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Jumpstart Ford: U.S. Oil Addiction, the WSF, Conflicts in Nigeria, BC's Great Bear Rainforest

photo by: Toben Dilworth



Thanks to my friend and tireless fellow activist Bob Wolfe from 'up North' for sending me this info.


While President Bush finally admitted our nation's oil addiction last week, Mike Hudema and Nile Malloy on the Jumpstart Ford team were on their way back from seeing first-hand the destruction this oil addiction causes. Mike has just returned from the 2006 World Social Forum (WSF) meetings in Caracas, Venezuela and Nile spent time building relationships with allies in the oil rich region of Niger Delta in Nigeria. It's time that we begin taking the first steps out of addiction and into freedom from oil. How do we do it? See our 12 Step Program to break America's oil addiction.

The chain of our oil dependence is complex; it endangers our environment, our health, our economy, and our national security. Of all the oil we burn, transportation is the single largest consumer of oil in the U.S. market; if we want to kick the oil habit, we need sustainable, petroleum-free transportation. Let's be clear: the auto industry is driving our oil dependence, and by producing the most wasteful cars, trucks and SUVs, Ford Motor Company is America's most addicted oil junkie.

JSF Goes to the World Social Forum

Mike Hudema traveled to Caracas, Venezuela for the World Social Forum (WSF) with a Global Exchange delegation. Amidst the continuing trends in South America, Venezuela remains a leading oil supplier to the United States. The recent efforts by Venezuela to use oil profits to fund social programs for the country's poor has caused an uproar within the Bush Administration. A similar program running in New York and Boston with Venezuelan subsidiary company Citgo has garnered attention as well among oil executives and the country's elite.

Checkout Mike's blog post on the Understory.

Conflicts in Nigeria and U.S. Oil Addiction

Bush is right: U.S. addiction to imported oil is wreaking havoc on the rest of the world and ourselves. Jumpstart Ford organizer Nile Malloy recently returned from Nigeria, the fifth largest oil supplier in the world, where some of the world's most devastating oil spills and gas flares cause deadly health problems for men, women and children living in the region. A critical observation in all of this: many oil rich nations like Nigeria fail to benefit from the wealth generated by their natural resource. Most of the time this oil wealth doesn't to make it back into the local economy thus depriving citizens of better healthcare, a stronger job market and a robust education system, all of which are key elements to any a healthy society.

For more information, read the blog post from Nile Malloy on Nigeria.

Corporate Campaign Success

In other news this week, a historic deal proves that a successful corporate campaign can protect human rights and save rainforests. 5 million acres of the Great Bear Rainforest in British Columbia, Canada will be protected from logging, the result of pressure from local communities, labor unions, the lumber industry and environmental groups like RAN, Forest Ethics and Greenpeace.

We can do the same with Ford Motors. Stay tuned for more updates on our Ideas Project and hear how everyday Americans are coming up with ways to help break our oil addiction!

In solidarity,

Sarah Connolly, Nile Malloy, and Jennifer Krill

Rainforest Action Network

jumpstartford@ran.org

1-800-989-RAIN

Mike Hudema, Global Exchange

cleancars@globalexchange.org

1-800-497-1994

posted by Annamarie at 4:06 PM