So by now, you probably know about this story:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/...
In the latest installment in this long-running series, one of the most politically correct companies in Silicon Valley on Thursday will host a fundraising lunch for one of the most politically incorrect members of Congress. Google, which prides itself on investing in carbon-free energy sources, is hosting an event for Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe, a proud climate-change denier and all-around wingnut. This comes after The Washington Post reported that Google beat out the Koch brothers for top donor by making a $50,000 donation to the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute at a dinner headlined by another opponent of environmental legislation: Sen. Rand Paul.
Inhofe isn’t just an ordinary denier of climate-change science. He’s one of its more truculent opponents. Inhofe has called it a mass delusion. He has said, “I could use the Third Reich, the big lie” to describe those supporting climate change. He has called climate-change science “the second-largest hoax ever played on the American people, after the separation of church and state.”
By contrast, Google has made combating climate change a core part of its business operating strategy and brand. It created Google Green in an attempt to run Google entirely on renewable energy to “create a better future for everyone.” According to Google, the company has invested over $1 billion in renewable-energy projects, which has earned the company a Green Power Leadership Award in 2011 from the Environmental Protection Agency (an organization Inhofe vehemently opposes at every turn). Co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin drive low-emitting Priuses and Teslas. The company has installed dozens of electric-vehicle charging stations on its campus. - The Daily Beast, 7/10/13
The Daily Beast also notes that Inhofe is staunchly against Net neutrality, equality for gay Americans and comprehensive immigration reform, all issues Google supports. So why is Google fundraising for Inhofe? Because of Inhofe's support for lowering the corporate tax rate. Now a Google spokesperson did have this to say about the fundraiser:
“We regularly host fundraisers for candidates, on both sides of the aisle, but that doesn't mean we endorse all of their positions. And while we disagree on climate-change policy, we share an interest with Senator Inhofe in the employees and data center we have in Oklahoma.” - The Daily Beast, 7/10/13
That may be but climate change scientists are fighting back:
http://thinkprogress.org/...
As grassroots climate activists greet Google employees in Mountain View, CA, to protest Google’s support of climate deniers today, several of the world’s top climate scientists are also speaking out. Despite Inhofe’s long record of attacking climate science on behalf of carbon polluters, the professedly green Google is filling his campaign coffers. On July 11th, Google held a fundraiser for Inhofe at its Washington DC headquarters, despite widespread outcry from environmentalists and gay activists. Today, 350.org and Forecast the Facts members are rallying at Google headquarters and delivering a 50,000-signature petition to CEO Larry Page asking him to end his company’s financing of climate denial.
Now, several of the climate scientists personally attacked by Inhofe are responding. In a statement given to Forecast the Facts, the scientists praised Google’s expressed corporate values but excoriated Google’s financing of Inhofe:
“As scientists and private citizens, we support Google’s professed belief in scientific inquiry, an open internet, and fact-based decision making. We know firsthand the costs of the political persecution of the climate science community by politicians such as Sen. James Inhofe. More important than any personal costs we have borne, however, are the risks to society of a political system that rejects scientific knowledge about climate change for short-term political or economic expediency. In our judgment, the decision by Google to support Inhofe is a rejection of principles of good corporate citizenship and increases risk to all society.”
Prof. Raymond Bradley, Climate System Research Center, University of Massachusetts
Prof. Michael E. Mann, Earth System Science Center, Pennsylvania State University
Prof. Jonathan T. Overpeck, Institute of the Environment, University of Arizona
Dr. Benjamin Santer, Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Dr. Kevin Trenberth, Climate Analysis Section at the National Center for Atmospheric Research
Professor Tom M.L. Wigley, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, and University of Adelaide, Australia
Dr. Philip Jones, Climatic Research Unit, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia - Think Progress, 7/24/13
And some groups like SumOfUs are also jointing the fight:
Earlier this month, Google hosted a $2,500-a-plate fundraiser for one of the world’s most powerful climate change deniers, Senator Jim Inhofe. And just two weeks before that, Google poured $50,000 into the coffers of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a right-wing think tank that is also funded by the likes of the Koch brothers and ExxonMobil to put out faux "studies" that are used by policy-makers to deny climate change exists.
All this leaves us wondering what happened to Google, a company that had been a corporate leader in fighting for the environment?
A global outcry is starting to build now that people see Google moving away from its unofficial corporate motto -- "Don't be evil". Let's make sure Google knows that tens of thousands of its own users want it to cut off all support to climate change deniers.
Click here to sign our petition telling Google to cease all funding to climate change deniers:
http://action.sumofus.org/...
Simply put, Google is actively helping to fund the reelection of a senator who dismisses climate change as a "hoax", and who even goes to far as to say that global warming, should it exist, is actually good because it adds to our economy. Google’s support of CEI is just as harmful; the institute once ran ads saying that carbon dioxide is a positive factor in the environment and is best known for arguing that global warming is not a concern. CEI also launched multiple lawsuits aimed at discrediting the science behind climate change.
Google's funding is particularly perplexing considering Google has invested heavily in fighting climate change. Google was known to be a industry leader in promoting clean technology and reducing its operations' carbon footprint. It has spent billions of dollars on carbon offsets and other investments in clean technology. Just last month, Google's chairman said "You can lie about the effects of climate change,” says chairman Eric Schmidt, “but eventually you'll be seen as a liar."
So why the about-face? It turns out that, last year, Google hired a conservative former Congresswoman, Susan Molinari, to head up its lobby shop in DC. Since then, Google has been quietly passing donations to some of the most extreme politicians and right-wing causes.
But word is getting out and Google is on the defensive. It knows its positive brand image will be damaged if more people find out where Google's donations are going now. Now we need to make sure Google gets the message, loud and clear.
Tell Google: Stop funding climate change deniers:
http://action.sumofus.org/...
Thanks for all that you do,
Angus, Kaytee, Claiborne and the rest of us
You can click here to sign the petition:
http://action.sumofus.org/...