Ford's environmental renaissance began in 1989-the year of the Exxon
Valdez, the collapse of the Berlin Wall, and the activities leading
up to the twentieth anniversary of the first Earth Day in 1970. The
health and environmental policy then state that "sustainable
economic development is important to the future welfare of the company,
as well as to that of society in general. To be sustainable, economic
development must provide for the protection of human health and the
world's environmental base."
Helen Petrauskas, Ford's Vice President for Environment and Society,
records that FoMoCo's interests in the environment actually are longstanding
commitments, which can be traced back to Henry Ford himself. Even
though it seems somewhat contradictory, given how Ford's founder put
America on wheels, she notes a less well-known fact, namely, "Mr.
Ford's passion for agriculture, nature and conservation--the Earth."
At the same time, Henry Ford's legendary River Rouge Plant in Detroit
Michigan was a total integrated point of production that turned raw
coal, iron, sand, rubber, and wood by 1928 into finished cars in four
days. On their best days, Ford's assembly lines turned out a new car
every ten seconds.
Many environmentalists would argue that putting "the world
on wheels" has done more to destroy the environment than almost
any other single act in the twentieth century, but this interpretation
flies in the face of the peculiar ecological mentality anchoring
FoMoCo's corporate culture, namely, "We [Ford] believe we can
have a better environment driven by you." In keeping with this
environmental protection program that presumes automotive transport.
With Bill Ford's elevation to the Chair of the Board in 1998, FoMoCo
established an Environmental Strategy Review Committee co-chaired
by Jacques Nasser and Peter Pestillo, Executive Vice President for
Corporate Relations. This group works with the Board's Environmental
and Public Policy Committee, chaired by Bill Ford, and it seeks
to impart "an environmental perspective to Ford's product development
and manufacturing operations." On one hand, much of this change constitutes a very effective public
relations program, but, on the other, it also is an outstanding
example of how placing a particular spin on an ecological mentality
can be employed to refocus the instrumental ends of corporate rationality.
As Petrauskas indicates, Ford's environmental policy touches every
aspect of its business: "It is giving shape to our company,
our business strategies and practices. We believe our environmental
performance ultimately contributes to the well-being of the company
and to shareholder value."
These initiatives by FoMoCo move in tandem with recognitions
made elsewhere in academe, government, and the private sector. Professor
David Skelly of Yale University's Department of Ecology and Evolution
Biology, for example, has been a guiding force in new initiatives
to revamp that University's Environmental Studies program. He observes,
"This generation has grown up watching nature programs on the
Discovery Channel, and it is engrained with a conservation ethic."1
So Yale University is also recognizing that environmental outlooks
are now a core set of principles in most individuals' and families'
ethical values. Even so, Yale University students must continue
to have from advanced ecology courses "that meet the contemporary
need to understand the way the natural world works and help preserve
what they value."2 Always attentive to the voting
public's opinions and attitudes, President Clinton has repeatedly
appealed to these same audiences throughout the 1990s when he claimed,
"we know that abroad we have the responsibility to advance
freedom and democracy -- to advance prosperity and the preservation
of our planet... a world where the dividing line between domestic and
foreign policy is increasingly blurred....Our personal, family and
national future is affected by our policies on the environment at
home and abroad. The common good at home is simply not separate
from the efforts to advance the common good around the world they
must be one in the same if we are to be truly secure in the world
of the 21st century."3
