tool for the job.
Oh -and my wife refuses to drive a mini-van. Won't even accept one as a rental car. I can't disagree with her. If you can't drive something you enjoy, what's the point?
I'd love to do long-range travel - or travel to Denver and back - via train...but there aren't any passenger lines where I travel. I hope that we find a way to rebuild the passenger train system in the US, but right now cars or airplanes are much faster and significantly cheaper.