Google cozies up to Republicans in bid to shed left-loving image: report

Google has a donkey on its back, and it’s trying to shake it off and take a nice elephant ride instead.

That’s the metaphorical version of a new report that shows the firm, with parent firm Alphabet, aggressively courting Republicans while trying to shed what’s perceived as a strong allegiance to the Democrats.

“Few companies have been as intimately tied to the Democratic Party in recent years as Google,” an article in the Jan. 27 New York Times began. “So now that Donald J. Trump is president, the giant company, in Silicon Valley parlance, is having to pivot.”

As pointed out by the Oracle-funded Google Transparency Project, the Mountain View tech behemoth had a revolving door with the Barack Obama White House, with Googlers leaving to take up government roles and government staff leaving to work for Google. The firm had many, many meetings with high officials in the Obama administration, according to records collected by the Google Transparency Project.

Alphabet executive chairman Eric Schmidt advised the Obama White House and worked with the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign. Last year, Google employees gave $1.3 million to the Clinton campaign, compared with $26,000 to Trump’s, the Times reported.

“Now, the tech giant is scrambling to forge ties with Mr. Trump’s new administration and to strengthen its relationship with a Republican-dominated Congress,” the Times reported. “Most important, Google is trying to change the perception that it is a Democratic stronghold.”

In the campaign to get cozier with the party of the elephant, Google helped throw a fete this month for 70 mostly Republican federal lawmakers in a “stately” Smithsonian building in Washington, D.C., according to the Times.

…read more).

Media

Google, in Post-Obama Era, Aggressively Woos Republicans – The New York Times

President Barack Obama participating in a Google Portal virtual event in June. Over the last eight years, Google was closely associated with the former president. Credit Zach Gibson/The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Few companies have been as intimately tied to the Democratic Party in recent years as Google. So now that Donald J. Trump is president, the giant company, in Silicon Valley parlance, is having to pivot.

The shift was evident a day after Congress began its new session this month. That evening, about 70 lawmakers, a majority of them Republicans, were feted at the stately Smithsonian Arts and Industries Building, where they clinked champagne and bourbon glasses and posed for selfies with the 600 guests assembled in their honor.

The event’s main host was not from the Republican establishment. Instead, the party was primarily financed and anchored by Google.

“We’ve partnered with Google on events before, but nothing like this party,” said Alex Skatell, founder of The Independent Journal Review, a news start-up with a right-leaning millennial audience, which also helped host the event. “I’ve never heard of an event as big.”

…(read more).

Trump on Climate Policy – Myron Ebell and Reactions

Trump Played Right Into ISIS’s Hands With Muslim Ban

The Ring of Fire

Published on Jan 30, 2017

By banning US entry of Muslims from certain countries, Donald Trump has played right into the hands of ISIS. The Washington Post is reporting that ISIS leaders are ecstatic about Trump’s order because it allows them to show that America hates Muslims, and that always helps their recruiting numbers. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.

Survive and Thrive: Climate-Smart Cities™ | The Trust for Public Land

Strategies for a changing climate

Riding BMX is a lot harder than it looks. Gripping the handlebars of my borrowed bike, I roll cautiously around the banked turn, crest a small rise, and plummet down again—only to find myself stuck in the trough on the other side. Swearing under my breath, I look up to see 45-year-old Rick Wood swoop past me.

“Pedal once right before you hit the bottom!” he calls encouragingly. “It’ll get you over the hump!”

Wood, The Trust for Public Land’s Tennessee state director, is taking me on a two-wheeled tour of Stringer’s Ridge. The leafy hills of the hundred-acre park contain some of the best mountain biking within riding distance of downtown Chattanooga. Six years ago, The Trust for Public Land helped protect this land from a proposed condo development. Today, it’s the site of the city’s first green infrastructure project: the pump track we’re riding on.

Writer Lessley Anderson reported from ChattanoogaPhoto credit: Ashley Anderson

The word “infrastructure” conjures up a picture of pavement and pipelines. But done right, infrastructure can also look like fun. The pump track—an all-ages bike skills area named for the pumping action of riders’ arms as they negotiate the hills and dips—has been specially designed to help manage stormwater runoff, reduce flooding, and recharge the city’s water supply.

Climate-Smart Cities™

The Trust for Public Land

Published on Mar 24, 2014

To become more climate resilient, cities must restore natural functions of the land by weaving green elements into the built environment. The Trust for Public Land helps cities meet the climate challenge through conservation and design — from protecting waterfront parks and wetlands to creating green alleys and “water smart” playgrounds. Learn more: http://www.tpl.org/services/climate-s…

See also:
https://www.youtube.com/user/TrustforPublicLand/videos

and

The Trust for Public Land

Published on Jun 2, 2015

Breece Robertson, Director of Conservation Vision and GIS walks us through how The Trust for Public Land uses maps to help cities combat climate change.

Adapting to climate change

The Economist

Published on Nov 30, 2015

Bangladesh is highly susceptible to climate change. Floods, cyclones and droughts are likely to increase as the Earth warms. Poor farmers are already trying to adapt

Adapting to climate change in Eastern and Southern Africa

IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature

Uploaded on Jan 13, 2012

In Africa, millions will suffer from climate change impacts on agriculture, water availability, ecosystem services and biodiversity. It’s urgent for countries in the region to take action to reduce vulnerability and enhance local communities’ capacity to adapt.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (or IUCN) has been working with three countries to do just that.

In Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia, IUCN staff members have been collaborating with national governments, local NGOs and selected communities on a pilot project, funded by the government of Finland, called the « Climate Change and Development project », or CCDP.

The project was developed with the aim of ensuring that policies and strategies lead to activities that emphasize the role of water and forests in adapting to climate change in the region.

Adapting to a changing climate

United Nations

Published on Dec 12, 2014

A new video documentary by the UNFCCC Adaptation Committee aims at raising awareness on climate change adaptation. The 20 minute documentary “Adapting to a changing climate” introduces viewers to the topic of climate change adaptation, weaving in inspiring stories of adaptation action and interviews with experts.

Experts:
Christina Chan, Co-Chair, Adaptation Committee
Juan Hoffmaister, Co-Chair, Adaptation Committee
Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary, UNFCCC

HE Lucille Sering, Secretary of the Climate Change Commission of the Philippines
Ms Mary Robinson, UN Special Envoy for Climate Change
Professor Lord Nicholas Stern, academic and author of the “Stern Review”
Ms Bianca Jagger, Chair of the Human Rights Foundation.

Climate Resilient Cities

ScienceCopenhagen

Published on May 29, 2015

Professor Marina Bergen Jensen from the University of Copenhagen shows how science can aid in adapting our cities to the changing climate.