The United States has less than five percent of the world's population, yet we every year we use more than 25 percent of the planet's oil production. Clearly, we are consuming a disproportionate amount of this limited resource. And our dependence is expected to grow. Today the U.S. imports 55 percent of all the oil we use. By 2025, we will depend on foreign sources for up to 68 percent of all our oil. It's not just that the U.S. is dependent on oil—we are positively addicted to it.

Like all addictions, our addiction to oil comes at a high price. Oil addiction undermines the vitality of the American economy, contributes to global warming and other kinds of environmental destruction, leads to human rights abuses, and unnecessarily erodes our national security.

• Oil addiction endangers our economy.

In the last two decades America's industrial heartland has been ruined. Hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs have been sent overseas as major U.S. corporations, led by the auto manufacturers, relocate production facilities. The loss of these jobs has contributed to crime, urban blight, and drug use in the U.S.'s once flourishing cities.

Sadly, there is little sign that the exodus of manufacturing jobs will slow any time soon. Reports show that U.S. auto companies intend to move more and more of their factories to Mexico over the next decade. The auto industry's current business model will lead to further job loss.

• Oil addiction endangers our national security.

Our oil binging prevents us from thinking straight when it comes to national security. To keep the oil flowing, the U.S. props up the repressive kingdom of Saudi Arabia. And it's unlikely we would have invaded Iraq if broccoli were the number one export from the Middle East.

• Oil addiction endangers human rights.

Human rights groups have documented the way in which oil exploration and drilling contribute to assaults on human rights. In Nigeria oil company security guards have killed local protesters demanding the cleanup of oil spills. In Indonesia government army troops hired by multinational oil companies have killed activists. In Colombia and Ecuador, Indigenous communities face extinction as oil drilling wipes out the forests on which they depend.

• Oil addiction endangers the environment.

The science is unambiguous: Oil consumption is a major contributor to global warming. Personal vehicles presently account for nearly one-quarter of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Over the last century, the earth has warmed by 1 degree Fahrenheit, and scientists are certain that at least the last 50 years of warming is due to human activity. If oil consumption continues as expected, scientists predict global temperatures could rise by as much as 10 degrees by 2100.

Oil dependence also harms precious eco systems such as rainforests through oil spills, road-building, erosion, and habitat destruction.

Gas guzzling puts us all at risk. If we want a secure nation, a safe environment, and a strong economy, we need to kick the petroleum habit.

Why target the auto industry?

In recent years, citizen organizations have tried a variety of strategies and tactics to hold oil corporations accountable for the environmental and human rights abuses associated with oil exploration and extraction. These efforts are essential: After all, the oil industry should not be allowed to commit abuses with impunity.

Yet targeting the oil companies will never break our addiction to oil. The oil companies simply will not put themselves out of business.

If we really want to get off the petroleum treadmill, then we need to dramatically reduce the demand for oil—and that means targeting the auto industry.

Our old-fashioned, gas-guzzling vehicles play a major role in keeping us hooked on oil. Our cars and trucks consume 40 percent of all the oil we use. By doubling the fuel efficiency of our vehicles, we would be able to reduce our oil use by 1.6 billion barrels of oil per year.

If we want to go beyond "end-of-pipeline politics" and get to the root of the problem, then we have to tackle our demand for oil. Focusing on our cars is one of the best ways to do this.

What are we calling on the industry to do?

Because the auto industry plays such a major role in keeping us hooked on petroleum, the carmakers have a special responsibility to help reduce our oil dependence.

We are therefore calling on the auto companies to dramatically increase the fuel efficiency of their new car fleets.

We are asking that the major auto manufacturers (General Motors, Daimler-Chrysler, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, and Ford):

1) Increase average fleet fuel efficiency to 50 miles per gallon by 2010.

2) Completely eliminate a vehicle fleet that will produce zero greenhouse gas tailpipe emissions by 2020.

Why target Ford specifically?

Although we are trying to reform the business practices of the entire auto industry, we are concentrating our efforts on a single corporation—Ford Motor Company.

