How green isn’t my valley
The nonprofit group Climate Counts issued global warming scorecards to companies like Apple, eBay and Google this week. The grades weren’t good. Apple got a 2 out of 100, and Google fared a little better with a 17. But these scores came out before this week’s announcement that Google will give $1 million to promote hybrid vehicles. Would it have made a difference? Some critics of the report say no.
They say tech companies are easy targets because their followers tend to be environmentally-conscious and are more likely to notice scorecards like these. Not to mention, say the critics, a more digital world is less wasteful. These are good points, but they miss some other perspectives. Some people – including Silicon Valley insiders – like to believe the tech industry doesn’t impact the physical environment because it deals mostly with the virtual world. But reports like this prove the development, production, and distribution of computer technology does have a significant environmental cost.
[...] This is the second time in recent weeks the tech industry has come under fire for its environmentalism. It’s a trend to watch. [...]