Saving the Planet?

I read a snippet in a national tabloid which reported that in Norwich, England a group from Friends of the Earth went round the city putting "parking tickets" on all the 4x4 vehicles parked in the area as a sign that they were gas-guzzling, resource-wasting, unnecessary vehicles. Now this is commendable in many respects. Many owners of these machines have no pressing need to own a car capable of driving through rugged terrain (however badly maintained the roads of Norfolk may be). Perhaps they could make do with a small engined car big enough to go to work and do the shopping - but would that lower the imagined esteem they have from their neighbours? One suspects that many of these vehicles are owned as a "keeping up with the Jones's" status symbol rather than a necessity. To be seen doing the half-mile "school run" in a little city car does not have the same effect as rolling up in a chrome-laden, mile-high-off-the-road-where-little-Johnny-gets-vertigo-getting-out civilian version of a Chieftan tank.
You get my drift? Perhaps these "eco-warriors" are not so much saving the planet as making a statement about capitalist greed, the nouveau riche and pure envy. Furthermore, if they think about it, these new vehicles are bound by very strict emissions laws. Maybe they're not strict enough but more so than they were ten or fifteen years ago. Thus, these vehicles produce less than ten per cent of the particulates than would, say, a worn-out, probably badly serviced, fifteen-year-old Sierra or Cavalier. Should they be directing their energies against older, badly-maintained cars? Should they look more closely at single-occupancy vehicles of all descriptions? Should we ban mums (and dads) taking their kids to school in the car? The list of waste on our roads is endless and still growing.
These people are just nibbling at the very edges with their little demonstration. I wonder how many of them drove into Norwich to conduct this little exercise? Perhaps they should lead by example and not use cars at all!
No, I don't own a 4x4. Neither do I want to. My family runs one small car which sits in the garage untouched on many days of the week. Perhaps we are lucky. My wife and I both live reasonably close to our places of employment. Our kids are at university - but even when they were at home we used local schools to which they walked. There are times when I yearn to own a luxury car but I also long to win the Lottery (dream on Mac!). I am neither a fanatical eco-campaigner nor a don't-give-a-damn waster. I, like most, have a conscience but not enough to fight really hard. Perhaps that is the true battle-front for the planet - convincing the unconcerned and the don't-knows.