Under the leadership of Chairman and CEO, William Clay Ford, Jr., Ford has distinguished in recent years by making pronouncements about its commitment to protecting the environment. Ford likes to say that it is a company full of "environmental heroes."

Yet the company's rhetoric doesn't match up with reality.

According to the US EPA, Ford vehicles get the worst average fuel economy of all the major automakers. When it comes to gas-guzzling, Ford is the baddest of a bad bunch.

The company's vehicles account for approximately nine percent of the U.S.'s total annual oil consumption, and when it comes to the emission of greenhouse gases, Fords cars are the dirtiest in the industry. If Ford were a country, it would be the 10th largest global warming polluter worldwide behind Italy. To compound these problems, in May 2003, Ford retreated from a promise to increase the fuel efficiency of its SUVs. Ford must walk the walk instead of just talking the talk.

We have also targeted Ford because of its special place in American business. Ford is in many ways a symbol of American entrepreneurship. As such, its actions have the ability to influence the entire industry.

Ford says it is a company of innovators. In fact, this is a dinosaur corporation that continues to build outdated gas-guzzling vehicles. Ford should be doing everything it can to break our addiction to oil.

What does oil dependence mean for the American economy and U.S. workers?

The carbon economy is not working for America's working families. Our oil addiction needlessly worsens our trade deficit while putting workers at risk of losing their jobs.

In the past 30 years, U.S. consumers have transferred trillions of dollars to oil-exporting countries. By 2020, our importation of oil is expected to rise to more than 60 percent, increasing our trade deficit.

Drivers feel the economic burden of their old-fashioned vehicles every time they go to the pump. Each year consumers spend $186 billion on gasoline for their cars and trucks. A fleet of automobiles that takes advantage of hybrid and other workable technologies could reach 60 mpg. This would save individuals an average of $5,500 in fuel during the lifetime of the vehicle. Improving our cars' fuel efficiency would be a victory for families' overstretched budgets.

It would also be a victory for American workers. The United States lost more than 10 percent of its manufacturing jobs during the last four years. During that same period, the United States lost clean-energy market share to foreign companies in Japan and Europe.

Ford's failure to implement new technology threatens the vitality of America's auto industry, putting thousands of jobs at risk. If the Ford were to embrace innovative technologies to increase their cars' fuel efficiency, there would be a massive jobs pay-off. Higher fuel economy will not only safeguard existing jobs, but create approximately 47,000 new jobs in the auto industry. Investing in cleaner cars means investing in better, high-tech jobs in the United States.

How does oil dependence fuel global warming?

The world's climatologists agree: the global climate is changing faster than it has in millions of years, and our reliance on fossil fuels is largely to blame. The threats posed by global warming are terrifying. Over the next few decades, we can expect rising global temperatures, an increase in floods, droughts, and wildfires, intensified hurricanes, heat waves, the spread of infectious diseases, and species extinction. For every 3.6 degrees F rise in temperature, plants will have to shift 200 miles away from the equator to adapt. This will wreak havoc on rainforest ecosystems, which are already under pressure from increasing wildfires and severe weather.

Ford's cars are the worst global warming polluters in the industry. Ford should take responsibility for its disproportionate share of global warming pollution and clean up its vehicles.

How does oil dependence fuel rainforest destruction?

Rainforests are home to half of the plant and animal species on the planet. Each day, 214,000 acres of rainforests are destroyed. One major cause of this destruction is the global demand for oil. Road building into forested areas causes ecosystem fragmentation, air pollution, runoff, and erosion. Loud noises produced by trucks and drills frighten sensitive wildlife. In Ecuador, Texaco's oil practices between 1971-1991 resulted in the deforestation of two million acres of rainforest, the spilling of 16.8 million gallons of crude oil, and the dumping of 4.3 million gallons of known carcinogens and other toxic waste. This case is by no means isolated. Oil companies around the world continue to profit at the expense of the rainforests and indigenous peoples.

