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With the sun going down on Brandywine St and the lawn sprinklers hissing gently in the background, worried groups of neighbours are talking quietly about a shocking act of domestic terrorism on their doorsteps.
Some have just returned from the nearby Whole Foods organic store, one worried-looking family pulls up in a Prius. Children pour out carrying musical instruments from their Suzuki lesson.
But, despite its seeming like a Norman Rockwell poster, Brandywine St, in the suburbs of Washington DC is now on the frontline of America's fractious debate about climate change.
In the early hours of Monday morning, two masked men arrived there wielding baseball bats and a machete. They then set about attacking the enormous Hummer that had been parked there less than a week.
As owner Gareth Groves slept, they smashed every window, battered the panels, slashed the oversized tires and scrawled "for the environ" on the side of the 2m-high behemoth. The attackers caused more than US$12,000 ($15,000) worth of damage before running into the night.
As an act of eco-vandalism, it was not as spectacular as previous episodes. A couple of years ago three environmental activists firebombed several Hummer and 4x4 dealerships in California. One of them is now serving an eight-year jail term in a federal penitentiary and two others are on the run from the FBI.
The argument over Hummers and vehicles like them goes all the way to the White House. For 20 years car manufacturers have successfully blocked attempts to force them to become more efficient.
Opinion polls reveal that, given an option, three-quarters of Americans want dramatic increases in fuel-efficient cars, but they prefer to buy gas-guzzling Hummers, Cadillacs and behemoth-sized pickup trucks.
Thirty years ago "light trucks", as 4x4 vehicles are classified , were only a fifth of all sales. Today they account for more than half. And in June, according to the latest figures from General Motors, the world's largest car manufacturer, Hummer sales were up 11 per cent.
As the New Yorker magazine put it: "We buy gas guzzlers, but we vote for gas sipping."
Last month the US Senate passed an energy bill that for the first time in nearly 20 years would have forced an improvement in the fuel efficiency of cars and 4x4s.
However, it became dead in the water because of the intervention of Michigan Congressman John Dingell, who could fairly be described as friendly to the car lobby. He wanted fuel economy improvements that were condemned as being even weaker than the toothless measures proposed by President George W. Bush.
Now given how fractious the debate has become, both over Hummers on suburban roads and the fuel efficiency of American cars, it is unclear whether any fuel requirements will make it into the bill before Congress, or even when the House will get around to debating it.
The attack on the Brandywine Hummer has triggered an outpouring of rage across the country - on both sides of the divide - and the vehicle has become the latest poster boy for America's failing attempts to grapple meaningfully with climate change.
Gareth Groves, the mystified 32-year-old owner of the smashed up vehicle, is not enjoying his 15 minutes of fame.
Sitting with his girlfriend and an Army buddy on the front porch of his mother's house, he is unapologetic about his choice of car and more than shocked at the reaction of his neighbours.
Some have glared at him; others have passed with a look of smug satisfaction: "one in five people who come by have that 'you-got-what-you-deserve' look," said his buddy Andy Sexton.
A woman who was the only witness to the attack and called the police was equally unsympathetic.
"The neighbourhood in general is very concerned with the environment," said Lucille, another Prius-driving neighbour. "It's ridiculous to be driving a Hummer."
Nowhere is the division over America's attitude to climate change more apparent than on Brandywine. Most of Gareth's neighbours disliked having the Hummer parked on their street. But they say they are equally shocked by the violence. The authorities agree on that point at least and an FBI agent was quickly on the scene to interview the owner and neighbours.
For a while, camera crews were staking out the elegant home of Phyllis Groves, 70, the car owner's mother. She feels sorry for her son who bought the car to promote his budding business as an agent for professional football players on the Washington Redskins team.
"The Hummer was his dream, it's a man thing," she explains.
And to judge by the phone calls and emails he's been getting, the country is evenly divided between those who despise him and those who believe it is his God-given right to drive whatever he wants.
For the moment, Groves is holding his nerve. He has had the car towed away to be repaired, but he is worried about bringing it back on his mother's street.
What will happen to the activists if and when the man from the FBI catches up with them, gives Groves and his buddy something to smile inwardly about.
"People tell me that an act of eco-terrorism is considered to be a class A felony punishable by 20 years in jail and a $100,000 fine," he said.
"To tell you the truth," he said, "I never even thought about the environmental impact of the Hummer in the months I spent thinking about buying it."
He is thinking about it a bit more now that the media storm is passing over. First he must find a place to park it though and that means moving out of his mother's house. "I'm not gonna let these guys beat me," he says. "I'm going to get my Hummer back."
- Independent
