Longmont Citzens for Justice and Democracy

Ford Demonstration - June 7, 2003

Demonstration Details

Join us in a peaceful demonstration in front of Valley Ford. Saturday June 7th from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. Bring signs if you wish! Walk, bike or carpool. Valley Ford is on hwy. 119 (3rd Ave) just south-east of Lashley. (If you drive, park on Lashley or near). We will be on the public sidewalk and grassy area next to 119.

We will deliver an open letter (see below) to the owners and employees of Valley Ford detailing our disgust with, and demands to the Ford Motor Company. Our actions are not directed toward the local franchise or its employees, in fact we consider them powerful allies in helping convince Ford Central that their customer base (us) demands environmental and social responsibility.

Please read our demonstration guidelines.

Learn the facts! Know your talking points if the newspaper or anyone else asks what we're doing. Here's a link: Fact sheet.

Contact: annequinox@yahoo.com

Ford: Stop Fueling America's Oil Addiction!

Details | Links | Open Letter

Links

Rainforest Action Network
Global Exchange
Sierra Club

An Open letter to Valley Ford

Dear Mr. Weibel and employees of Valley Ford

We are here today as part of a global effort to clean up Ford Motor Company. Please understand that our efforts are not aimed at you or your dealership, but at the irresponsible actions of Ford.

We are certain that as business-savvy, community-minded individuals, you can help carry our message to the Ford main office. We know that you care about the well-being of our planet as much as any concerned American.

It just makes good business sense to listen to your future customers and pass their wishes on to "Ford Central."

What are our concerns with Ford?

As you may know, Ford makes some of the world's dirtiest and least efficient cars and trucks. Ford recently reneged on its promises to improve SUV fuel efficiency. Ford's attempts to proclaim itself an environmentally and socially responsible corporation mask a continued reactionary stance in regard to perhaps the world's most important issue: our dependence on oil.

Our nation's addiction to oil is compromising our national security, promoting terrorism, changing our climate and destroying rainforests around the world. Here in the United States we import over half of our oil - and forty percent of those imports go to fuel our cars and trucks.

Detroit could push fuel efficiency to 40 miles per gallon with off-the-shelf technology, but they continue to delay, stuck in a decades-old model of inefficiency and backwardness. Producing a hybrid could raise efficiency to 60 mpg.

Ford has tried to place the blame on the consumers by saying we choose to drive polluting vehicles. The fact is, Ford fails to give consumers a real choice by refusing to produce clean cars. Ford currently has the technology to make cleaner vehicles-including SUVs-that get better gas mileage. All they need is the will to innovate.

Did you know:
 
0 Private vehicles are the single largest contributor to oil addiction, guzzling 40 percent of oil consumed by the United States. The single biggest step away from oil addiction is for the automobile industry to begin producing cleaner, more efficient cars.
 
o Ford's vehicles, along with those of other American automakers, get fewer miles per gallon than they did 20 years ago.
 
o Ford vehicles are responsible for approximately 9 percent of America's oil consumption, an amount equal to Italy's total oil use.
 
o Ford cars are on average the worst global warming polluters in the industry.
 
o Many Ford vehicles get fewer miles per gallon than their classic Model-T (25mpg) 80 years ago!
 

We are concerned:
 
o In April 2003, Ford broke its promise to America to increase SUV fuel-efficiency by 25 percent by 2005.
 
o Ford lobbies congress to relax clean air standards and tries to derail citizen initiatives toward cleaner technologies.
 
o As Americans, we make up just five percent of the world's population, yet we consume (and pollute with) one quarter of the world's oil. As Americans, we do not want to hold this dubious distinction.
 

In this past year, American servicemen and women - and Iraqi soldiers and civilians - gave their lives in part to feed U.S. addiction to oil. In addition, over the next few decades, scientists expect drastic and destructive changes in the climate will result from our addiction to oil. We must kick the habit - and we're asking Ford for leadership.

Rainforest Action Network and Global Exchange and the local group Longmont Citizens for Justice and Democracy are supporting nationwide efforts to confront Ford at its public face - its dealerships. The activists at your dealership today are here on their own volition as independent citizens concerned about protecting global security and preserving the environment for their grandchildren.

Sincerely,

Longmont Citizens for Justice and Democracy

Details | Links | Open Letter

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