Patrick Moore, a supporter of anthropogenic climate change, co-founded Greenpeace?



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On March 12, 2019, US President Donald Trump tweeted part of the TV interview of "Fox and Friends" with a man named Patrick Moore. "Fox and Friends" and, by extension, Trump, claimed that Moore co-founded Greenpeace:

People who adopt views allegedly opposed to their own political context are a popular food for punditry. The problem with this specific example is that Moore does not have co-found Green peace. Although he has already been involved in the group, his views have diverged considerably since his departure in 1986. according to to this organization:

Patrick Moore often presents himself as the founder or co-founder of Greenpeace, and many media have repeated this characterization. Although Mr. Moore played an important role in Greenpeace Canada for several years, he did not establish Greenpeace. Phil Cotes, Irving Stowe and Jim Bohlen founded Greenpeace in 1970.

Moore was one of the oldest and most influential members of Greenpeace, becoming President of Greenpeace Canada. Greenpeace, as an organization, has its origins during a trip by activists to Amchitka Island in the Aleutian Islands, as part of a largely failed effort to end nuclear weapons testing in the region.

These activists, who then called the "Do not Wave" committee, raised funds and commissioned a ship, the Phyllis Cormack, for this purpose from 1970 onwards. Graduate student in ecology, Moore applied because and received a place on the ship, later dubbed "The Greenpeace". In fairness, many people associated with these beginnings are said to be co-founders of Greenpeace. An archive page of Greenpeace archived from 2007, which lists Moore under "co-founders and early members," says:

There is an old joke that in any bar in Vancouver Canada, you can sit next to the creator of Greenpeace. In fact, there was no single founder, and it can be said that the name, idea, spirit, tactics and internationalism of the organization have distinct lineages.

Moore left Greenpeace in 1986. About this decision, Moore wrote in 2005:

By the mid-1980s, the environmental movement had abandoned science and logic in favor of emotion and sensationalism. I became aware of the emerging concept of sustainable development: balancing environmental, social and economic priorities. Converted to the idea that win-win solutions could be found by bringing together all interests, I went from confrontation to consensus.

In 2004, Wired magazine described Moore moves away from Greenpeace in more cynical terms:

In 1986, the Ph.D. ecologist abruptly turned his back on the environmental movement. He has not just retired. he joined the other side. He is today the spokesperson for some of the same interests that Greenpeace was founded to fight against, notably the wood and plastic industries. He claims that the Amazon rainforest is doing well, that the Three Gorges Dam is the smartest solution China can make for its energy supply, and that opposing genetically modified foods is tantamount to mass murder. .

Moore is now or has been paid by several entities or causes that Greenpeace now opposes. According to the climate media blog DeSmog:

After leaving Greenpeace, Moore began working with the Nuclear Energy Institute's main group, the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition (CASEnergy). Moore resigned from his leadership role at CASEnergy in January 2013, but [he said that he] would remain an active member.

Moore has worked for the mining industry, the forest industry, PVC manufacturers, the nuclear industry and the defense of biotechnology. In October 2008, Greenpeace issued a statement outlining Moore's claim that he "leverages his longstanding ties with Greenpeace to sell himself as a pro-business speaker and spokesperson, usually taking positions that Greenpeace opposes ".

Moore has been criticized for his relationship with "polluters and clarion cutters" through his consulting firm. His main income since the early 1990s has [come from] consult and speak in public for various corporations and lobby groups such as the Nuclear Energy Institute. In 2014, Mr. Moore was also a member of the board of directors of NextEnergy, a Canadian energy services company.

In a notable media appearance, he defended the safety of glyphosate, a herbicide, claiming that he could drink a pint of the product directly without a problem. When asked by the interviewer, he changed course, saying he would not do it because he was "not an idiot" before ending the interview abruptly:

Moore has also been for a long time Related with a group of academics who consider themselves skeptical of the climate. In 2015, he was a speaker at a conference of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, which included sessions such as "CO2 is the gas of life, "echoing Moore's statement on" Fox and Friends "in 2019.

As Moore says, it's true that CO2 is an essential part of life that provides the raw material for plant growth. This, in turn, provides the animals with food and oxygen. However, such an observation, which you may find described in any science in college textbook, do not encroach on the fundamental, physical truth higher concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere will warm the planet. Moore's statement against climate change "Fox and Friends" is an argument of bad faith, and attributing such statements to a "co-founder of Greenpeace" is factually inaccurate.

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