Patrick Moore (environmentalist)

This article is about Patrick Moore, the environmentalist. For the astronomer see Patrick Moore

Patrick Moore was one of the founding members of Greenpeace in 1971 and headed the organization from 1977 to 1979, He subsequently was involved with Greenpeace International between 1981 and 1986. In 1991 he established a consultancy business, Greenspirit Enterprises, "focusing on environmental policy and communications in natural resources, biodiversity, energy and climate change."[1] (http://www.greenspirit.com/about/index.cfm?a=3). He has worked for the mining industry, the logging industry and in defence of the use of biotechnology.

Moore describes himself as "chairman and chief scientist" of Greenspirit Strategies Ltd a PR company that "work with many leading organizations in forestry, biotechnology, aquaculture and plastics, developing solutions in the areas of natural resources, biodiversity, energy and climate change."

Contents

1 History 2 Moore on genetic engineering 3 Moore on Television 4 Clients 5 Contact Information 6 External links 7 Acknowledgment

History

From 1984 he became involved in a family business, Quatsino Seafarms Ltd, farming salmon on Vancouver Island. Until 1991 he was President of the company and between 1986 and 1989 was President of British Columbia Salmon Farmers Association.

Following claims by the United Fishermans and Allied Workers Union about pollution by the industry generally, the Vancouver Sun reported “Moore called the union’s concerns ‘phoney’ saying that we are not causing pollution and there is no such thing as genetic pollution”.(1)

In 1990, PR consultant James Hoggan (who had worked for Western Forest Products) told a meeting of forest executives that the industry was wasting millions on ineffective PR. He said he and Patrick Moore had designed a “green audit” program to sell to industry.(2)

Subsequently, Moore and two others formed Greenspirit to help business and government ‘incorporate the environmental agenda”.(3)

In 1991 Moore was appointed as Director of the British Columbia Forest Alliance which was described by O'Dwyer's PR Services Report, as “a Burson-Marsteller created group, bankrolled by large timber companies”, which "is waging a PR war with environmentalists upset with the logging of rainforests in western Canada.”(4)

Burson Marstellar employee, Gary Ley, was the Executive Director of the BC Forest Alliance in 1991. Ley subsequently headed up the Vancouver office of National PR, which B-M had a stake in. National PR had the BC Forest Alliance account.

Tom Tevlin, who was part of the initial Forest Alliance team and later succeeded Ley as Executive Director and then President at the Alliance, is now President and CEO of Greenspirit Strategies Ltd.

Burson Marstellar had worked for the Argentinian junta to “improve [its] international image” and boost investment. [Joyce Nelson, interview with Harold Burson (founder of Burson Marstellar) fall 1981, New York]. B-M’s work for the Argentinian government occurred at the time that 35,000 people were disappeared by death squads.

In July 1991 Moore was asked by a Canadian journalist about B-M’s work for the Argentinian junta. “Forest Alliance Director, Patrick Moore, argues that Burson Marsteller’s contract was with Argentina’s economic ministry and its non-political role was to encourage foreign investment”, Stephen Hume wrote. “It [B-M] has a record of truth in public relations as its bottom line,” Moore said, citing the company’s role in the Tylenol recall.

Moore went on to object to the juxtaposing the reality of state murder of political opponents with Burson Marsteller’s strategy for marketing the perception of Argentina’s stability. Besides, Moore argued, “people get killed everywhere”.(5)

In August 1993 Moore was part of the delegation that lobbied a US foundation, the Pew Charitable Trust, against a decision to fund British Columbian environmental groups. Following the meeting, the Chair of the BC Forest Alliance, Jack Munro, told the Vancouver Sun “we are not opposed to them giving money to environmental groups. We are opposed to money filtering into protectionists like the people protesting the Clayquot”, he said.(6)

In January 1994, Moore claimed in an interview that while Greenpeace had acted within the law in all matters relating to the International Whaling Commission that they may have funded travel expenses for some delegates to the Commission. “This statement was in error”, Moore wrote in a retraction several days later. (7) copy of letter from Moore

