FOMO: technology joins the People’s Climate March and UN Climate Change Summit

On 21 September 2014, the People’s Climate March — the biggest march against climate change with 311 000 people — sliced through Manhattan, through Midtown from Columbus Circle to Times Square and then it went quiet, giving the false impression that it had died, where not even a cough or a breath could be heard when the marchers took a moment of silence. It brought New York, a city that is never in repose, to a standstill. The march was not confined to New York. It extended beyond the USA, all around the world to other countries. Peoplesclimate.org, the organisers of the march claim that it extended to 166 countries with 2808 solidarity events.

People around the world, from one edge of the universe to the other followed the march on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Looking at the pictures that came from there, especially the pictures from rooftops, staring down at the marchers, not only capturing the massive marchers but the moment New York that came to a halt, I could not help feel a sense of disbelief. The rooftop photos were able to capture the plus minus 311 000 marchers as they bent around buildings, stretching as far back that the ones at the back were only aware of their location and not that of others.

In fact, from the pictures, it would be correct to assume that the people at the head and the tail of the march were not completely convinced of each other’s presence until they saw the pictures on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

But what is technology’s relationship with climate change beyond the tweets, status updates and photos and videos.

It would appear that it is a fragile one. Since the invention of automobile, technology has not had an easy pass with climate change activists. The People’s Climate March and the UN climate change summit have provided two tech giants, Apple and Google, with an opportunity for some PR. The latter has been afforded an opportunity to do some damage control and the former the chance to reignite old news.

Technology, every now and then, gets a hacking from Doug Tompkins, the co-founder of retail brands The North Face and Esprit, who believes that technology is destroying the very health of the planet on which all species depend on.

“If you just hold your cell phone for 30 seconds and think backwards through its production you have the entire techno-industrial culture wrapped up there. You can’t have that device without everything that goes with it. You see mining, transportation, manufacturing, computers, high-speed communications, satellite communications, it’s all there, you see and it’s that techno-industrial culture that’s destroying the world.”

Google, amidst the march and the summit, announced that it is going to cut ties with American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) admitting that it was a mistake to fund them. The move is seen as succumbing to the UN’s new initiative that is aimed at persuading companies to shun climate-denialists. Google’s decision will be effective at the end of this year.

The UN briefing document, entitled “Are you engaging responsibly in climate policy” asks companies:

“Are your lobbyists — and your trade group’s lobbyists — advocating for policies that advance your company’s public climate policy goals. Are any individuals or groups (inside or outside the company) misrepresenting the company’s policy positions?”

Google chairman Eric Schmidt admitted that ALEC was making the world a much worse place:

“I think the consensus within the company was that was some sort of mistake, and so we’re trying to not do that in the future.”

ALEC’s views on climate change were not in line with Google’s, he said.

In an interview on NPR, Schmidt said:

“The facts of climate change are not in question anymore. Everyone understands climate change is occurring and the people who oppose it are really hurting our children and our grandchildren and making the world a much worse place,” Schmidt said. “And so we should not be aligned with such people — they’re just, they’re just literally lying.”

The news that Google will part ways with ALEC is not a shock at all. In fact, what has for some time now been viewed a shock was the affiliation between the two. Google has invested more than US$1-billion into wind and solar projects that in total generate more than 2 gigawatts of power and according to conservationist ALEC has done nothing but harm the environment. Google has further set a goal to eventually power its data centers with 100 percent renewable energy.

Google might be cutting its funding but the damage it has contributed to will remain to destroy the universe forever.

Apple announced its plans to build the greenest building on the planet. The news has been out since 2013 when Apple received approval from city council of Cupertino. And now amidst the climate march and UN climate summit it has received urgency. The building is nicknamed “the Spaceship campus” due to its ring-shaped campus. The building will be in Cupertino, California and it will be the headquarters of Apple. The construction is at its early stage. At this moment where the 176-acre campus will stand is an indistinct topography but even so its massive size is noticeable.

Campus 2, its official name, will add 2 800 000 square feet of office space to the company’s Cupertino, California operations, and it will hold an additional 12,000 employees.

Speaking at an environmental nonprofit event Climate Week NYC, Apple CEO Tim Cook said “we’re building a new headquarters that I think will be the greenest building on the planet.”

Apple also revealed that Campus 2 will be entirely powered by renewable energy that will be provided by largest solar panels. It will also rely, Apple claims, on natural ventilation instead of temperature control during 75 percent of the year. Apple will also install more than 300 electric vehicle charging station and planting more than 7 000 trees.

Image: Mat McDermott via Flickr.