What option is best?

There is plenty of info and scientific studies on the merits of eating vegetarian/vegan vs driving a Hybrid. My first impression is that changing your eating habits is going to be more beneficial to the environment vs driving a Hybrid. This seems to be backed up by multiple articles I have read and the examples posted on this blog by other writers in the group.
Here is a quote from one article that I liked

With the energy needed to produce a single hamburger, you could drive a small car twenty miles. Next time you’re craving a burger, think about the fabulous road trip you could take!"

The thing that gets me the most about this discussion is not even a matter of what lifestyle option is more effective, but which option is easiest for the majority of people to partake in. If being a vegan or vegetarian and driving a hybrid had the same effect on the environment, which option would be the easiest to implement into the average persons life?

From my point of view, as a student driving a 9 year old honda accord, its not looking like I will be in the financial position to purchase a hybrid anytime soon, my car cost me $4,000 and is going to run for another 150,000 miles. Im going to drive it until the wheels fall off and save money that I would've spent on a nicer car, for a house. I don't want to spend any money on a car cause the economy is bad, and especially am not going to be able to come up with the extra money for a hybrid, even though there are studies that show paying the extra money for a hybrid upfront can save you money in the long run. For me if all environmental benefits are equal, going vegetarian is the easier lifestyle choice to implement for the average person.

The auto industries struggles are not coming just because people suddenly decided that driving cars is bad for the environment. Its struggling because fuel prices are high, american cars are costly to maintain, and the economy is all around bad. Having good options for a nice hybrid car may be high on some people's list, and you can even market the gas saving a hybrid does, but few people have the money to shell out for that item based on the idea that it is saving the environment. At this time in our society it is a way better option for consumers to go vegetarian than put up the money to buy a hybrid.

So the benefits of a hybrid include reducing emissions, eventually saving money on gas, and maybe feeling trendy in your new car. (there are others of course but this is about as deep as an average consumer is going to go)
Benefits of going Vegetarian are; reducing emissions, saving money not eating out as much, feeling healthier, feeling trendy in your new lifestyle ;), and it does not come with some huge investment and a monthly payment, parking tickets, and insurance.

So for me, even though studies have show that going vegetarian may be the more effective way to reduce emissions, it is also a choice that is easiest to make for a much larger portion of our population and this is what will make it more beneficial for planet earth than driving a hybrid.

David Doyle