Ford Motor Co. unveiled a new program today, “Greener Miles,” as part of an effort to respond to growing consumer concern over the harmful effects of greenhouse gases.
In a program called "Greener Miles”… consumers can go to the Web Site to calculate the amount of carbon dioxide produced in one year of driving. The Web site will then suggest an investment linked to the cost of producing an amount of clean energy equivalent to the carbon dioxide produced.While this is an ironic move for a company with a dismal record on fuel economy, it should be noted that it’s an admission of social responsibility still relatively rare in the corporate world. Try to picture McDonald’s launching a big money campaign for you to calculate how many calories you absorbed from all those quarter pounders and McNuggets, and suggesting a fitness program to lose the equivalent junk in the trunk.
The program is part of a partnership with TerraPass, a group that helps finance solar and wind energy, as well as power derived from dairy farm manure. I do have one concern about them:
An average car produces between 10,000 pounds and 12,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year, Tom Arnold, TerraPass chief environmental officer, said.
Wait a second – Tom Arnold is a chief environmental officer? Oh, no. I thought “TerraPass” sounded sort of made up. I hope Ford hasn’t partnered with the B-plot from a dumb Hollywood comedy. If so, Arnold may soon hatch a harebrained takeover scheme with CFO Billy Baldwin, secretly training a cow to throw CEO Jim Belushi off its back during his smug press announcement at a dairy farm manure energy plant, landing him in a giant, exaggeratedly pudding-like mountain of cow dung.