Yesterday, President Donald Trump pulled America out of the Paris climate accord. Many believe this will weaken America’s fight against climate change. Also, many believe this will isolate us from the rest of the world. But this may isolate Silicon Valley, too. Because Silicon Valley blasts Trump on Climate change.
Even before the meeting, Silicon Valley leaders wrote a letter. They urged Trump to stay in the Paris Agreement. Companies who signed this letter included Apple, Facebook, Google/Android, and Microsoft, and dozens more tech giants. Then Elon Musk and Tim Cook tried to reach out to the White House. So when Trump pulled America out of the Paris Agreement, Silicon Valley blasts Trump on climate change.
The results came in fast and furious. Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, tweeted disappointment in Trump’s decision. He vowed to increase efforts to fight climate change. So did Google leader Sundar Pichai. He tweeted Google will keep fighting for a cleaner future. But the longer and most colorful backlash came from Facebook’s Mark Zuckerbug and Twitter’s Jack Dorsey. Dorsey called it a ‘shortsighted move’. Zuckerberg said this move put our children at risk. He also said fighting climate change is a global community effort. In fact, I haven’t heard one Silicon Valley leader who supported President Trump’s decision to leave the Paris agreement.
Computer repair and IT support and politics really are going hand in hand. Most of Silicon Valley leaders were weary of Trump from the very beginning. But after his election, they were going to work out their differences. And for a while, I had hope the White House and Silicon Valley could get along. But now, those hopes are dwindling. The sides are drifting apart again. That’s what worries me about this decision. It’s not the climate change, but it’s the global tensions that it could cause. The last thing we need is me against the world. Don’t we already have enough of that?