POLITICS AND NATURE

Prices of gasoline are high and likely to continue the rise towards who knows what final price. Not only domestic consumption, but the growing economies of China and India and instability in major oil producing regions create an unstable market. The  following vehicles provide fantastic gas mileage as well as producing low emissions, good for the enviornment.

1. Honda Insight: It's a two seater, small and difficult to come by due to American needs for space, Honda discontinued production of the fit as I understand it, but it won't cost much to fill it up.

2. Prius: Toyota's first hybrid, the little buggers are out there mainstream now, probably get you 50mpg realistically. Due to a change in calculations for gas mileage, the Prius is rated at 48/45 now. Still not too shabby, It'll cost ya anywhere from the mid to high twenties, depending on what you want.

3. Honda Civic Hybrid: 40/45. Still fantastic and great for the environment, Honda is going all out in it's pursuit of being the greenest car company although Toyota gives it stiff competition.

4. Toyota Corolla: Great little car that can get you near 40 mpg. Partial zero emissions, affordable, without going hybrid, this is one of the greenest mass produced and driven cars around. The cost runs from about $15,000 up to $19,000. Fantastic car for the money.

5. Along the same lines as the Corolla is the gas Civic. It will still get 36 hwy according to Honda and the price is similar to the Corolla. I assume the mpg is in the twenties in the city.

6. The Ford Focus comes in at 34 mpg and will cost in the mid to high teens. It is sad that this is the first of the American car manufacturers on the this list. Unfortunately, they are having serious financial problems for a reason. Chevy talks with pride about 30 mpg. A quick look above shows that this could be why they are being left in the dust.

7. Chevy has a couple of vehicles that come in at the 24/34 range, including the Aveo and the Cobalt. They can be gotten for fairly cheap also.

8. The Nissan Versa, which is one of the small cars, like the Yaris and the Fit, will cost little, especially sans excessories, and is rated at 24/32.

9. Camry Hybrid: The regular gas camry is rated 24/34. Not bad, The hybrid ups the city mileage to 33. Great for the nation's number one selling midsize sedan. It'll cost you. The gas Camry starts at $19.000 and goes up with features, the hybrid starts around $25,000. They both can reach the early thirties if you so chose.

10. Honda Accord: According to Honda, the Accord will get you 31 mpg. I couldn't tell the city mileage on their website. It's a good comfortable car that's good for ecology. At least as good as we can get for now.

Small cars include the Toyota Yaris and the Honda Fit. They both have ranges from the high 20s to the mid 30s. The yaris is rated at 29/35 and the Fit, according to Honda, gets 34. I don't know why Honda doesn't give the range of figures. Maybe I just didn't look hard enough.

In larger vehicles, there is the Highlander hybrid which gets 27 and will cost in the mid 30's or higher, and the Ford Escape hybrid, cheaper and better gas mileage at 34/30. On toyota's front, it would be worth it to check out a new RAV4 to save some cash with the same results.

GM has 91 vehicles to choose from, according to their website. Chevy is included in this list. Amazingly, the first vehicle that moves to the front on that site is the Hummer. It's as if they are so convinced in the need for these vehicles they refuse to learn reality and let them go. Kind of like that guy in the White House when he gets an idea into his head. In all, it looks like GM boasts 14 cars that get better than 30 mpg. Including those listed above, there is also a number from pontiac and saturn.

Dodge and Chrysler don't seem to worry about fuel economy much. And their websites were a pain to deal with. So was Chevy and GM.