Ford: Have you contributed to global warming skeptics, lately?
Andrew Leonard
May. 18, 2006 | Two days ago, Bill Ford, CEO of the Ford Motor Co., wrote a letter to Al Gore complimenting him on his new movie about the threat of global warming, "An Inconvenient Truth."
"I am proud," wrote Ford, "that we were the first automotive company to acknowledge publicly the importance of climate change to our business, the first to issue a report on the impact of climate change on our business, and the first to articulate climate stabilization as an appropriate strategic goal."
That's nice, Bill. Then why does your company continue to fund the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a right-wing think tank dedicated to opposing any governmental effort to tackle the problem of climate change. CEI detests environmental regulations of all kinds, but it bears a special animus against what it likes to call "global warming alarmists." In fact, CEI announced yesterday that it is producing two television spots to run in markets where "An Inconvenient Truth" is about to open, "focusing on the alleged global warming crisis and the calls by some environmental groups and politicians for reduced energy use."
Re: Ford: Have you contributed to global warming skeptics, lately?
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Originally Posted by SAM Hybrid
. . . That's nice, Bill. Then why does your company continue to fund the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a right-wing think tank dedicated to opposing any governmental effort to tackle the problem of climate change. CEI detests environmental regulations of all kinds, but it bears a special animus against what it likes to call "global warming alarmists." In fact, CEI announced yesterday that it is producing two television spots to run in markets where "An Inconvenient Truth" is about to open, "focusing on the alleged global warming crisis and the calls by some environmental groups and politicians for reduced energy use."
Perhaps CEI is buying all the huge SUVs and Hummers?
Re: Ford: Have you contributed to global warming skeptics, lately?
Ford is a huge company and is probably hedging its bets. The tobacco industry used to do it all the time by dumping cash on both democrats and republicans concurrently.
Re: Ford: Have you contributed to global warming skeptics, lately?
The only way for Ford to respond to this with any amount of dignity or responsibility would be to stop supporting CEI, as they suggest in the article. It seems to me that if they really want to turn the company around, they need to make concrete changes in their policies, like that one, which will demonstrate their new commitment to responsible environmental choices.
It's not about waking up and acknowledging the science anymore- we're way past that. It's about looking their customers in the eye and saying that they're going to put their money where their mouths are, swing their weight on the side of good policy and the public interest, because their business future is at stake here. What more has to happen to make them understand that their own best interests line up with the public ones?
Re: Ford: Have you contributed to global warming skeptics, lately?
I would like to see American Car manufacturers doing what Honda has been doing, flashing the Green Frog is not nearly enough:
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In 2000, the global average of CO2 exhaust emissions among Honda automobiles was 179.5g/km. Despite increased sales of larger-size vehicles such as SUV and minivans, average CO2 emissions dropped by 5% during the five year period up to 2005.
Honda is now targeting a further reduction of 5% or more, aiming to accomplish a total 10% reduction by 2010 compared to the level of 2000. Honda will also work toward a 10% reduction both for motorcycles and power products.
Honda’s global average of CO2 emissions to produce one automobile also declined by approximately 5% during the five year period up to 2005. The company is working toward a further reduction by 5% or more by 2010 to achieve a total reduction of 10% compared to the level of 2000.
Honda has thus become the first automaker in the world to announce global CO2 reduction
Ford: Have you contributed to global warming skeptics, lately?