Two months later, Moore was criticised for claims that he made that Greenpeace “blackmail” had forced the rejection of The Times of London of an ad from the BC Forest Alliance. The Times rejected Moore claim: “The Times had not even received the art work for the ad from the alliance … we do not even know what this ad is supposed to look like so we can hardly be accused of censorship or bias”. (8)

In October 2002, Moore was a keynote lunch speaker at the Best Practices in Communications: Wood Products and Forests, organised by the Wood Promotion Network conference in Vancouver. Moore's speech was titled “Declaration in Support of Protecting the Environment by Growing More Trees and Using More Wood”. [2] (http://www.wpnupdate.com/Aug23/Best_Practices_Brochure_2.pdf)

In October 2003 Moore endorsed the launch by The Hudson Institute's Center for Global Food Issues (CGFI) of “Earth Friendly/Farm Friendly” Seal of Approval for the food and dairy industry. Monsanto, Dupont, Kraft/Phillip Morris, and the nuclear industry have funded the Hudson Institute.

In late January 2004 Moore was the key speaker at a 'teach-in" organised by Paul Driessen and hosted under the name of the Congress of Racial Equality on 'eco-imperialism' at the Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers. The environmental movement I helped found has lost its objectivity, morality and humanity ... The pain and suffering it inflicts on families in developing countries can no longer be tolerated,” he said.

Moore on genetic engineering

On February 22, 2004, the German conservative magazine "WELT am Sonntag" ('World on Sunday') which is owned by the Axel-Springer media-group published an article by Patrick Moore. [3] (http://www.wams.de/chl/106.html) (As an example of the conservative pedigree of and its connections to conservative US circles The World on Sunday also publishes columns by Henry Kissinger).

In an opinion column, Moore approvingly referred to an essay by Peter Schwartz The Anti-Industrial Revolution published in Return of the Primitive edited by Ayn Rand. “In it, he warned that the new movement's agenda was anti-science, anti-technology, and anti-human,” Moore wrote.

“Environmentalists were often able to produce arguments that sounded reasonable, while doing good deeds like saving whales and making the air and water cleaner. But now the chickens have come home to roost. The environmentalists' campaign against biotechnology in general, and genetic engineering in particular, has exposed their intellectual and moral bankruptcy. By adopting a zero-tolerance policy towards a technology with so many potential benefits for humankind and the environment, they have lived up to Schwartz's predictions. They have alienated themselves from scientists, intellectuals and internationalists,” Moore claimed. [4] (http://www.theage.com.au/text/articles/2004/02/15/1076779833837.html)

In a response Greenpeace's Steve Sawyer dismissed Moore's claims as inaccurate. "...If Moore applied the logic he claims is missing from the arguments of opponents of GE crops, he would realise that such crops are no more 'science' than refrigerators, nuclear weapons or washing machines. GE crops are commercial products that result from the application of one specific technology from within a much broader field of scientific inquiry. GE crops are commercial products, not science and there are sound scientific reasons for opposing them," he wrote in an opinion column in The Age.

"Patrick Moore's attempt to characterise his proselytising on behalf of industry as 'consensus politics' stretches credulity. The reality is that the issues of environment and development are complex. Minimising human impacts on our biosphere, while promoting a basic level of equity and social justice on a global basis, is a challenge beyond anything human society has ever faced," he wrote.[5] (http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/02/22/1077384634002.html)

Moore claimed that the European Commission has given genetically engineered products a clean bill of health. “In 2001, the European Commission released the results of 81 scientific studies on genetically modified organisms conducted by more than 400 research teams at a cost of $US65 million. The studies, which covered all areas of concern, have ‘not shown any new risks to human health or the environment, beyond the usual uncertainties of conventional plant breeding. Indeed, the use of more precise technology and the greater regulatory scrutiny probably make them even safer than conventional plants and foods’,” he wrote.

