We got an email from one of the producers on Brian Lehrer‘s superb staff at WNYC asking us to put up a post about a fascinating experiment they need help doing, starting today. They’re asking listeners to count the number of SUVs on their block as a way of getting at how many gas guzzlers are out there in this era of talk about environmental sustainability. Obviously, Brooklyn is fertile territory for such an SUV count. It’s part of something called “crowdsourcing,” where listeners are recruited as street journalists. Here’s more from Brian’s WNYC web page on the effort:

We want you to go outside and count the number of SUVs on your block, as well as the number of regular cars, at any given moment. This is our experiment in “crowdsourcing,” where we employ you, the listener, in an act of journalism. We’re trying to find out just how much gas-guzzling SUV use there is throughout the New York area, with all the talk of environmental sustainability in the city. We’re giving you until next Thursday to do the counting, but please, just count the cars the one time. If you want to take photos, feel free to upload to Flickr and tag the photos blsuv. Post your results in the comment section below and we’ll analyze the results next week.

You can find the full post about it by clicking here and, of course, by tuning in to Brian’s show this morning. What are you waiting for, Brooklyn? Get out there and help BL and all of us out by counting the SUVs on your block.