Neil HughesSteve Jobs, along with Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook, spoke with BusinessWeek to highlight Apple's environmentally conscious ways. Jobs acknowledged that Greenpeace's targeting of his company years ago played a part in the Mac maker promoting its green focus in public.
After Greenpeace criticized Apple for the use of toxic chemicals in its products, Jobs said he turned to Gore, a member of his company's board of directors and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on climate change. Gore reportedly told Jobs to do what he does, and not get into a "mud-slinging war" with the environmental organization.
In response, Apple began mentioning its products' environmental impact with a scorecard at each keynote. Jobs argued that his company has always been green, but in the past it didn't make it a point to mention it in public. He said the company's tight-lipped approach, particularly on public policy issues, hurt its image with environmental organizations.
"We tend to report rather than predict," Jobs told BusinessWeek. "You won't see us out there saying what the PC is going to look like in 2016. We quietly go try to invent the PC for 2016."
It was the second time this week the publication profiled Apple's environmentally friendly push. Another feature highlighted the company's reporting of hardware carbon emissions, a new disclosure that was revealed by the company this week. That story also included comment from Jobs.
The use of Apple products by consumers accounts for more than half of the Cupertino, Calif., corporation's annual 10.2 million tons of carbon emissions. The company's environmental Web site states that less than 5 percent of the company's emissions come from manufacturing facilities, while more than 95 percent of Apple's greenhouse gases are from the products they make.
Cook said that companies often focus on the wrong issues. He gave the example of installing motion detectors in a conference room, to automatically turn off the lights in a room when no one is there. But the real carbon footprint, he said, comes from the products themselves.
"Making products cleaner involves real engineering," Cook said. "It's about innovating, and it's hard work."
William Gallagher
Bon Adamson
Wesley Hilliard
Marko Zivkovic
AppleInsider Staff
Malcolm Owen
Christine McKee
80 Comments
What's the environmental savings offset between Apple's environmentally friendly ways of doing business and Al Gore's massive homes?
Rush was on Jay Leno thursday and took Jay's green car challenge driving on an obstacle course in an electric card where Al Gore and Ed Begley cardboard cutouts would "jump" out at you for you to take evasive action. If you were to hit them, you would be penalized and your time increased. During Rush's run, Al Gore pops out and Rush hits him. Rush then stops the car, backs up so he can go forward and hit Al Gore again!
Gotta love him!
As long as we use Computers -- it shall never be 100% green. The imported thing is Apple has gotten hold of the principle make as green as possible . Very good
HT
meh..
I'm glad Greenpeace played their part in moving Apple (and others) in this direction. I wish Greenpeace had used better tactics, and am increasingly disappointed in them, but it's still better than if they'd done nothing. These causes are far more important than some corporation's image--or the emotions of that corporation's users
I no longer see Greenpeace continuing to help in this area though. They need to reward successes! Maybe now it's time for Apple to push THEM to improve. I sure hope so.
Greenpeace's sensationalism isn't what bothers me, nor their singling out of Apple just because that makes headlines. Those choices are just "good marketing," and in modern culture, unfortunately they ARE good ways to get things done sometimes. What bothers me, though, is the emphasis on what companies promise vs. what they deliver. That's where "good marketing" fails to get things done, and actions must be acknowledged! That's how other companies will be persuaded to follow Apple's lead.
What's the environmental savings offset between Apple's environmentally friendly ways of doing business and Al Gore's massive homes?
Rush was on Jay Leno thursday and took Jay's green car challenge driving on an obstacle course in an electric card where Al Gore and Ed Begley cardboard cutouts would "jump" out at you for you to take evasive action. If you were to hit them, you would be penalized and your time increased. During Rush's run, Al Gore pops out and Rush hits him. Rush then stops the car, backs up so he can go forward and hit Al Gore again!
Gotta love him!
I do hope Al Gore gets smaller homes--or maybe one is enough!--but that won't help the planet much. These causes are real, and increasingly desperate, and we ALL need any help the planet can get. Even if that help comes from someone whose homes are too large.
If a former arsonist puts me out when I'm on fire, I'll call him a hypocrite... but I'll still be glad not to be burning!
What's the environmental savings offset between Apple's environmentally friendly ways of doing business and Al Gore's massive homes?
Rush was on Jay Leno thursday and took Jay's green car challenge driving on an obstacle course in an electric card where Al Gore and Ed Begley cardboard cutouts would "jump" out at you for you to take evasive action. If you were to hit them, you would be penalized and your time increased. During Rush's run, Al Gore pops out and Rush hits him. Rush then stops the car, backs up so he can go forward and hit Al Gore again!
Very immature but not at all surprising coming form him as Rush is arrogant, immature, sexist, racist and earns a living by spreading hate and ignorance.