You would do better in a Hummer. Manufacturing the Toyota Prius involves a shocking amount of pollution. A plant in Ontario, dubbed the "Superstack," mines and smelts the nickel for the Prius' battery, each of which then travels to Europe, China, Japan and the United States. How many Prius miles would it take to offset those trips? Canadian Greenpeace energy coordinator David Martin says the vast amounts of sulfur dioxide released over northern Ontario cause acid rain, which in turn destroys plants in the area, resulting in mudslides. In fact, the surrounding environment is so damaged that NASA uses the "dead zone" for testing moon rovers.

Now for the bad news: The Prius' EPA mileage estimates have dropped for 2008 by 25 percent due to modified standards. The hybrid now averages a puny 45-mpg---not much better than cars at half the price. The Prius also costs more to operate and has a shorter life span than a Hummer, probably the most hated of all vehicles among environmentalist wackos. The Prius has a life expectancy of only 100,000 miles, and it costs an average of $3.25 per mile to operate. By contrast, the Hummer costs $1.95 per mile for a 300,000-mile lifetime.