Corporate Welfare, Cars, and Global Warming

In a meeting between Harvard economist John Galbraith and the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan leader asked the question: “What would the world be like if everyone drove a motor car?” The professor’s answer was little more than silent contemplation, since he could only envision a world where over 1 billion families struggle to survive on an average income of less than $800 per year — a world where there is no chance of this reality. Yet, even though the United States is the only country with as many cars as people of driving age, there will be an estimated 1 billion cars in the world by 2025, a jump from 40 million since World War II. This mass increase in pro-duction comes at a time when mounting evidence has linked greenhouse gas emissions caused by automobiles and industrial sources to a wave of environ-mental disasters more virulent today than ever recorded in the 200,000-year era of humankind.

Consider a very small portion of the global warming indicators:

• In 1998, extreme weather in the form of hurricanes, floods and droughts — from France to Africa, Venezuela to the coastal Carolinas — inflicted $90 billion of damage worldwide. 1998 was also the hottest year on record, surpassing the record set in 1997.
• The National Science Founda-tion, using natural indicators such as tree rings, ice cores and coral mutations, finds the last decade of the millennium to be the hottest.
• Global sea levels are expec-ted to rise by 20 inches over the next century and could increase at a faster rate as icecaps melt and release methane from the tundra soil. Methane is ten times as efficient as carbon dioxide as an agent of global warming.
• Mountain ice in subtropical latitudes has receded by 60 feet in the past 40 years. Most climatologists see this as the clearest evidence of rapid climate change due to increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
• Eighty percent of the world’s forests have been cleared, while half of what little remains is under threat by logging, agricultural and mining industries.

  What’s more astounding is that — in the midst of this gloomy environmental reality — a Washington D.C.-based group called the Global Climate Coalition continues to argue that there is insufficient evidence of greenhouse gases causing global warming. The coalition has over 40 members, including Chevron, Exxon/Mobil, General Motors, and Daimler/Chrysler. To its credit, Ford Motor Co. (as well as Shell and Texaco) recently withdrew funding from this lobbying group, saying credible evidence of global warming exists; Ford now favors support for technological solutions for alternative energy.

  Unfortunately, the big three U.S. auto manufacturers continue to carelessly feature such envi-ronmental nightmares as the Ford Excursion and Chevy Suburban in their annual, billion-dollar ad campaigns. These vehicles average from 8-12 miles per gallon in the city, reaching new levels of ineffi-ciency, while Japanese automakers Toyota and Honda have begun selling electric-hybrid vehicles that get 70 miles to the gallon.

  What’s even more unsettling is the U.S. government has subsi-dized U.S. automakers with more than $1 billion in research grants and tax breaks since 1993 through the Partnership for a New Gener-ation of Vehicles program. The purpose of the program is to pro-duce more fuel-efficient vehicles, but our tax dollars somehow produced the opposite effect — without any consequence to the automakers. Meanwhile, General Motors has recorded profits exceeding an average of $1 billion quarterly in the same time period, while virtually every global warm-ing indicator has worsened. Also during this time period, GM moved its Chevy Suburban production facility from Wisconsin to Mexico, opting to pay less than $2 per hour in average wages, instead of an average $18.50 per hour.

  What can we do locally? First, we must demand that our local, state and nationally elected officials identify the need for real reforms in our current fossil-fuel dependent system. We must penalize — not reward — politicians, industry and consumers that are careless enough to support unsustainable consumption habits in the U.S. without looking toward cleaner, alternative sources. After all, we are 5% of the world’s population, yet we consume half of the world’s energy and produce more than half of the world’s solid waste. It’s never too late to carpool with friends and neighbors, use public transportation, and encourage others to do the same.

  As individuals, we can remind ourselves of the quote from British author H.G. Wells: “When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of humanity.” If we all were willing to pedal or walk a few miles to the neighborhood shops, instead of driving to Wal-Mart or the mega-malls, we might just stop oil from being drilled in Colombia or Nigeria. One thing’s for sure. We’ll be protecting the air quality for future generations… hopefully, before it is too late.

  Tim McGivern works at the Interhemispheric Resource Center, a foreign policy think tank committed to global poverty reduction, environmental preservation, and global peace. For more information:

• “Global Warming is Here: The Scientific Evidence” and “Five Things You Can Do To Stop Global Warming,” available from Climate Solutions, .