Jumpstart Ford Activists “Adopt A Dealer” On Fossil Fools Day

April 01, 2005 — By Rainforest Action Network

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — On April 1, the Jumpstart Ford coalition will rally in support of the 2nd annual Fossil Fools Day with its largest day of action since the grassroots campaign was born in 2002. Clean car crusaders will launch an "Adopt-a-Dealer" program with actions at over 100 North American Ford dealers in seven Canadian provinces and 43 states. Consumer activists are highlighting Ford’s bottom-of-the-barrel EPA fuel efficiency ranking and off-the-chart greenhouse gas emissions. Joined by longtime activist Woody Harrelson in Santa Fe, concerned citizens will enlist Ford dealers to demand that the automaker act socially responsible by immediately implementing existing fuel saving technology as a first step toward building only zero emission cars and trucks.

'While the polar ice caps are melting, Ford is doing little more than studying how much the company’s vehicles are contributing to disastrous climate change,” said Jason Mark, Clean Car Campaigner at the human right group Global Exchange. “The verdict is already in: Ford is a major contributor to global warming, with its cars ranked the worst in greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists. Ford’s study is helpful, but not nearly enough. It’s like Nero fiddling while Rome burns."

"People across North America are demanding energy independence and freedom from oil," said Jennifer Krill, director of the Zero Emissions Campaign at Rainforest Action Network. "Every make and model of EV and gasoline-electric hybrids have long waiting lists while Ford dealers are continue to doll out huge cash rebates to push the automakers oil dependent SUVs. Crude oil is now over $55 a barrel and rising, gas prices have spiked to over $3 a gallon. The Arctic tundra and ancient glaciers on Mt. Kilimanjaro are melting fast. The Greater Barrier Reef is dying. Primordial and pristine rainforests are in danger of extinction. How can Ford Motor Company justify having the worst fuel efficiency and highest greenhouse gas emissions of any automaker in America?"

Ford Fights Progress
Ford is fighting federal and state efforts to improve emissions standards and implement fuel efficiency market incentives like California's progressive new law allowing carpool lane access to hybrids that achieve at least 45 miles per gallon, a standard that not one Ford model meets. Ford is supporting the filing of a federal lawsuit to overturn California's popular new vehicle emissions standards, the nation's first-ever laws of any kinds to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions linked to global warming and the most advanced automotive GHG reduction targets in the world.

Addicted to Oil
"Automaker Rankings 2004," a recent report from the Union of Concerned Scientists, ranks Ford as having "the absolute worst heat-trapping gas emissions performance of all the Big Six automakers." According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the overall average fuel efficiency of Ford's fleet today is 18.8 mpg, dead last among the major automakers for the fifth consecutive year. Since the oil crisis of the 1970s, Ford has ranked worst in overall fuel efficiency of all major automakers for 20 out of the last 30 years. From subcompacts to SUVs, Ford's current car and truck fleet gets fewer miles per gallon on average today than its Model-T did 80 years ago. Ford's widely touted 'eco-friendly' Rouge River plant features a water-preserving green roof, yet manufactures 280,000 gas-guzzling F-150s a year, each truck generating up to 100 tons of atmospheric carbon over its lifetime. Marketed as "the first American hybrid," Ford's so-called 'no compromise' Escape represents less than one half of one percent of its fleet and will have virtually no impact on its last place fuel efficiency ranking. On September 2, 2004, Niel Golightly, director of environmental strategies for Ford Motor Company, told USA Today, "Clearly, the entire industry could build nothing but zero emissions cars today if it wanted to."

Fossil Fools Day
Fossil Fools Day is a new grassroots holiday created by the environmental and human rights movements to raise awareness about dirty energy and sustainable alternatives. Clean energy crusaders will host hundreds of events at college campuses, cafes, car dealers and capitals throughout Canada, England and the United States. Creative actions will confront powerful educators, lawmakers and business leaders who are ignoring a growing popular movement concerned about oil addiction, air pollution, and global warming.

Supporting Facts For More Information, Contact:

Paul West, Rainforest Action Network, (415) 398-4404 x319, media@ran.org
Andrea Buffa, Global Exchange, (415) 575-5552, andrea@globalexchange.org