Companies, Workers and Educators Celebrate and Build Clean Vehicle Successes

On Wednesday, National Wildlife Federation will join auto industry companies big and small, auto workers, education and economic development leaders at a White House event “Advanced Vehicles: Driving Growth” to hear first-hand what – and who – is driving the clean car and tr”uck resurgence in factories and show rooms across the country – and how we can build on that success.

How to Participate:

The speakers we’ll hear on Wednesday – from Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Georgia, Wisconsin, California and elsewhere – show that America has what it takes to lead in the clean energy and transportation technologies of the future: innovative people and companies, advanced skills and technology – and smart policies that work for us all.

Their stories show that America’s heritage of innovation and industry CAN go forward together with stewardship of our natural resource and wildlife heritage – it has to, if we’re to deliver a better American future for ourselves and our children.

NWF CEO Larry Schweiger (left) and NWF Great Lakes Regional Executive Director, Andy Buchsbaum, at the North American International Auto Show following the Detroit fuel economy hearings in January. Schweiger testified: “Over the past two years, the hardworking people here in Detroit, and in Ohio, Missouri, North Carolina, and across the country have proven – dramatically – that they have what it takes for America to lead in a prosperous clean energy future.”  (credit: Jennifer Janssen)
In fact, a new report out this afternoon from the BlueGreen Alliance calculates that new fuel economy standards could add more than half a million jobs to the economy. Tomorrows speakers show how.

Driving Innovation, Jobs and the Future for Wildlife

Today, we’re facing tough financial times and unprecedented global threats to wildlife and environment. These challenges demand we move forward even faster to invent, build and adopt the next generation of clean auto technology in America – and grow the environmental, economic and consumer benefits that come with it.

The numbers are clear. Smart fuel economy standards together with investments to invent and build the most advanced auto technology in America, deliver:

  • Unprecedented cuts in the pollution that causes climate change and deep oil and consumer savings: Check out NWF CEO Larry Schweiger’s testimony at the Detroit hearings for the details on pollution cuts and savings at the pump from fuel economy standards that will double our fuel economy by 2025.
  • Great new cars and trucks: from the more efficient and more powerful pickup trucks that are bringing sportsmen vehicles that work in the outdoors and for it – to new technologies like electric vehicles that bring transportation and household energy innovation together.
  • Hundreds of thousands of jobs and career paths for the next generation in cutting edge industries across the country: Check out Supplying Ingenuity – a snapshot of 300+companies in 43 states building technology that improves fuel economy.

How do we extend these benefits to people and environment?  What can we learn from our successes in the auto sector to rebuild more of our economy while protecting wildlife and natural resources for our children? 

What’s your answer? Join the Twitter conversation at #DriveTheFuture >>

With the Fourth of July weekend coming up, we recall that George Washington didn’t turn back at the banks of the Delaware. In communities all across the country, Americans are proving we have what it takes to lead in the coming clean energy and transportation revolution. This is no time to turn back – it’s time to keep driving forward.