Corporations need to treat climate deniers like Trump's election deniers
Why is corporate America still donating money to climate change deniers?
Jan. 16, 2021, 5:31 AM CST
By Emily Atkin, MSNBC Opinion Columnist
Last month, I co-published an article with the newsletter Popular Information exposing six corporations that “talk green but spend dirty.” Like so many articles we’ve written before, the piece showed how corporate America markets itself as a friend to the climate while directly funding climate deniers.
Our reporting didn’t change anything. The one company that responded — Microsoft — defended its donations. “Given the breadth of our policy agenda, it’s unlikely we’ll agree on every issue,” a spokesperson company said in a statement, “but we’ve learned that engagement — even when individuals hold different positions — is an essential part of achieving progress.”
Microsoft, in other words, told us they had no choice but to fund people who spread dangerous misinformation for political gain. So imagine my surprise when, last week, Microsoft joined the chorus of corporations pledging to suspend political donations because of the violent insurrection that overran the U.S. Capitol — an insurrection sparked by politicians who spread deadly misinformation for political gain.
It seems corporations do have a choice, after all.
It’s fantastic that corporate America is finally starting to reckon with its role in spreading deadly, democracy-endangering misinformation. Since the violent riots on Jan. 6, at least 23 major companies now say they will no longer donate to lawmakers who voted against certifying the results of the election. To them, denying the results of a free and fair election has become politically unacceptable.
But denying a scientifically proven crisis that’s killing millions of people, particularly Black and brown ones, is still politically fine. Exactly zero of the companies that have pledged to cut off politicians who spread misinformation about the election have also pledged to cut off politicians who spread misinformation about the climate crisis, which has already killed far more people, and stands to kill far more.
READ MORE: Corporations need to treat climate deniers like Trump's election deniers
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Posted By: Dea. Ron Gray Sr.
Sunday, January 17th 2021 at 5:15PM
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