When this writer asked Lisa Jackson, the former administrator of the U.S. Environment Protection Agency about her transition from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley to become Apple’s vice president of environmental initiatives, she shared, “It’s a big change in miles, a big change in perspective. I tell people there’s no bigger honor than having served in President Obama’s administration, the first African American President, as the first African American to head EPA. There [Silicon Valley] it’s about making your own future and increasingly I have been finding my way in this world of invention and innovation.”
In her role at Apple where she oversees the innovator’s efforts to minimize its impact on the environment, she didn’t have to “give up my values or any of the things I work on moving into the private sector.” It’s her job to ensure the tech giant addresses climate change through renewable energy and energy efficiency, using greener materials, and inventing new ways to conserve precious resources.
“We just announced in the U.S. that we are 100 percent powered by renewable energy, every store, every data center, every office campus that we have are 100 percent. We are 87 percent worldwide. We have a great history of removing toxins from our products,” she adds.
Climate change is the buzz word and Jackson warns, “it is going to have an incredible impact on people of color and poor people around the world, including this country.
“Pollution for me is an assault on our children that begins even before our best educators can get ahold of them. Lead poisoning in children before the age of six is directly related to IQ levels. Mercury and pollution which we regulated while I was at EPA also related to neurological damage. Fine particles in the air directly relates to premature death and impacts stroke and heart disease in our people. Then there’s climate change, which for me is one of those moral issues that we all think about now as the world changes in ways that we won’t be able to adapt to.”
Jackson, who holds a master’s degree in chemical engineering from Princeton University, was an honorary degree recipient at Spelman College’s 128th commencement. “Spelman is the embodiment of so many things that are just crucial to our future as a people. We have to have strong, educated women. And teach our women place, purpose and pride. Spelman is where we look for women to show us what we can achieve. It means a lot. Dr. Tatum’s impact on this institution, and Spelman has seen some amazing presidents and we will be blessed in the future. This is our moment to appreciate Dr. Tatum,” she said.
On how to get more minorities engaged in STEM education …
“We have Spelman graduates at Apple.
“One of the big issues in Silicon Valley is diversity. We need women. We need people of color. Apple just made a $40 million pledge to the Thurgood Marshall Fund to support and develop a program around STEM, technology and robots to build a pipeline for those young people coming out with those degrees and an interest in the field. We just game $10 million to NCWIT, National Center for Women in Technology, and there’s more to come.
“This past year Apple made a $100 million pledge to President Obama’s ConnectED initiative, for students in K through 12. Our CEO insisted the money goes to kids on free and reduced lunch and sadly that means about 80 percent of the kids who are going to get that money are Black and Latino.”
