It may be hard for some to fathom how a merger between big government and big business is a good thing. Certainly it’s far from a plus for individual liberty. But that would seem to be Apple CEO Tim Cook’s agenda.
Cook, at the company’s annual shareholder meeting, said skeptics of climate change should sell their shares in Apple’s stock.
None of that sits well with folks who don’t think climate change is a big deal — such as the National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. and an Apple shareholder. At the company’s annual shareholder meeting, the NCPPR urged Cook and the board to pledge that Apple wouldn’t pursue any more environmental initiatives that didn’t improve its bottom line.
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Cook’s response was blistering. First of all, he insisted, environmental efforts also make economic sense. Even so, “we do a lot of things for reasons besides profit motive,” the CEO said. “We want to leave the world better than we found it.”
Anyone who had a problem with that? They should sell their Apple shares. “Get out of the stock,” Cook suggested. Danhof’s proposal was voted down by shareholders.
Cook has an impressive progressive pedigree. In 2013, he accompanied First Lady Michelle Obama to the State of the Union Address, and this year, he publicly made an appeal for amnesty for illegal immigrants. On this same environmentalist tack, Cook hired Obama’s former EPA director, who resigned from the administration mired in scandal.
Apple has made vast improvements in its use of renewable energy since Cook took over from Steve Jobs. More than three-quarters of the company’s facilities worldwide, including all of its data centers and its Cupertino HQ, now run on solar, wind, geothermal or hydro power, up from about a quarter under Jobs. Last year, Cook hired Lisa Jackson, former head of the EPA, to lead the company’s sustainability efforts.
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