One thinks of Apple CEO Tim Cook as being an extremely calm person, but he drew a hard line against a conservative faction of shareholders who complained that the company should focus entirely on its bottom line, and knock off its demand for renewable energy and its participation in other sustainability initiatives aimed at stemming climate change and reducing other forms of environmental damage. According to this CNET article, “To any who found the company’s environmental dedication either ideologically or economically ill-advised, they can ‘get out of the stock,’ Cook said.”
The article continues:
Cook came back with a harsh reminder that despite the company’s mounds of cash, it is not in the business of caving to shareholder demands, especially politically motivated ones. “We do a lot of things for reasons besides profit motive,” Cook said. “We want to leave the world better than we found it.”
Wow. When I see moral character like this, it makes me proud to be a human being, and it gives me renewed hope that humankind can find a path to sustainable living here on Earth. Nice going, Tim.
