October 7th, 2009
Newton was right: Apple finds gravity...in climate change
So Apple has dropped out of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. It’s the fifth American corporation to openly disagree with the Chamber’s aggressive, well-funded campaigning to kill any federal legislation on greenhouse gas emissions. None of the other corporate dissenters have been tech firms. The “Wall Street Journal” refers to this as a climate “spat.” If this had been a more manly issue, like taxes or quarterly profits, it could have been upgraded by “WSJ” to a war or showdown, or at least a battle.
Here’s one look at how the Apple v. Chamber situation is shaping up. Here’s one traditionally pro-business media site pondering if the Chamber has maybe lost touch with reality.
Of course, Apple has nothing to lose. The Chamber will continue to oppose any attempt to curtail greenhouse gas emissions and if that helps Apple’s vendors in China keep costs low, fine. Meanwhile, Apple knows that consumers who don’t have houses threatened by sea-level rise and aren’t freaked out by global warming are far more likely to buy a new iPod. How many refugees driven from their homes by disasters are gonna plunk down the cash for the next Apple gadget? Besides some of the engineers inside Apple probably really believe global warming is real.
Apple, BTW, is still active in the Chamber of Commerce…in their hometown of Cupertino. Along with HP, Apple is a front page sponsor of the local group. I found no evidence the Cupertino Chamber is active on global warming.
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A newsman since 1969, Harry Fuller has worked for CBS, ABC, CNBC Europe, CNET and was founding news director at TechTV. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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