Global warming. The scandal is forcing entire nations to do away with their national treasures- in this case, Sweden, and Volvo and Saab.

DANDERYD, Sweden — Perhaps more than most Europeans, Swedes have a love affair with big cozy cars.

And with good reason: Volvo and Saab, two of the world’s best-known brands for comfort and safety, are made right in their own backyard.

And a good many Swedes work at the factories that make these vehicles.

But as concern about global warming ripples across this country, the average Swede’s relationship with comfortable — and highly polluting — cars is becoming strained.

The most recent available European Union statistics show that Sweden has the highest-pollution-emitting cars in Western Europe. Many of those happen to be Volvos and Saabs, which tend to be roomy, high-horsepower models that emit a high count of carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas.

In 2004, when the average new car in the 15 countries that belonged to the European Union at the time spewed out 163 grams of carbon dioxide a kilometer, the equivalent number in Sweden was 196. According to a study by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, the biggest cars in all of Sweden are found here in Danderyd, a wealthy municipality with average emissions of 211 grams a kilometer.

Ahh…when the EU publishes it’s own stats, everyone must listen and trust the information. Does anyone dare question these stats? Of course not. The peasants have no right to do so.

The task was given new urgency in February when the European Commission proposed limiting emissions from new passenger cars to 120 grams of carbon dioxide a kilometer, or 6.8 ounces a mile, by 2012. And it is forcing Swedes to weigh a delicate trade-off between support for their cherished automakers and the nation’s rapidly greening attitude in which a fourth of their energy in 2003 came from renewable sources.

New urgency? Junk science is changing the way nations do everything.

Because Saab and Volvo make up a crucial part of the Swedish economy, the government — like others in the European Union — provides indirect support. The tax code is structured so that company employees receive the maximum tax benefit for driving big new Volvos and Saabs.

“The tax system is tailor-made for these national treasures,” Mr. Falkemark said. The result is that almost half of all new cars sold in Sweden are sold to companies — and half of these are Volvos and Saabs.

So what happens in a nation where government can force a business to change it’s product?

“This is where some of the biggest cuts will have to be made,” said Jos Dings, the director of the European Federation for Transport and Environment in Brussels, referring to government support for Saab and Volvo. “In the U.K., company cars are more fuel-efficient than private cars, instead of the other way around, because the tax system encourages fuel efficiency rather than size.”

The government takes away customers and levies huge taxes. Governments bully private industry…

Saab and Volvo are working on making more fuel efficient vehicles but the pace isn’t “fast” enough, according to the enviro freaks. They’re saying these things:

…the planet cannot wait that long and that Swedes need to learn to drive less comfortably.

And the latest tactic to find it’s way into this foolish debate? Shaming the peasants.

“As global warming becomes more evident,” said Mr. Maberg, the retired Volvo owner, “it will get more and more embarrassing to drive around in a big and heavy car like this.”

When will the peasants demand more information? Will they ever question the stats that are forcing all these changes? Do they except, wholesale, the arguments presented to them in this? Are they citizens or lemmings?