WASHINGTON - May 27 - At a time when gas prices are hitting record highs, U.S. oil dependence is increasing, and global warming is heating up, the Sierra Club is launching a new campaign to take clean cars and responsible energy solutions to communities around the country. On Memorial Day, the Sierra Club will kick off its new Hybrid Evolution Campaign which encourages Americans to demand clean cars and clean energy. The campaign presents these solutions as a stark contrast to the Bush administration’s backward energy policy that increases America’s dependence on oil and other polluting sources of energy.

"The Sierra Club is playing Paul Revere," said Dan Becker, Washington Director of the Sierra Club’s Global Warming program. "We’re driving hybrids from town to town to tell people that hybrid cars and renewable energy are a reality. We’ll invite people to get behind the wheel, kick the tires, and demand action from the Bush administration."

Hybrid Evolution is a new kind of campaign that is part of the Sierra club’s continuing efforts to hold government and corporations accountable. At a time when the Bush administration and its allies in Congress have failed to require automakers and utilities to ‘evolve’ with cleaner technology, the Sierra Club is going over their heads to demonstrate to Americans that the technology exists today to take America into a safer, cleaner, and more affordable energy future. This campaign encourages the next generation of consumers to pressure the Bush administration and polluting corporations to support evolved energy solutions like hybrid cars and renewable energy.

"We call it ‘hybrid evolution’ because evolution means getting better," said Brendan Bell, Associate Washington Representative for the Sierra Club’s Global Warming program. "We have the technology today to clean up our air and curb global warming. But the Bush administration has fought efforts to put these solutions to work and instead pushes policies that increase America’s dependence on oil and other polluting sources of energy."

Launching on Memorial Day, the Hybrid Evolution Campaign will tour the country, stopping in communities to hold rallies. The campaign will drive hybrid vehicles along three routes: Key West to Portland, ME, Chicago to Los Angeles, and Seattle to San Diego. The rallies will give Americans the chance to test drive hybrid vehicles, learn about renewable energy, and find out more about how Bush administration policies threaten the local environment.

"The Bush administration prescription is gas guzzlers and polluting power plants," continued Bell. "So we’re taking clean cars and clean energy up the East Coast, down the West Coast, and across the Midwest to demand a 40 mile per gallon fleet average, 20 percent renewable energy by 2020, and energy efficiency."

In addition to the hybrid road tours, the Sierra Club will be placing a series of new print ads targeting trendsetting audiences. These ads feature young people standing confidently in the foreground while wearing Hybrid Evolution tee shirts. The ads highlight clean cars and clean energy and encourage viewers to ask whether the Bush administration is for or against evolution.

The campaign website - iwillevolve.org - will create an online community to link the campaign activities around the country. The website will feature regular updates and photos from the road tours, ad images, tour dates, and facts on evolved energy solutions and how they contrast with the Bush administration’s environmentally destructive energy policies. Visitors will be able to send an email to the Bush administration calling on them to support clean cars and clean energy. The website will launch tomorrow, Friday, May 28th.

The ads, web site, and other creative materials were designed in collaboration with The Change, an agency based in Raleigh, NC specializing in "marketing to improve the world."

The advertising images for the Hybrid Evolution Campaign are available for viewing at - http://www.sierraclub.org/globalwarming/evolveads - higher resolution images are available upon request.

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