Steve Sawyer, from Greenpeace International disagrees. "What the EC actually did in 2001 was to identify 81 EC-funded research projects on GE organisms that were in progress. Most of these studies have not yet been published in peer-reviewed scientific literature.A more accurate assessment of the status of peer-reviewed studies on the human health risks of GE foods can be found in Pryme & Lembcke (2003)," he wrote.

"They concluded that there had been only 10 peer-reviewed 'in vivo' studies examining the possible health consequences of GE foods and feed. Only five of these were independently funded. The authors found that more scientific effort and investigation was necessary before GE foods could be considered unlikely to cause long-term human health problems," he wrote.

In particular, Moore points to the potential of “golden rice”, genetically engineered to boost vitamin A levels and therefore the potential to prevent blindness. “Surely, if reasonable people saw the choice between the risk of a daffodil gene in a rice plant and the certainty of millions of blind children, they would descend on Greenpeace offices around the world and demand to have their money back,” he wrote.

Sawyer argues that Moore's enthusiasm for genetically engineered rice is overly optimistic and ignore broader inequities that cause and maintain poverty. "Blindness is not caused by a lack of vitamin A in rice, just as starvation is generally not caused by a lack of food production. Malnutrition and starvation are the result of a lack of access to a balanced diet a problem of poverty, which in turn is caused by problems of economics and politics," he wrote.

"The proponents of GE crops and foods are only too quick to promote the alleged benefits of whatever panacea happens to be the flavour of the month, often with little real understanding of the problem they are purporting to solve," he wrote.

"When those who raise questions about GE foods are lambasted for being ideological, "anti-science", or "anti-human", one has to ask why; and also why the proponents of GE foods manage to avoid being tarred with the same brush despite repeatedly overstating the benefits and systematically understating the risks," he wrote. "The reality is that golden rice is a research project. It has not undergone safety tests and its claims to solving health problems are extremely optimistic, bordering on fantastic."

Moore on Television

On Showtime's "Penn and Teller's BS", episode entitled "Environmental Hysteria" [6] (http://www.sho.com/site/ptbs/topics.do?topic=eh), Moore had this to say on environmentalism and leaving Greenpeace:

Basically, they are using sensation, misinformation, and scare tactics. The environmental movement was basically hijacked by political and social activists who came in and very cleverly learned how to use green rhetoric or green language to cloak agendas that actually had more to do with anti-corporatism, anti-globalization, anti-business, and very little to do with science or ecology. And that's when I left.

Moore asserts that misinformed rhetoric could cause well-meaning people to send "gobs of money to these groups" for campaigns that are "totally misguided".

Clients

Moore’s clients [7] (http://www.greenspirit.com/about/resume.cfm) though the list has not been updated since 2000 have included:

• B.C. Hazardous Waste Management Corporation (1991-92);
• Moore established the B.C. Carbon Project – ‘working to achieve a common understanding of the carbon budget and the implications of global climate change for B.C’ which received a $C145,000 grant in May 1991. Moores involvement ended in 1994;
• on retainer to the Canadian Pulp and Paper Association to tour European countries to counter advocacy by environmental groups for a boycott of British Columbian forest products (1992-96);
• Westcoast Energy and BC Gas 1993-1994 “to design a public consultation process to address greenhouse gas emissions for the natural gas sector in B.C”;
• BHP Minerals to facilitate a round table on proposals to use the abandoned Island Copper mine as a landfill site (1993-94);
• Director and Vice-President, Environment and Government Affairs for Waterfurnace International 1995-1998 to “build awareness of the benefits of renewable earth energy technology”. According to his website, Moore remains a member of the Board of Directors.
• Consultant to the National Association of Forest Industries in Australia for a national tour defending the logging of native forests (1996);
• consultant to the Canadian Mining Association and the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada “on the role of biodiversity in environmental policy in the mining industry” (1996);
• consultant to BHP Minerals (Canada) Ltd. to author a paper on the environmental impact of submarine tailings disposal over the 23-year life of the Island Copper Mine on Vancouver Island (1996);
• speaker for numerous timber industry associations including the American Forest and Paper Association, the Council of European Paper Industries, State Forestry Associations in Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, New York, Maine, and Florida, the National Hardwood Lumber Association (1998-1999);
• gave evidence in support of bio-technology before the New Zealand Royal Commission on Genetic Modification and undertook at tour of Southeast Asia, hosted by the International Service for Assistance with Agri-Biotech Applications. “Led seminars in Bangkok and Jakarta on the benefits of biotechnology for farmers in developing countries”, Moore’s website states (2000);
• speaker for groups including the Filipino Society of Foresters and the Agri-Food Canada (2000); and
• consultant to the largest manufacturer of PVC in Canada, IPEX, to “intervene in the environmental policy of the Toronto 2008 Olympic Bid”. The environmental guidelines adopted for the Sydney Olympics recommended against the use of PVC wherever possible.

