Richard Branson tells climate deniers to 'get out of the way'

[onehandle]

Source: The Guardian

Virgin chief writes on his blog that businesses should follow Apple's example and take a stand against climate skepticism

Virgin Group chairman and founder, Sir Richard Branson, has said businesses should "stand up" to climate change deniers and they should "get out of our way". Branson said he was "enormously impressed" with Apple's chief executive for telling climate change sceptics to ditch shares in the technology company.

At Apple's annual meeting last month, Tim Cook responded angrily to questions from a rightwing thinktank, the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR), about the profitability of investing in renewable energy, saying: "If you want me to do things only for ROI [return on investment] reasons, you should get out of this stock."

Writing on his blog, Branson said he "wholeheartedly" supported Cook's comments and that every business in the world should emulate Cook's goal of wanting "to leave the world better than we found it", an aim Branson said Virgin shared too.

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/mar/10/richard-branson-climate-deniers-get-out-of-the-way

[lame54]

1. We need a hell of a lot more of this

[SoapBox]

5. +1

[saidsimplesimon]

2. I admire the accomplishments of Sir Branson.

Where does he stand on fracking, nuclear waste, clean water? It's time to stand up for survival of this planet.

The only alternative being offered by the greedy is "take your check for drilling rights to the bank and stfu".

[Berlum]

3. "As we demonstrate regularly, we want to leave the world worse. Sneer." - RepubliBaggers (R)

"...Because we can make a big freaking boodle for ourselves in the short term. Ha ha. Smirk. Sneer." - RepubliBaggers (R)

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[longship]

4. I like where this is going.

But it's going to take more than two.

Let's see the big three auto mfg companies jump on the bandwagon.

[Moostache]

6. Its a good first step...

I agree wholeheartedly that we need a lot more companies to take a stand on this issue.

The bill is due....and Mother Nature makes the "Godfather" and "Goodfellas" look like a bunch of pikers...its either "FUCK YOU, Pay me" a lot NOW, or "FUCK YOU, Pay me" EVERYTHING later, but make no mistake, its definitely "FUCK YOU" and its coming in a big, big way. The idea that no one is going to have to pay eventually is just flat out wrong. Tax payers, workers, OWNERS, governments, free loaders....EVERYONE is on the hook here and unless you're insane enough to believe your own bullshit, you have to recognize that the time to get involved for self-interest alone is rapidly dwindling.

Really, outside of the fossil fuels industry - who are committed to going down with the ship and taking as many of us with them as possible, EVERY business should be making a purely economics case for this. Insurance costs alone are rising and expected to sky-rocket as the climate gets more and more unstable and places like Atlanta and Charlotte and Birmingham start facing multiple "freak" ice storms or places like Anchorage feel temperatures in the 60s and 70s at the same time St. Louis is 0 or below-zero! That says nothing at all of the increasing costs for labor and utilities and transportation and shipping in this increasingly unhinged "global" economy.

Congrats to them and I hope I am wrong, I hope their motivation is self-less and not selfish, but either way, they should stop being lonely real soon...

[Bernardo de La Paz]

7. Neil deGrasse Tyson said today that media should not give equal time to climate deniers.

He also applied it to science deniers of any kind.

As he said, we do not give equal time to flat-earthers.

[olddad56]

8. had the climate deniers lived 600 years ago, they would still belive that the earth was flat..

even after it had been proven to be round. In fact, many of these climate deniers would still believe the earth is flat if they saw in on Faux new or heard Rush say it.

[underpants]

9. He's rich, completely self made...aren't they conditioned to think he is more relevant?

No?

[okaawhatever]

10. K & R nt

[Cha]

11. THank you, onehandle and Richard Branson!

[quadrature]

12. RB's airline burns how much jet fuel per day?...nt

[Llewlladdwr]

13. I love the smell of hypocracy in the morning....

Strong words for a man whose hobby is firing rockets into outer space.

[Nihil]

14. So express your illiterate opinion with actions: Don't invest in Virgin or Apple.

Why do denier trolls always have to ignore the easy answer?