Greenpeace may have downplayed Apple's recent environmental efforts, but the organization on Thursday is holding the company up as an example for everyone.
(Credit:
Greenpeace)
"Apple has stormed out of the biggest lobby group in the United States," reads a post on the environmental organization's Web site. "At issue is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's use of funds to oppose climate change legislation. Apple has done the right thing, and IBM and Microsoft should think different too."
Catherine Novelli, Apple's vice president of worldwide government affairs, informed the Chamber of Commerce in a letter on Monday that the company would be resigning its membership. Apple cited differences in environmental policies.
"Apple supports regulating greenhouse gas emissions, and it is frustrating to find the chamber at odds with us in this effort," Novelli said in a letter to chamber President Thomas Donohue.
Donohue didn't take the news laying down. In a letter addressed to Apple CEO Steve Jobs, Donohue said that "while we do support legislation to address climate change, we oppose legislation such as the Waxman-Markey bill that numerous studies show will cause Americans to lose their jobs and shift greenhouse gas emissions overseas, negating potential climate benefits."
Not surprisingly, Greenpeace doesn't agree with Donohue's position. It said the Chamber of Commerce should think about the number of jobs that would be created by helping clean up the environment, instead of lecturing Jobs about innovation.
Apple is the fourth company to leave the chamber in the past few weeks, and Greenpeace challenged other companies to follow Apple in departing the Chamber of Commerce.
"The stakes have never been higher for the climate," Greenpeace said. "Apple's move will throw an uncomfortable spotlight on any company that stays on in the chamber but doesn't act to change its policies."
The relationship between Apple and Greenpeace has been contentious, to say the least. The two have argued publicly over the extent of Apple's commitment to reducing the use of harmful chemicals in its products.
Greenpeace even demonstrated outside Jobs' Macworld keynote in 2007 to bring attention to its environmental efforts. Apple took the challenge and have worked for the last couple of years to remove harmful chemicals like PVC, mercury, arsenic, lead, and BFR from its products.
Greenpeace even released its own iPhone app version of its "Recycled Tissue and Toilet Paper Guide." The app allows users to compare brands to find the most environmentally friendly.
Can Web 2.0-style collaboration halt climate change? Well, not entirely, but it can certainly help.
Former Vice President and Nobel laureate Al Gore and Cisco CEO John Chambers spoke on a virtual panel on Wednesday to discuss the role of business technology in environmental matters, most notably climate change.
The event was organized to showcase Cisco's videoconferencing technology and, overall, it performed very well.
Gore spoke from a location near his home in Nashville, Tenn., while Chambers was in San Jose, Calif., and the moderator of the event--ITN science editor Lawrence McGinty--spoke from outside London. People could watch over the Web and audiences listened and watched from the VoiceCon conference in Orlando, outside London, Warsaw, Dubai, and Paris.
The multi-location format drove home the basic point of the event: the Internet can help more people collaborate, something that is essential to solving the difficult challenge of climate change.
And of course, videoconferencing, telecommuting, and online collaboration can replace face-to-face meetings that require people to fly, which is very polluting.
Gore said that he is exploring whether Cisco's videoconference technology can be used in the international deliberations to establish global carbon regulations to follow the Kyoto Protocol treaty which is set to expire in 2012.
Not surprisingly, Gore characterized climate change as an urgent crisis, a situation where "scientists are practically screaming from the rooftops" to tell governments and citizens to take action.
He said that he is optimistic that a "tipping point" is nearing in government, where rapid changes in policies could take place.
Specifically, he said it is essential that the United States take the lead in instituting worldwide regulations that put a price on carbon emissions.
He noted that all three presidential candidates are committed to carbon regulations and predicted that fast-growing countries such as India and China--which are fast becoming the largest polluters in the world--will participate in the follow-on to the Kyoto Protocol if the U.S. participates.
