It’s not as glamorous as the Oscars, nor as star-studded as the Emmys. There’s no after-party, or chic designer gowns. Instead, money-mongering CEOs with bad hairpieces dominate the line-up of winners. What awards event could be so dour and depressing? The Foolies, of course.
The Foolies celebrates the total idiocy, selfishness, and greed of the planet’s biggest contributors “to our global addiction to fossil fuels.” Winners are chosen by the ever-discerning Energy Action Coalition, “an alliance that supports and strengthens the youth climate and energy movement” and aims to “stop global warming and create a just and sustainable energy future.” Sounds good to us.
Topping the list of 2008 winners is Foolie-in-Chief, Ken Lewis, CEO of Bank of America, who took home the Fossil Fool of the Year Award “for the global financial institution’s massive support for dirty coal. Bank of America is the leading financial backer of mountaintop removal coal mining in the United States and a top funder of new coal-fired power plants.”
Among the other winners is Rick Wagoner, CEO of General Motors, who won for his “Outstanding Performance in Corporate Greenwashing” and was a runner-up for Fool of the year. According to the Energy Action Coalition, he owes these honors to:
…keeping America addicted to oil by mass producing gas-guzzling hummers that average 8-10 mpg, blocking California’s clean car law that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and abusing government tax loopholes in order to build vehicles that produce 3.4 metric tons of carbon emissions in a typical year.
[And]… for the company’s creation and promotion of GMNext.com, an online attempt to promote its environmental progress even as the automaker has worked diligently to block the efforts of California and other states to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and national fuel efficiency standards.
Other winners inculed:
- Rex Tillerson, CEO of ExxonMobil …The world’s largest integrated oil company, for engaging in oil and gas exploration, production, supply, transportation, and marketing around the world. ExxonMobil has proven reserves of nearly 21 billion barrels of oil equivalent and is a major funder of climate change denial groups
- Patricia Woertz, CEO of Archer Daniels Midland (ADM). ADM is finally being recognized as a key contributor to global warming for clearing pristine rainforests around the world for the production of oil for food and industrial biofuels that produce as many or more climate-changing carbon emissions as traditional fossil fuels.
- Roger S. Penske, CEO of Penske Automotive Group. Penske, the second largest dealership in the world, continues to make millions from selling gas guzzlers while neglecting to ask automakers in Detroit to mass produce plug-in hybrid vehicles, as other dealerships have done.
- William Clay Ford, Jr., Executive Chairman of the Ford Motor Company … for continuing to build gas-guzzling SUVs, opposing increased fuel efficiency standards, and refusing to mass produce plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.
Photos courtesy of the Energy Action Coalition.
Related posts: