https://boingboing.net/2019/10/12/who-killed-the-world-2.html
> Google continues to funnel vast sums to notorious climate deniers > Google and the other big tech companies are some of the most lavish funders > of climate denial "think tanks" and lobbying groups, something they've been > at continuously for more than six years, without interruption. > > Google doesn't fund these lobbyists because they're climate deniers, nor > because they're indifferent to climate change and its human costs. > > Google funds these lobbyists and astroturf operations because they also lobby > for lax tax enforcement, lax labor laws, lax privacy laws, and so on. The > fact that these groups also lobby for the right of corporations to render our > planet uninhabitable (as well as against the rights of LGBTQ people, against > reproductive freedom for women, etc) is merely an acceptable cost of greasing > the skids to allow Big Tech to seek profits at the expense of their workers, > suppliers, customers and society. > > The latest round of revelations about Google's contribution to climate > deniers comes from Google's list of "politically-engaged trade associations, > independent third-party organizations and other tax-exempt groups that > receive the most substantial contributions from Google’sU.S. Government > Affairs and Public Policy team." > > It includes the Competitive Enterprise Institute, who claimed responsibility > for getting Trump to pull out of the Paris Accord (CEI is also pro-monopoly, > anti-Net Neutrality, pro-binding arbitration, anti-Obamacare, anti-Consumer > Financial Protection Board, and fronts for the monopolists who dominate oil, > tobacco, and alcohol). > > Other recipients of "substantial contributions" from Google include the State > Policy Network, who front for The Heartland Institute, a radical > climate-science denial thinktank with major Koch funding. SPN's actively > solicits signatures for a "climate pledge" that holds that "our natural > environment is getting better...there is no climate crisis." > > Google "substantially contributes" to the American Conservative Union (led by > a Koch operative who takes credit for the climate gridlock in DC), the > American Enterprise Institute (another prominent, lavish climate denial > spender) and the Americans for Tax Reform whose radical anti-taxation agenda > also includes condemnation of climate action as "corporate welfare." > > Google funds the Heritage Foundation, the Cato Institute, the Mercatus > Center, and Heritage Action, all of whom have led on climate denial. > > Google defends itself by saying that it only supports the CEI and SPN work > that enriches Google's shareholders, and not the policies that doom us all to > a horrible death when the only known planet capable of sustaining human life > is rendered uninhabitable. > > A Google spokesman also pointed out that other Big Tech companies send > millions to these organizations, so when your house burns down in a wildfire > or you die in a pandemic, the blame will not be Google's alone. Amazon will > also be at fault, as will Microsoft and the other tech monopolists. >> Bill McKibben, a prominent environmentalist who has been on the frontline of >> the climate crisis for decades, said Google and other companies were engaged >> in a “functional greenwashing” given the contradiction in their public >> pronouncements and private donations. He said Google and other technology >> companies had also not used their own lobbyists to advocate for change on >> climate. >> >> “Sometimes I’ll talk to companies and they will be going on and on about >> their renewable server farm or natural gas delivery, and I say thank you, >> but what we really need is for your lobbying shop in Washington to put >> serious muscle behind it. And they never do,” McKibben said. “They want some >> tax break or some regulations switch and they never devote the slightest >> muscle behind the most important issue of our time or any time.” >> >> A spokesperson for Google said: “We’ve been extremely clear that Google’s >> sponsorship doesn’t mean that we endorse that organisation’s entire agenda – >> we may disagree strongly on some issues. >> >> “Our position on climate change is similarly clear. Since 2007, we have >> operated as a carbon neutral company and for the second year in a row, we >> reached 100% renewable energy for our global operations.” https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/11/google-contributions-climate-change-deniers -- Kim Holburn IT Network & Security Consultant T: +61 2 61402408 M: +61 404072753 mailto:[email protected] aim://kimholburn skype://kholburn - PGP Public Key on request _______________________________________________ Link mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
