Environmentalists give AAA low marks: this roadside savior for stranded motorists may be leaving our environment high and dry

Natural Health, August, 2001 by Clare Horn, Susanne Althoff, Melissa Nachatelo

IF YOU BELONG TO AAA, YOUR membership fees may be funding more than Triptiks and tow services. They may also be used to hurt the environment, says Daniel Becker, director of a global warming monitoring program for the Sierra Club, a San Francisco-based nonprofit. Since AAA's 1902 birth, it has lobbied against environmental legislation like the 1990 Clean Air Act and supported numerous pro-car initiatives.

The organization denies that its agenda is anti-environment. AAA supports traffic management programs and public transportation, says Mantill Williams, a spokesman for AAA in Washington, D.C. He claims that we need more roads because congestion increases air pollution.

Becker disagrees. "If you build it, they will drive it," he says, pointing to several studies showing more roads mean more traffic and more smog.

To find out where your AAA chapter stands on environmental issues, visit www.aaa.com.