Contact Information

Greenspirit
4068 W. 32nd Ave
Vancouver BC
V6S 1Z6 Canada
tel: 604.221.1990
fax: 604.222.9353
E-mail: patrickmoore@greenspirit.com
Web: http://www.greenspirit.com/index.cfm

Greenspirit Strategies Ltd.
305 - 873 Beatty Street
Vancouver BC
V6B 2M6 Canada
tel: 604.681.4122
fax: 604.681.4123
E-mail: tom@greenspiritstrategies.com
Web: http://www.greenspiritstrategies.com

External links

• (1)The Vancouver Sun, June 23, 1988
• (2)Canada News Wire, October 2, 1990.
• (3)Canadian Press Newswire, January 8, 1991.
• Bob Burton, “Sometimes the Truth Leaks Out: Failed PR Stunts 'Down Under' (http://www.prwatch.org/prwissues/1997Q4/badpr.html)", PR Watch, Volume XX Number 4, fourth quarter 1997.
• Bob Burton, “[Timber group formed by B-M, battles greenies via ads]”, O’Dwyers PR Services Report, Volume 9 Number 6, June 1995, pages 1, 14-17.
• (5) Stephen Hume, “Forestry flacks record; defending the indefensible, The Vancouver Sun, July 22, 1991, page A9.
• (6) Stewart Bell and David Hogben, “MacBlo say’s environmentalists should retract ‘bribing’ accusation’, The Vancouver Sun, August 18, 1993.
• (7) Fax from Patrick Moore to Stewart McNeish, BCTV News, January 14, 1994.
• (8) “Forest Alliance ad not rejected – nor received”, Business Information Wire, April 7, 1994.
• Wood Promotion Network, “Best Practices in Communications: Wood Products and Forests (http://www.wpnupdate.com/Aug23/Best_Practices_Brochure_2.pdf)”, August 2002.
• Center for Global Food Issues to Preview ‘Earth Friendly/Farm Friendly' Program: Seal of Approval Offers Farmers and Consumers More Choices (http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/10-29-2003/0002046869&EDATE=), PRNewswire, October 29, 2003.
• Congress of Racial Equality, "CORE holds teach-in, demands end to “Eco-Imperialism”: Greenpeace co-founder denounces his former colleagues (http://www.eco-imperialism.com/html/12.html)", Press Release, January 21, 2004.
• Patrick Moore, "The blindness of the greens (http://www.theage.com.au/text/articles/2004/02/15/1076779833837.html)", The Age, Melbourne, February 16, 2004. (This column is an abbreviated version of the following article published in The American Enterprise Institute magazine).
• Patrick Moore, "Battle for Biotech Progress (http://www.taemag.com/issues/articleID.17889/article_detail.asp)", The American Enterprise, American Enterprise Institute, March 2004.
• Steve Sawyer, "Why opposition to GE crops is based on sound science (http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/02/22/1077384634002.html)", The Age, February 23, 2004.
• Drake Bennett, "Eco-Traitor (http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.03/moore_pr.html)", Wired, Issue 12.03, March 2004

Acknowledgment

The original article was taken from Disinfopedia [8] (http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=Patrick_Moore), and was published under the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL).