http://www.frugalmarketing.com/dtb/kennedy.shtml Better Gas Mileage, Greater Security
Kennedy shares how a small investment in conservation, implementing CAFE standards, would quickly reduce American demand for oil and our dependency on foreign oil.
By ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.
Note: Shel Horowitz's book, Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First, contains a great deal of other information about the interplay of marketing and social change, and ways to move a business toward both environmental and economic sustainablity.
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According to a recent report by Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute, if the United States had continued to conserve oil at the rate it did in the period from 1976 to 1985, it would no longer have needed Persian Gulf oil after 1985. Had we continued this wise course, we might not have had to fight the Persian Gulf war, and we would have insulated ourselves from price shocks in the international oil market. Fuel efficiency is a sound national energy policy, economic policy and foreign policy all wrapped into one. Every increase of one mile per gallon in auto fuel efficiency yields more oil than is in two Arctic National Wildlife Refuges. An improvement right now of 2.7 miles per gallon would eliminate our need for all Persian Gulf oil!
Yet the Republican Congress in 1995 made it illegal for the Environmental Protection Agency even to study higher CAFE standards. The result is that America now has the worst energy efficiency in 20 years.
If Congress is serious about ensuring our national security it should immediately pass legislation to raise fuel economy standards to 40 miles a gallon by 2012 and 55 by 2020. This would give automakers ample time to adjust their production. In the meantime, Congress should close the sport utility vehicle loophole by holding S.U.V.'s and minivans to the fuel economy standards for cars; automakers have the technology now to achieve this. Along with the other benefits, higher fuel economy standards could bring increased demand for efficient cars, leading to an increase in motor- vehicle-related jobs. We can also substantially cut gasoline consumption by requiring tire manufacturers to sell replacement tires that are as friction-free as tires on new cars.
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http://www.frugalmarketing.com/dtb/kennedy.shtml
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