Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft Accused of Promoting Global Warming Denial

Gates Foundation logo



Summary: Koch's dangerous campaign is backed by Microsoft and the Gates Foundation

OVER THE years we have shown examples where Microsoft harms the environment. It's not just the competitive environment that Microsoft is screwing.



As one person put it to me: "How about all of us stop funding Microsoft. Use open-source operating systems and software."

Another person noted: "If Microsoft's chairman—Bill Gates—genuinely supported global health/development,why back Koch's climate denial lies?" Or put differently: "Is it irresponsible for a corporation [in decline] as Microsoft to be backing the Koch's radical climate denial lies?"

Microsoft's business model is itself based on lies, so this might be a perfect match. One reader said: "Do the Kochs need sponsorship? It's good to put public pressure on Microsoft but the petition might as well ask Bill Gates to stop cooperating with them. As recent leaks show, Microsoft was also funding the sleazy Heartland PR firm in attacks on global warming, despite public statements to the contrary. Microsoft and the Gates Foundation, if they respond to this petition will only try to hide their involvement.

"The more I think about it, the more the petition looks hopelessly naive. Presenting Microsoft or Gates as climate champions, it's just wrong."

As we showed before, Bill Gates (through his investments vehicle) too is funding big polluters and contributes to the problem. This whole crazy affair has led to this petition which reads: [via]

Microsoft's corporate policy says that climate change requires "a comprehensive and global response" and "dramatic innovations to transition the world to a sustainable low-carbon economy."1

So why was Microsoft a "gold" level sponsor at the Koch brother's Tea Party Conference in Washington, DC last weekend?


As we showed here many times before, the Gates Foundation is buying journalists and buying coverage for itself. And it shows. As one sceptic put it: "If there were five foundations funding the effort why did she only mention one of them? The Gates Foundation funds her work." (referring to Gates-funded articles about sex)

Here is the key part:



In 2004, the tide began to turn with a huge effort bankrolled by five US philanthropic foundations including Gates to get evidence that would justify adding family planning to MDG 5, on maternal mortality. Academics at Columbia University crunched the numbers, finding that investment in family planning saved billions of dollars by keeping girls and their teachers in school. It was important, says Gillespie, because "it gave some legitimacy" to the call for investment in family planning – an economic as well as human argument. MDG 5b was duly announced in 2008. So far, though, this endorsement has made little difference in terms of money.


Well, Guardian as a whole is Gates-funded now, but they try to belittle the influence of this. As teachers put it, Gates also hired some mouthpieces to change the education system in the US:

Then, at the statewide PTA Legislative Assembly, I discovered that a featured speaker was to be George Scarola, Legislative Director with the “facts don’t matter” League of Education Voters (LEV), a Gates backed organization that has beat the drum for charter schools since last year when they started a speakers series on the subject. There were no speakers like a Diane Ravitch speaking out for keeping public schools public in this slanted PTA forum.


They are stacking the panels. But that's an issue we'll return to another day. As Dissent Magazine put it last year: "Now the Gates Foundation is set to expand its involvement and spend more money on influencing popular culture through a deal with Viacom….It could be called “message placement”: the social or philanthropic corollary to product placement deals in which marketers pay to feature products in shows and movies. Instead of selling Coca-Cola or G.M. cars, they promote education and healthy living….Their goal is to weave education-theme story lines into existing shows or to create new shows centered on education."

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

1989: Free Software as "Open" Software (OSI Didn't Coin "Open Source", It Also Predates Linux)
"One man's fight for Free software"
Linux Journal Might Have Become the Latest Slopfarm Targeting "Linux", the Trends Are Concerning for Dying News Sites
They tarnish the Web with junk and then die
On "Learning to Code"
quality may suffer, plus things get bloated
Quick Points Regarding This Week's Court Hearing
it paves the way for us to squash all the SLAPPs from Microsofters
 
The Calling
Persist and persevere, justice will come your way
So Far Every BetaNews 'Article' is LLM Slop, So BetaNews is Officially Just a Slopfarm
They just don't seem to value what they have
IBM Rumour: Mass Layoffs (RAs) Lists Being Made for Consulting, With Effect in July 2025
Bogus companies with no viable products and no world-leading (in their field) staff are doomed to perish
Links 21/06/2025: Data Breach With 16 Billion Passwords, Dutch Government Recommends Children Under 15 Stay off TikTok and Instagram
Links for the day
Gemini Links 21/06/2025: Notes about Typst (and LaTeX) and Opos
Links for the day
Microsoft's Competition Tactics: Sabotage GNU/Linux Installs, Block Chrome
Edge is dying
The Microsoft OOXML Modus Operandi: Throw 1,000 Pages of Other People's Work for a Judge to Read Ahead of a One-Hour Meeting
No time to discuss this - that's the point
Formalities Officers (FOs) at the EPO Are in Trouble, Reveals Internal Report
We already know, based on an HR pattern we saw at IBM and elsewhere, that reallocating roles can be prerequisite for dismissal and those who do so expect many to resign anyway
The Web is Slop and FUD, Let's Go to Gemini Protocol
Lupa sees self-signed capsules at 92.4%
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, June 20, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, June 20, 2025
Links 21/06/2025: Phone Bans for Concerts, Tensions in Taiwan Strait
Links for the day
Gemini Links 21/06/2025: Spoilers, Public Yggdrasil Node, Changes to AuraGem Search
Links for the day
"Six years of Gemini!"
From gemini://geminiprotocol.net
Gemini Links 20/06/2025: Summer Updates and Hardware Failures
Links for the day
Links 20/06/2025: Google Shareholder Sues Google and Google Sued for Defamatory Slop ('Hey Hi') Word Salads ('Summaries')
Links for the day
Common Mistake: Believing Social Control Media Will Document Your Writings/Thoughts and Search Engines Like Google Will Help You Find These
Many news sites wrongly assumed that posting directly to Twitter would be acceptable
The Manchester Bees and This Hot Summer
We have had a fantastic week so far this week
Gemini Protocol Enters Its Seventh Year, Growth Has Accelerated!
Maybe in June 20 2026 there will be over 3,500 active capsules?
Mastodon and the Fediverse Have an Issue: Liability for Content (Even in Other Instances) and Costs
self-hosting is the only logical path forward
Why Microsoft and Its 'Hey Hi' (Slop) Frenzy Fail While Sinking in Deep, Growing Debt
Right now, like Twitter around the time it was sold to MElon, "open" "hey hi" is a big pile of debt with a lot to pay for that debt (interest payments)
Europe is Leaving Microsoft, the Press Coverage Isn't Sufficiently Helpful
The news is generally positive, but the press coverage leaves so much to be desired
Slopwatch: Linuxsecurity, BetaNews, and Linux Journal
slippery slope
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, June 19, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, June 19, 2025
Gemini Links 20/06/2025: Gemini Protocol Turns 6!
Links for the day
Links 19/06/2025: Ghostwriting Scam and Fentanylware (TikTok) Buying Time
Links for the day
Microsoft's Windows is a Niche Operating System in Africa
African nations aren't a large contributor to Microsoft's income, but if many African nations move away from Windows, then the monopoly is at risk
Gemini Links 19/06/2025: Unix Primitivism, Zine Club, and Gemini Protocol Turns 6 at Midnight
Links for the day
Links 19/06/2025: WhatsApp Identified as Assassination 'Crosshairs', Patreon Now Rips Off People Even More
Links for the day
"Told You So": Another Very Large Wave of Microsoft Layoffs Now Confirmed in Mainstream Media
So we were right to believe the rumours, based on the credibility of prior such rumours
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, June 18, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, June 18, 2025