Did Ford's Commitment To Being "Green" Almost Bankrupt Them?

Yes, at least in the opinion of one commentator, Tom Borelli of the National Center for Public Policy Research.

According to Borelli, Ford’s current problem are not merely the result of incompetent financial decisions, but are also the product of the commitment to environmental and politically liberal causes by Ford which were promoted by Ford’s former president, William Clay Ford, Jr., under the name “corporate social responsibility” (CSR).

Among the most egregious mistakes made by Ford, in Borelli’s view, was “declaring war” on its own bread-and-butter product, the SUV. Rather than confront global warming activists, Ford elected to kowtow to them in 2000 by issuing a report stating that SUVs contribute to global warming more than other vehicles. Ford, Jr. was reportedly afraid that standing up to the global warming activists would be bad for the company’s image. So he decided that Ford would be the “most environmentally responsible automaker.” Two years later, Ford signed onto the “Carbon Mitigation Initiative,” thereby agreeing that carbon dioxide in vehicle exhaust contributes to global warming.


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vdiv - 9/12/2007 1:32:42 PM

+1 Boost

Damned if they did, damned if they didn't, whatever the rationale was to declare war on the SUVs, at least Ford, Jr. was trying to react to the public fickle minds and accommodate them. Similarly GM is doing the same, though seemingly more successfully.

Shredmo - 9/12/2007 3:38:50 PM

+1 Boost

Reading the comments posted to the actual article, I can't help to think the first poster overused replace-a-word thesaurus to attempt to sound intelligent. Regardless of the complexity of your vocabulary, it is important for rhetoric to be clearly understandable.

The article is relatively interesting as it stated: Ford agreed their total source of income was ruining the planet. Who cares if the author was a con. or a lib.
P.S. If this person truely cared for the environment, they would kill themself to save the earth. Too many people already. Also, I am sure they own a car :(