'Don't Fund Evil': Google HQ Targeted for Climate Change Protest | KCET
Title
'Don't Fund Evil': Google HQ Targeted for Climate Change Protest
In the wake of recent revelations that Google, the Bay Area-based search engine giant, is supporting one of the most stubborn climate change denialists in the Senate, climate activists plan are planning a demonstration Wednesday at Google's headquarters in Mountain View. Their message will be a poke at Google's much-vaunted informal corporate credo: "Don't Fund Evil."
The search engine and data collection giant, which had been a large investor in renewable energy development, was revealed early in July to be planning to host a fundraiser for Oklahoma's Senator James Imhofe (R-Pleistocene), notorious for his denial of climate change science, as well as his general opposition to progressive sentiments, civil rights, net neutrality, and immigration reform, issues on all of which Google has staked out public positions 180 degrees apart from Imhofe's.
For now, the Imhofe views that have especially raised activist ire are those he holds regarding human-caused climate change. Imhofe has called global warming a "hoax," going so far as to have a book ghostwritten for him with the title "The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future." He also compared Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" to "Mein Kampf."
For its part, the tech giant claims it funds pols on both sides of the aisle without strict attention to whether those politicians share Google's views. "We regularly host fundraisers for candidates, on both sides of the aisle, but that doesn't mean we endorse all of their positions," an unidentified Google spokesperson told Brian Merchant at Motherboard. "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."
A subsequent article in The Nation pointed out that Imhofe wasn't likely to help Google's data center in Oklahoma, adding:
Despite protests from climate change activists and several Google shareholders, the fundraiser went on as scheduled this month, and Google representatives in D.C. refused to accept thousands of signatures the activists had collected on a petition. Undeterred, those activists are heading to Mountain View Wednesday to try again.
"Google's employees have a unique opportunity to tell their employer that staying true to 'Don't Be Evil' should mean not funding people like James Inhofe, who stands against everything Google stands for," said Brad Johnson, campaign manager for protest backer Forecast the Facts.
Google employees will be greeted by demonstrators Wednesday morning at 9:00, and activists will attempt to deliver more than 50,000 petition signatures one hour later.
For ongoing environmental coverage in March 2017 and afterward, please visit our show Earth Focus, or browse Redefine for historic material.
KCET's award-winning environment news project Redefine ran from July 2012 through February 2017.
Support the Articles you Love
We are dedicated to providing you with articles like this one. Show your support with a tax-deductible contribution to KCET. After all, public media is meant for the public. It belongs to all of us.
Keep Reading
-
After the screening, KCET Cinema Series host Pete Hammond sat down with director Jay Roach.
-
The U.S. currently incarcerates more people per capita than any other nation in the world. Police forces and school systems are beginning to use diversion tactics to redirect young people away from criminal records.
-
A Q&A will immediately follow the screening with editor Joel Cox.
-
Three of KCET'S Original series were honored by the LA Press Club at the 2019 National Arts and Entertainment Awards.
- 1 of 224
- next ›
Comments