How does oil dependence impact human rights?

Oil exploration has led to human rights violations around the world. Human rights groups estimate that in the last 10 years military factions acting on behalf of multinational oil companies have killed more than 2,000 people in the Niger Delta. In the Indonesian province of Aceh, ExxonMobil has provided crucial logistical support to the Indonesian army, which has tortured, kidnapped and killed community activists on or near its drilling site. In Colombia, the U.S. government is paying $98 million to the Colombian military to guard an oil pipeline owned by Occidental Petroleum; the units charged with guarding the pipeline have participated in the killing of 18 innocent civilians, and have yet to be held accountable for those crimes. Ford will be complicit in these abuses until it helps us get the petroleum monkey off our backs.

How does oil independence undermine U.S. national security?

Oil dependence fuels terrorism and war.

Investigations have shown that individuals and charities in Saudi Arabia—which boasts the world's greatest oil reserves—have been the most important source of funds for al-Qaeda. Saudi officials have turned a blind eye to this problem for years. And so have US officials, who are loathe to unsettle the relationship with this important source of oil. Our oil addiction makes us less safe, not more.

Reliance on oil also unduly influences US foreign policy, helping to push the United States into unnecessary conflicts that generate resentment toward us. Oil has long been a major factor in the decisions of US foreign policy-makers. In 1953, the CIA engineered a coup in Iran when the democratically elected leader suggested nationalizing the country's oil resources. More recently, government officials have dramatically increased the US military presence in Colombia, in large part because the country is a significant oil producer. And of course there is the US's invasion Iraq and the 1991 Gulf War. Gulf Wars I and II were motivated by several factors—a desire to uphold the principle that one country may not attack another without provocation, a legitimate fear of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. But there should be little doubt that the past war and the recent one would not have occurred were Iraq not sitting on top of the second largest reserves of oil.

If broccoli were the number one export from the Middle East, there would have been no invasion of Iraq, and the US would not be spending an estimated $50 billion a year on defending and propping up the oil exporters of the region.

Right now the only option for a patriotic American seeking to break our oil addiction and improve U.S. national security is a Japanese car. That needs to change.

How does oil independence impact public health?

More than 118 million Americans live in cities that exceed current federal health guidelines for air quality— mostly because of pollution from our cars and trucks. This pollution—an unwanted gift from Ford and its competitors—has a disproportionate impact on America's children, elderly, low-income families, and people of color. Children in high-ozone communities develop asthma at a rate three times higher than those in low-ozone communities, and women exposed to high levels of ozone and carbon monoxide are three times more likely to have babies with cleft lips and palates, as well as defective heart valves. Our cars' unnecessary pollution is chocking us to death.

What are the alternatives?

Building a clean energy economy is not rocket science. Workable alternatives to the carbon economy exist, but Ford has recklessly refused to take advantage of them.

If Ford were to put off-the-shelf technologies into its vehicles today, it could increase average fuel efficiency to 40 mpg. If Ford converted its entire fleet of new vehicles to gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles, it could give consumers 60 mpg. Hydrogen fuels offer to completely eliminate tailpipe emissions. Electric vehicles, powered by clean wind and solar energy, can get you to and from work and school without using any fossil fuels at all. Biodiesel cars and trucks are another way to drive without being dependent on oil. Improved mass transit is another option, as are bicyling and walking.

The U.S. government wastes $20 billion a year subsidizing fossil fuels. If that money were invested in clean energy, Ford would have new incentives to kick the petroleum habit.

What can ordinary people do to break our addiction to oil?

One of the most important things you can do to help America kick the oil habit is to join the campaign against Ford. If the Ford commits to increasing the fuel efficiency of its vehicles to 50 mpg by 2010, the rest of the industry will likely follow, and we will win a major victory for people and the planet.

To see what you can do today to pressure Ford to get stop building outdated gas-guzzlers, see our Ten Things You Can Do to Break Our Oil Addiction.

To get involved with the campaign, contact:

Thank you for participating in this important effort!