Voting Commences to Decide Fossil Fool of the Year
"Foolies" Put Spotlight on Most Outstanding Dirty Energy Deeds
March 7 , 2008
SAN FRANCISCO – Voting to select this year’s Fossil Fool of the Year is officially underway at www.fossilfools08.org, with results to be announced on the third annual Fossil Fools Day on April 1. Nominees for this year’s top prize include the CEOs of General Motors, Bank of America, ExxonMobil and Dynegy, as well as the premier of Alberta, Canada.
Organized by the Energy Action Coalition, Co-op America and Rainforest Action Network, the “Foolies” recognize the world’s biggest contributors to our devastating global addiction to fossil fuels. The awards feature five different categories: Fossil Fool of the Year, Outstanding Performance in Corporate Greenwashing, Most Inauspicious Newcomer, Lifetime Achievement and Biggest Human Toll.
Nominees for Fossil Fool of the Year, to be given to the individual who has made the most significant contribution over the past year to the development and dissemination of fossil fuel-related pollution, include:
- Rick Wagoner, CEO of General Motors, for keeping America addicted to oil by mass producing vehicles more inefficient than the Model T, and for suing the state of California for attempting to reduce vehicle greenhouse gas emissions;
- Ken Lewis, CEO of Bank of America, for the bank’s massive financial support of the coal power and mountaintop removal coal mining industries;
- Rex Tillerson, CEO of ExxonMobil, for neglecting to use his company’s record-breaking profits to develop cleaner, more secure energy alternatives;
- Ed Stelmach, Premier of Alberta, Canada, for promoting oil extraction from Canada’s infamous Alberta tar sands, a project which has the potential to lay waste to an area the size of the state of Florida; and
- Bruce A. Williamson, CEO of Dynegy Corporation, for proposing to build more coal-fired power plants than any other power company in the United States.
Voters also have the chance to decide which individual has most effectively fooled the public into believing his or her company is benefiting the environment (Greenwashing); which individual represents a company or organization that has burst into the public consciousness in the past year as a major contributor to climate change (Newcomer); the individual who has done the most over the course of a career to further global warming (Lifetime Achievement); and the person who most negatively impacted human lives in the name of fossil fuel development in 2007 (Biggest Human Toll).
For a full listing of the awards and nominees, visit www.fossilfools08.org.
The “Foolies” are one way young people are taking action to build a more a clean and just energy future this Fossil Fools Day. From North Dakota to New Zealand, youth are planning actions to disrupt dirty energy as usual and promote clean energy solutions. For more information, visit www.fossilfools08.org.
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Rainforest Action Network runs hard-hitting campaigns to break America’s oil addiction, reduce our reliance on coal, protect endangered forests and Indigenous rights, and stop destructive investments around the world through education, grassroots organizing, and non-violent direct action.
The Energy Action Coalition unites 46 organizations, over 600 local groups, and tens of thousands of young people in 56 states and provinces in an alliance that supports and strengthens the clean energy movement among students and young people in the United States and Canada. The partners of Energy Action work together to build a clean, efficient, just and renewable energy future.
Co-op America (www.greenamerica.org) is a national nonprofit organization founded in 1982, providing the economic strategies, organizing power and practicing tools for businesses and individuals to address today's social and environmental problems. Its Green Business Network is the largest national network of businesses screened for their social and environmental responsibility.
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