My third car is a Prius

It's Not Sexy Being Green (Yet)

...environmentalists need to be less preachy. Mark Katz, a humorist and former speech writer for President Bill Clinton, said Americans might be more willing to take up conservation if they could first laugh at their own consumption. His suggestion is a bumper sticker for S.U.V.'s that reads, "My third car is a Prius," a reference to Toyota's popular electric hybrid vehicle.

"You have to be self-deprecating," said Mr. Favat, who created an advertising campaign for Timberland featuring a magazine insert that could be planted, sprouting wildflowers. "Use irony or humor or satire to capture peoples' imagination. Nothing will be cool if you take yourself too seriously."

Hipsters and college students, these experts noted, need to see some unexpected or typically understated suspects out front on the issue, anyone from Michael Stipe to Mos Def. The vast middle of the country needs its own version of the celebrity spokesman: perhaps a Nascar driver or a National Football League quarterback.

I just had a strange idea on how to fix our lobby problem. See, lobbyists feel they need to buy influence because it is a way to get what they want, but in the process it is destroying our political system. What if lobby groups paid celebrities to make their causes "cool"? Imagine, for example, if the NRA got Tom Brady to be a spokesman. Would New England suddenly think, "Hey, Tom Brady says it should be ok to carry concealed weapons," and then push their own politicians to change the laws? What if the left got Jeff Gordon to talk about conserving gasoline by purchasing full efficient cars and walking more? Or how about the NEA paying Toby Keith millions to be its spokesman? People can be bought.

Stranger things have happened.