How Ford pays back 4X4 owners!

[Cameron]

Here's what FORD did with the profits when you bought your 4x4.

It's nice to know that Ford takes the profits from selling you your 4X4 and donates it to the very people trying to prevent you from driving your 4X4 off road!

FORD GRANT DRIVES CONSERVATION RESEARCH PROJECTS
DEARBORN, Michigan, November 28, 2000 (ENS) - The Ford Motor Company has donated $5 million to an international environmental group for the purpose of promoting conservation and natural resources research projects. Ford's donation will enable the Earthwatch Institute and other environmental groups to establish a series of conservation research stations in South America, Africa, Asia and North America over a five-year period. The research stations will be located at sites of "exceptional conservation value" which are also highly threatened, said John Rintamaki, Ford's group vice president and chief of staff.
"Ford Motor Company is committed to being a good corporate citizen," Rintamaki said. "We are set on making an impact that is replicable and sustainable for today's environment and tomorrow's future." Ford will establish a conservation fellowships program that will enable educators, conservationists and staff from corporations to work on conservation projects in the field at the stations. Participants will be selected from the United States and host country nations. The aims will be to build awareness of conservation issues amongst teachers, students and company employees, and to transfer skills and build professional capacity in developing nations. Earthwatch president Roger Bergen said Ford has shown "exceptional vision" in helping to protect some of the world's most threatened environments. The relationship between Ford and Earthwatch began two years ago, during a cooperative research effort in the Pantanal wetlands in Brazil. Rintamaki said Ford hopes to fund more projects that promote sustainable conservation of natural resources and cultural heritage.



CONTACT: Gwynne Marie Irvin of Ford Motor Company, 313-323-0646, or
girvin@ford.com, or Media Information Center, 800-665-1515, 313-621-0504, or media@ford.com; or Blue Magruder of Earthwatch, 978-461-0081, ext. 136, or bmagruder@earthwatch.org/

 

[donkey boy]

I don't think this is bad

I don't think this is such a bad thing. We just have one planet, and we really need to learn to take care of it. The more that moderate enviromentalist groups get supported and the more their ideas are heared by the big public and our law-makers, the less the extremist will have a chance to get through with their ideas.

We all know; there are some fellow 4-wheelers that really show very little respect of nature, which gives fuel to the tree huggers and causes trails to close. Therefore I think a wide programm which talks about environmental issues (and that's not just cars, SUVs an 4-wheeling) is not all that bad. Call me a tree hugger, but if I for example see all that usless stuff that's produced and sold in stores, the trash that's produced, specially in this time of the year, or I enter a mall where I'm forced to make a complete striptease because it's so hot inside, I really get the impression that lots of people care very little about things like energy or natural resources ...

Just my 02 centimes.

 

[Cameron]

I respect your views but the organization known as the Earthwatch Institute's primary goal is to secure land under the conservation umbrella and make it illegal for people to not only drive on it but camp, hunt and hike on it as well.

I agree that it is important that there are organizations out there looking out for Mother Nature. We have many fine organizations that are heavily involved in protecting lands for recreational purposes such as the Blue Ribbon Coalition at http://www.sharetrails.org/ and Tread Lightly at http://www.treadlightly.org/ and United Four Wheel Drive Association at http://www.ufwda.org/2K/ and Illinois Four Wheel Drive Association at http://ilfwda.offroadhq.net/home.html just to name a few.

That is why I think what Ford is doing is bad. They should donate the money to organizations that promote the correct and environmentally friendly way to use the land. Not to organizations that want to take the land away from us! It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth to see a Ford commercials showing a truck driving off road and then find out Ford finances the very organizations that try to prevent us from driving our trucks off road. Kind of hypocritical.

That’s all I'm saying.

P.s. I don't think caring about the environment makes you a tree hugger. I also don't think it is environmentally insensitive to want to go four wheeling, or camping or hiking.

 

[donkey boy]

You are right

Cameron,
I was/am not at all familiar with this Earthwatch Institute, and reading your latest post, I agree 101% with you!