"For so long, the United States has been dragging our feet and even pulling the world back from progress it so greatly needs. (That) lets China, India, and every other nation off the hook" from reducing their own greenhouse gas emissions, he said.
He noted that corporations are actually ahead of governments in addressing climate change in concrete ways. Gore last year joined Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, which has invested in several clean-technology firms.
"Most business leaders are way ahead of political leaders, and that's good news because once the market shifts, that really starts to make a difference," Gore said.
Chambers agreed, saying that there has been a "market transition" where many business managers and government leaders are trying to reconcile economic growth with environmental stewardship.
"For the first time, the environment is not just hitting (leaders') radar screen; they also know this is doable with economic growth," he said.
The company's chief marketing officer, Susan Bostrom, who spoke on the panel from Orlando, said that Cisco's use of videoconferencing at 185 locations has saved the company about $100 million in travel expenses, eliminating about 15 million cubic tons of carbon emissions.
Cisco Systems' new market is urban management.
The router and switch kings are teaming up with cities like Seoul, Lisbon, Madrid, San Francisco and Hamburg, Germany, on energy efficiency experiments. It will then take the successful ones and export them around the world.
In San Francisco, for instance, Cisco has rigged up a municipal bus with wireless Internet access so commuters can get their e-mail, browse the Web, or get information on when their connecting bus or train is coming in. The idea is to make public transportation more attractive and popular, which in turn reduces carbon dioxide emissions by getting people to stop taking their cars as much.
Michael Kanellos hopped aboard a Wi-Fi bus in San Francisco. Click here to see the video.
(Credit: CNET News.com)In Amsterdam, the company and city authorities have erected regional smart work stations, i.e. satellite office spaces located closer to residential areas. Amsterdam and Cisco will also try to devise a Personal Travel Assistant, a GPS-like handheld that will track buses and trains, letting owners know when the next bus might arrive. Thus, if you want to get coffee before boarding, you can gauge your time.
"We will create a replicate-able system," said Cisco CEO John Chambers, speaking at the Connected Urban Development Conference sponsored by the company in San Francisco this week.
Cisco has also begun to more aggressively adopt technologies and practices to reduce fossil fuel consumption. The company, for instance, has installed a number of high-end video teleconferencing units in its global offices. This week, the company had a meeting with several thousand attendees, but only 200 were present in the company's Silicon Valley offices. Everyone else was on video consoles.
Video conferencing can also save the company $150 million a year, said Chambers.
These urban management projects, of course, could reap huge revenues for Cisco, which makes the Internet backbone equipment that makes telecommuting possible. New types of urban projects also represent something of an untapped customer base.
Cities are a natural place to start. By 2030, 60 percent of the world's population will live in cities, according to the United Nations, and cities already account for the majority of the energy consumed in the world.
John Chambers, CEO of Cisco Systems, is one of the least controversial CEOs in the tech world. Unlike Craig Barrett (former Intel CEO) or Cypress Semiconductor's T.J. Rodgers, he doesn't generally take potshots at Washington politicians. Cisco provides its opinion on issues like immigration, open access, and foreign competition, but the company rarely insists on playing the leading role in these controversies.
Chambers even wisely plays both sides in campaign contributions. He's donating to John McCain's presidential campaign, but also gave to Senator Harry Reid and the Democratic National Party, among others, according to this Web site. Most of his donations tilt Republican, but he definitely placates both parties.
The Cisco CEO, however, does have strong feelings when it comes to climate change. It is undeniable that atmospheric carbon dioxide is rising and that the earth's temperature is rising, he said at the Connected Urban Development conference taking place in San Francisco this week.
"It (climate change) is not a question of if. It is," he said. "There is no doubt in hardly any of the well-educated minds that if we don't act quickly, we are going to have a tremendous problem on our hands."
You non-well-educated minds can comment below.
Chambers also said he now looks more favorably on government participation in projects.
"This is probably not something I would have said 10 years ago, but it is hugely important to have a supportive government."
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