The US Chamber of Commerce is up to its eyeballs in disgruntled members and as a membership organization, perhaps it will consider the incredible amount of damage it has done to is reputation by aggressively resisting climate change initiatives and legislation.
After all, here are a few of the highlights of the Chamber's resistance, courtesy of Brad Johnson over at The Wonk Room:
2009: Chamber SVP Kovacs Calls For 'Scopes Monkey Trial' On The 'Science Of Climate Change.' "It would be evolution versus creationism. It would be the science of climate change on trial." Chamber of Commerce Senior Vice President William Kovacs explained that the Chamber was seeking a "Scopes monkey trial of the 21st century" on global warming to prevent the EPA from declaring greenhouse gases a threat to the public welfare. [Los Angeles Times, 8/25/09]
2009: Chamber Claims No 'Plausible Theory' To Link 'Climate Change With Extreme Weather Events And Disease In The United States,' Disputes 'Claims Of Ocean Acidification.' In an official filing prepared by the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis for the comments on the EPA's proposed endangerment finding for greenhouse gases, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce cited blog posts by global warming deniers such as Pat Michaels and Chip Knappenberger to challenge a broad range of climate change science, including sea level rise and the "UN/IPCC forecasted temperature increases." [U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 8/25/09]
2009: National Chamber Foundation Promotes Global Warming Denier Book As '#1′ Top Book Of The Year. Promoting "Climate of Extremes: Global Warming Science They Don't Want You to Know," the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's National Chamber Foundation writes: "Climatologists Patrick J. Michaels and Robert Balling Jr. explain that climate science is hardly unbiased," and that the "pop-culture icons of climate change turns out to be short on facts and long on exaggeration." On Twitter, the National Chamber Foundation ranked the book "#1″ in its "Top Books of '09." [National Chamber Foundation, 8/20/09]
Now, however, the momentum is really moving against the Chamber and surely change must be in the air.
Today, Apple, to its great credit, resigned from the Chamber because of the Chamber's policies.
Really clear.
Apple has become the latest company to resign from the United States Chamber of Commerce over climate policy.
"We strongly object to the chamber's recent comments opposing the E.P.A.'s effort to limit greenhouse gases," wrote Catherine A. Novelli, the vice-president of worldwide government affairs at Apple, in a letter dated today and addressed to Thomas J. Donohue, president and chief executive of the chamber.
Thank you Apple.
And just a little note to everyone who is still hanging around and supporting the Chamber.
The Chamber's position is clear. You stay in, and keep paying dues, you are supporting their position.
So should you stay or should you go?
We say go.
(There's much more on the Chamber here, and hats off to Pete Altman of NRDC for keeping the heat turned on high. Stay in touch on that here.)