ALARMING FACTS (and) WHY WE NEED A HYBRID CAR CAMPAIGN

1. Global warming is here, NOW.

2. America’s oil dependence endangers our national security.

3. America’s oil dependence threatens our environmenal security.

4. We consume a quarter of the worlds total oil product.

5. America has only 3% of its proven oil reserves.

6. At the root of our heavy reliance on oil imports is the inefficiency of cars.

7. Cars are responsible for 25 percent of the heat trapping gases produced.

8. The U.S. consumes 8 billion barrels of oil a year, much of which goes to fueling our vehicles.

9. Average mileage of our new cars and trucks is at its lowest level in 20 years.

10. Technology already exists to change this.

11. About 50 MILLION new cars roll off the assembly line each year.

12. The life span of each new car is now over twenty years.

13. There are already over 20 MILLION suv’s on the nations roads.

14. Suv’s spew up to SIX TIMES as much smog - causing pollution per mile as cars.

15. The Global auto fleet is now at 600 MILLION cars.

16. The number of vehicles in use around the world is expected to double in the next 20 years.

17. An automobile engine produces 20 pounds of carbon dioxide for every gallon of gas it burns, or about 1 pound per mile.

18. A hybrid car produces less than one half pound of CO2 per mile.

19. Suv’s have no fuel economy standards because they are considered trucks.

20. Fleet-wide fuel economy is decreasing because of the growing popularity of suv’s.

21. One way to reduce our dependence on oil is to have our cars go further on each gallon of gas.

22. Improving fuel economy alone could save more oil than we import from the Persian Gulf.

23. Unchecked, global warming will have severe impacts during the lifetime of today’s teens.

24. 65% of all known oil reserves lie beneath Persian Gulf States.

25. Hybrid cars get double the mileage of todays cars.

26. Last year Americans used more than 120 billion gallons of gasoline - costing $186 billion.

27. Over the past 30 years Americans have sent more than a trillion dollars to oil producing countries.

28. Over 1.5 million gallons of oil were spilled into U.S. waters in 2000 alone.

29. Suv’s are featured regularly on MTV and VH1 shows and videos.

30. Hybrid cars are never featured on MTV and VH1.

31. According to marketers at GM and Ford attitudes about cars and music are formed in the teen years.

32. The average suv gets 8-15 mpg.

33. The average hybrid gets 51 mpg.

Source: Natural Resources Defense Council
From the book, High and Mighty: SUVs: The World's Most Dangerous Vehicles and how They Got That Way, by Keith Bradsher. Copyright © 2002. Reprinted by arrangement with PublicAffairs, a member of the Perseus Books Group. All rights reserved.