Triplesourced
Reporting, musing and not to mention some random scribbling on tech issues from green/sustainable IT to security. (http://adonoghue.wordpress.com/)
Thursday 3 May 2007, 10:43 AM
Apple apologises for environmental modesty
After mostly ignoring the problem failed to work, Steve Jobs has finally addressed the pounding that Apple has been receiving at the hands of environmental groups for its decidedly un-hip approach to being green.
In an open letter sent yesterday, Jobs said that actually the problem wasn't that Apple had a poor track record on the environment -- actually it was doing great things but somehow had forgotten to tell anyone.
"It is generally not Apple's policy to trumpet our plans for the future; we tend to talk about the things we have just accomplished. Unfortunately this policy has left our customers, shareholders, employees and the industry in the dark about Apple's desires and plans to become greener," said Jobs.
He then goes on to describe how the company is changing its policy – and becoming more aggressive about recycling. This is slightly confusing is Apple saying it was doing great things and forgot to tell anyone or is it saying we weren't doing much and now we are remedying that?
Anyway, the main thing is that Jobs has now woken up to the fact that trying to pretend that somehow Apple's trendy reputation puts it above such trifles as the environment won't wash anymore. And he even goes on apologise for the approach to date.
"We apologise for leaving you in the dark for this long. Apple is already a leader in innovation and engineering and we are applying these same talents to become an environmental leader".
PreviousComments on this post
Andrew,
You have a pretty sarcastic take on it - which fits in with the Greenpeace line. Apple seem to be damned if they don't say anything and now damned when they do. Did you actually read the open letter or just skim it? I've put a couple of highlights that you didn't mention in the article.
For example:
"There’s one toxic substance that some companies still ship by the pound, and that’s the lead contained in their cathode-ray tube (CRT) displays... ...In mid-2006, Apple became the first company in the computer industry to completely eliminate CRTs.
A note of comparison — Dell, Gateway, Hewlett Packard and Lenovo still ship CRT displays today."
"Apple products met both the spirit and letter of the RoHS restrictions on cadmium, hexavalent chromium and brominated flame retardants years before RoHS went into effect.
A note of comparison — Some electronics companies, whose names you know, still rely on RoHS exemptions and use these toxic chemicals in their products today."
I could go on but the point is that these points are NOT what Apple have said they will do or have committed to do but what they HAVE done. The main point of the Greenpeace posturing is that it is giving higher marks to companies who say that they might be doing things over the years rather than to look at what companies are actually doing. Also, as mentioned in other posts, they get a lot of publicity spouting off at "trendy" Apple - it gets the MTV publicity they crave.
