Healing the planet: When Mark Tercek found out that he'd probably be running the Nature Conservancy, he got so excited that he backed his SUV into a tree

Tree-Hitter Tercek Channels Goldman at Nature Conservancy - Bloomberg

On the day in May 2008 when Mark Tercek, a managing director at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), got a cell-phone call from a headhunter informing him that he’d likely
gotten the job of running the Nature Conservancy, he was so excited that he backed his Jeep Grand Cherokee into a tree, shattering the back window. Anxious that gouging a tree might be a bad omen, he jumped out to see how bad it was. To his relief, he’d done far more damage to his vehicle than the tree.

Gas Mileage of 2007 Vehicles by Jeep
     [Note that the published MPG of the 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee was as low as 9 when driven in the city using E85 fuel]

2008: Obama camp spies endgame in Oregon

Pitching his message to Oregon's environmentally-conscious voters, Obama called on the United States to "lead by example" on global warming, and develop new technologies at home which could be exported to developing countries.

"We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times ... and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK," Obama said.

"That's not leadership. That's not going to happen," he added.