In the United States, transportation accounts for 28% of energy consumption and is the source for 31% of carbon dioxide emissions. Therefore, making transportation more clean and efficient is critical if we are to cut our dependence on foreign oil and curb global warming pollution.
What can be accomplished by increasing fuel economy is staggering. According to the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, raising the fuel economy standard by 5% annually until 2012 and by 3% per year thereafter could save 67 billion barrels of oil over the next 40 years. This is 10-20 times greater than the potential oil supply from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
General Motors is conspicuously lacks this wisdom or just doesn't care. GM's 2003 Hummer H2, a massive SUV that resembles the U.S. Military's Humvee, got only 10.7 mpg in a Consumer Guide road test inwhich most of the driving was highway. To protect their fuel-INefficient vehicle from Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards (CAFE), GM made the Hummer H2 so heavy that it would fall outside U.S. regulations on fuel economy. Not only does this vehicle inefficiently use our oil supply, but also excess materials have been used to reinforce the Hummer H2 against damage from boulders, tree trunks and extreme twisting pressures. All this, despite the reality that the primary buyer will be the suburban male and the Hummer H2 will likely never encounter such obstacles or pressures.
Please write to GM President and Chief Executive Officer, G. Richard Wagoner, Jr., and tell him that you disapprove of this shamefully inefficient vehicle and that you will boycott all GM products until their corporate agenda starts to align with the pursuit of fuel economy.
Sample Letter:
Dear Mr. Wagoner:

For the time being, I am boycotting GM products.

Cars and light trucks consume 40 percent of the oil used in the U.S. every day, and in an effort to cut our dependence on foreign oil and curb global warming pollution, auto makers like GM should be designing and manufacturing cleaner more efficient vehicles. Your Hummers are the antithesis of what qualifies as a responsible vehicle for our times.

Although GM engineers claim the Hummer will get 12-14 mpg, independent tests have found it gets an average 10.7 mpg -- and that's when driven primarily on highways. Ten miles per gallon is less than half the fuel economy that experts are recommending for light trucks and SUVs up to 10,000 pounds. The extra materials that go into the Hummer to make it withstand boulders, twisting, and stumps is a colossal waste of resources. You and I both know that this vehicle will rarely if ever require such protection as it is driven though suburbia USA.

To produce a behemoth vehicle that is untouchable by CAFE standards is not only shameful, but disrespectful to all that inhabit this earth. GM is not doing its part to do less harm to a planet we all share. Instead, for effect and potential profit, GM has created a vehicle that directly harms our environment and this nation's progress towards oil independence.
Link to edit and send letter>
www.greenmatters.com/gm/subscribers/activism/hummerh2.php3