Day: July 8, 2025

In an article on 9to5 Mac a group called Extinction Rebellion vandalized the Apple Store in New York. (The article is here)

Some other Climate idiot glued himself to a Trader Joes Freezer. Another Eco-idiot glued her hands to a counter at a business, then proceeded to berate people attempting to actually do business and pay their bills. Yet more idiots defaced more works of art, and still others graffitied a bunch of boats at a marina.

None of these people seem to realize that the chemicals used to clean the paint and glue off these various items is quite a bit harsher to the environment than whatever they’re bitching about.

Apparently these particular XR morons are upset that Apple CEO Tim Cook made some donation to Trump.

Give me a break! Apple has been pushing for a green agenda for a while now and their products and packaging are perhaps among the most responsibly produced in the industry.

XR (Extinction Rebellion) is just upset that Tim Cook even spoke to Trump.

I’d say that XR needs to look in their own pockets. I’d bet at least 80% of them have Apple iPhones. And probably not just iPhones, but the latest model to boot. I’d be willing to bet that most of those people upgrade their phones on a yearly basis. 

While they’re screaming about hypocrisy, they’re conveniently ignoring what their personal upgrade schedule does to the environment.

Sure if they’re trading in their iPhones to Apple then most of the materials are being recycled into new devices by Apple.

But what about the lithium in the batteries? What about the child labor used world wide to mine lithium, cobalt, and other elements necessary for those batteries? What about strip mining, and water contamination all in the cause of producing their shiny new iPhones that they dutifully buy year in and year out?

Yeah…

They conveniently ignore those issues because that’s happening in another country. Instead these idiots choose to worry about a donation from Tim Cook (not Apple) to Trump. What? Tim Cook can’t have a personal opinion? He’s not allowed to spend his money however he wants? Really? I thought all these protestors were about free speech and being allowed to do whatever the hell they wanted. 

Ohhhh I misunderstood. Those rules only apply if the group approves. Right, got it.

Even if they’re using Android based phones, the problem remains. The raw materials have to come from somewhere and the mining of those materials is devastating to the local environment.

Maybe these people could do something really constructive. Instead of calling for boycotts, maybe they could start an initiative called “Keep your devices until they die”

You know, only replace a device when it ceases to function, or can’t be repaired anymore.

They could do an annual recognition of the people with the oldest functional devices and how amazing those folks were for walking the walk and talking the talk.

That would be environmentally responsible! In fact, it would make a statement that I could get behind. Use less, recycle more. Use the hiker’s motto, “Leave no trace”.