Fw: Kyoto begins; auto makers resist.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Joan Blades, MoveOn.org"
To: "Miriam Vieni"
Sent: Wednesday, February 16, 2005 3:16 PM
Subject: Kyoto begins; auto makers resist.


Dear MoveOn member,

Today, February 16, the Kyoto Protocol goes into effect worldwide, without
the support of the U.S. Through the Kyoto treaty, 141 nations are getting
serious about averting a climate crisis from global warming. Last year, you
signed our Climate Crisis petition, which has been part of the mounting
public pressure on leaders in the U.S. to join this crucial work. Thank you.

There is something more you can do this week. California recently passed
ground breaking legislation requiring new cars to reduce greenhouse gasses
in their emissions by 30% starting in 2009. Sadly manufacturers are fighting
these new standards tooth and nail. Rather than lead the world to new
technologies, they're taking California to court to roll back the new
standards.

Can you help?

Can you send a letter to auto manufacturers asking them to accept the
California emission standards and to build cars that will help America lead
in using new technologies and avert a global climate crisis? Together, we
can embarrass auto companies into being good global citizens. Personal notes
by paper mail are very effective, if you can take the time. We've attached
addresses below. Or if you are pressed for time, our friends at NRDC are
delivering messages from online activists. Just go to:

http://www.nrdcaction.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=52452&ms=mo0205

Many states are considering adopting California's legislation and are
concerned about this court battle. In honor of the Kyoto Protocol, the
members of a broad coalition of organizations are putting pressure on auto
manufacturers to innovate rather than litigate. This coalition includes
Defenders of Wildlife, Environmental Defense, Greenhouse Network, League of
Conservation Voters, National Wildlife Federation, NRDC, RiverKeeper, Sierra
Club, Union of Concerned Scientists, U.S. PIRG and WaterKeeper.

Today marks a major milestone. With Kyoto, the world is moving forward to
address global warming. While the Bush administration blocks national
legislation, we should pressure industry to take the lead, before it's too
late.

Thanks for everything you do,

--Joan Blades
MoveOn.org
February 16th, 2005
___________

ADDRESSES
Key auto industry executives

G. Richard Wagoner, Jr.
President and CEO
General Motors Corporation
300 Renaissance Center
Detroit, MI 48265-3000

Hideaki Otaka
President and CEO
Toyota Motor North America, Inc.
9 W. 57th Street, Suite 4900
New York, NY 10019

Juergen E. Schrempp
Chairman
DaimlerChrysler Corp.
1000 Chrysler Drive
Auburn Hills, MI 48326

Koichi Kondo
President and CEO
American Honda Motor Co., Inc.
1919 Torrance Blvd.
Torrance, CA 90501

William Clay Ford, Jr.
Chairman and CEO
Ford Motor Co.
The American Road
Dearborn, MI 48121

BACKGROUNDER

Bait and Switch: Big Auto Fights
California's Landmark Global Warming Law

Carmakers work the courts instead of putting
clean technology to work.

The car companies are trying to have it both ways: They tease us with
promises of cleaner cars -- "zero emissions," "energy for the future" --
then sue to prevent states from setting standards to cut global warming
pollution.

California made history in late 2004 when it adopted the world's first
standards requiring automakers to cut global warming pollution from new cars
and trucks. The law, which at least eight other states may adopt, requires
automakers to reduce the heat-trapping exhaust from new vehicles by about 30
percent.

Automobiles are the second largest source of global warming pollution in the
United States. Scientists say global warming promises increasingly severe
heat waves and droughts, more property damage from floods and wildfire, and
more asthma-causing air days.

But instead of turning to their engineers to design cars that would protect
public health and the environment, automakers summoned their lawyers for
excuses. They argue the law demands too much, that it's too difficult to cut
the heat-trapping pollution their vehicles produce.

Carmakers have a long history of fighting against simple, cost-effective
solutions -- everything from catalytic converters to air bags and even
seatbelts -- and always with the same complaint -- that it's just too hard.

But their claims ring hollow. The new requirements were crafted around
technologies that are already in use, like better engine electronics,
improved transmissions and energy-saving tires, which combine to slash
heat-trapping emissions from cars and trucks.

We know the auto industry can build cleaner cars. The solutions are there,
and American consumers are ready to put them on the road. A healthy,
competitive auto industry relies on ingenuity, not lawsuits. Big Auto needs
to lose its can't-do attitude and start being a leader again.

SAMPLE LETTER
(But your own words are always best.)

Dear Chief Executive Officer,

I am very disappointed to hear about your company's lawsuit to stop progress
on an issue of critical importance to our health, our economy and our
environment -- the urgent need to cut global warming pollution.

Global warming is happening. We're already seeing the polar ice caps melting
and changes in habitat with deadly consequences for many animal and plant
species. If that's not enough, global warming will worsen smog, triggering
more asthma attacks and hospitalizations.

Cars and trucks make up the second largest source of global warming
pollution, sending heat-trapping emissions into the air for decades to come.

For more than 40 years, California has led the nation and the world in
creating sound, sensible air pollution standards -- leadership that has long
been acknowledged in federal clean air laws. That's why more than 80 percent
of Californians backed the world's first law designed to reduce automotive
global warming emissions when it passed three years ago. The new performance
standards are supposed to phase in starting in 2009, giving you ample time
to deploy new technology. But instead of stepping up to meet the challenge,
your company and others have gone to court to try to block the law.

You have the know-how and technology to fix the global warming problem.
Smart engineering such as cylinder deactivation and continuously variable
transmissions are available today to build cleaner cars and trucks that get
us where we're going with less pollution.

As a consumer, I urge you to call off your lawyers and use your resources to
innovate, not litigate. Withdraw your company from the litigation blocking
California's pioneering safeguard.

QUICK FACTS AND TALKING POINTS

- Eighty-one percent of California voters -- including 77 percent of SUV
owners -- support the state's new global warming emissions standards.

- New emissions standards will save California drivers nearly $921 million
annually by 2012.

- States including Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Rhode
Island, Vermont, Maine and Washington, are considering adopting California's
standards.

- America's cars and trucks pump 1.4 billion tons of heat-trapping CO2 into
the atmosphere every year.

- Technology such as cylinder deactivation, continuously variable
transmissions and energy saving tires can be deployed today to meet new
standard which are set to phase in gradually beginning in 2009

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