Tuesday, March 12, 2019

"The Whole Climate Crisis Is Not Only Fake News, It's Fake Science"

I've long been a fan of Patrick Moore, the co-founder of Greenpeace, who's modified his stance somewhat:
If Patrick Moore believes in carbon dioxide as a benefit to the climate, how could he have helped found Greenpeace? He argued that it was the organization that changed from its original mission, not him.

"I was one of the Founders doing a Ph.D. in the late 60s, early 70s in ecology. I was radicalized by the Cold War and the threat of all-out nuclear war and the emerging consciousness of the environment and we did a lot of good things," he recalled. "We stopped nuclear testing in Alaska. We have stopped it in the south pacific. We saved the whales. And we stopped a lot of toxic waste being put into the ocean. And the air."

"But, by the mid 80s we had gained a lot of notoriety and we were bringing in a lot of money and we were hijacked by the extreme Left who basically took green peace from a science-based organization to an organization based on sensationalism, misinformation, and fear," Moore insisted.
So what is he saying about climate change?
On Tuesday morning, Patrick Moore, a founding member of the environmentalist organization Greenpeace, slammed climate alarmists for promoting a fake emergency. President Donald Trump tweeted his remarks shortly after he made them.

"In fact, the whole climate crisis as they call it is not only fake news, it’s fake science. There is no climate crisis," Moore, author of the book Confessions of a Greenpeace Drop-Out: The Making of a Sensible Environmentalist, told "Fox & Friends" Tuesday morning...

The Greenpeace founding member did not deny that climate change is real, but he insisted that it is not a crisis.

"Yes, of course, climate change is real. It’s been happening since the beginning of time. But it’s not dangerous and it’s not made by people," Moore insisted.

What is climate change, if it's not a man-made imminent crisis? "Climate change is a perfectly natural phenomenon and this modern warm period actually began about 300 years ago when Little Ice Age began to come to an end," he explained. "There is nothing to be afraid of."

As for the alarmists, "that’s all they are doing is instilling fear. Most of the scientists who are saying it’s a crisis are on perpetual government grants."
Clearly I agree with him, as I've been saying the same thing for years.

Update, 3/18/19:  OK, I think this settles the debate in the comments.  It seems that Greenpeace International used to consider Patrick Moore a founder--I've screenshotted the Wayback Machine (internet archive) showing Greenpeace International's website from September 24, 2005:
It's their own site, in their own words.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

From Greenpeace Actual:
“Patrick Moore was not a co-founder of Greenpeace. He does not represent Greenpeace. He is a paid lobbyist, not an independent source. His statements about @AOC & the #GreenNewDeal have nothing to do with our positions.”

I get that you love casting Moore as a former leftie who crossed over. He’s not. He’s an old corporate lobbyist and nuclea4 power shill. He’s a darling of FoxNews. Nobody on the left has any respect for him. How can I make this any clearer?

You like him? Of course you do.

George Will turning on the Party of Trump is a big turnaround. Patrick Moore turning on environmentalists ... happened long ago. And in Canada.

Co-founder, indeed.

Darren said...

Snopes and Wikipedia, both beloved by the left, disagree.

Snopes:

Patrick Moore, who once described anthropogenic climate change as “fake science” on the morning opinion program "Fox and Friends," co-founded the environmental action group Greenpeace.
Rating
Mixture
What's True

Patrick Moore was an early and influential member of Greenpeace who now espouses climate-skeptic views.
What's False

Greenpeace does not consider Moore a co-founder of the organization, and the entity that became Greenpeace existed prior to Moore being affiliated with that group.


Darren said...

Wikipedia:
According to Greenpeace: How a Group of Ecologists, Journalists, and Visionaries Changed the World by Rex Wyler, the Don't Make a Wave Committee was formed in January 1970 by Dorothy and Irving Stowe, Ben Metcalfe, Marie and Jim Bohlen, Paul Cote, and Bob Hunter and incorporated in October 1970.[9] The Committee had formed to plan opposition to the testing of a one megaton hydrogen bomb in 1969 by the United States Atomic Energy Commission on Amchitka Island in the Aleutians. Moore joined the committee in 1971 and, as Greenpeace co-founder Bob Hunter wrote, "Moore was quickly accepted into the inner circle on the basis of his scientific background, his reputation [as an environmental activist], and his ability to inject practical, no-nonsense insights into the discussions."

Moore traveled to Alaska on advanced research with Jim Bohlen, attending Wave Committee meetings. In 1971, Moore was a member of the crew of the Phyllis Cormack, a chartered fishing boat which the Committee sent across the North Pacific in order to draw attention to the US testing of a 5 megaton bomb planned for September of that year. Greenpeace was the name given to the boat for the voyage and it would be the first of the many Greenpeace protests.[11] Following the first voyage, key crew members decided to formally change the name of the Don't Make a Wave Committee to the Greenpeace Foundation. These decision makers included founders Bob Hunter, Rod Marining and Ben Metcalfe as well as Patrick Moore...

In January 1977 at the annual general meeting of the Greenpeace Foundation, Moore ran for president against Bob Hunter, eventually losing by a single vote.[19] Soon after, Hunter stepped down and Moore assumed the presidency, inheriting an organization that was deeply in debt.[19] Greenpeace organizations began to form throughout North America, including cities such as Toronto, Montreal, Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, Boston, and San Francisco. Not all of these offices accepted the authority of the founding organization in Canada. Moore's presidency and governance style proved controversial.[citation needed] Moore and his chosen board in Vancouver called for two meetings to formalize his governance proposals. During this time David Tussman, together with the rest of the founders, early activists of Greenpeace, and the majority of Greenpeace staff-members announced that the board of the San Francisco group intended to separate Patrick Moore's Greenpeace Foundation from the rest of the Greenpeace movement. After efforts to settle the matter failed, the Greenpeace Foundation filed a civil lawsuit in San Francisco charging that the San Francisco group was in violation of trademark and copyright by using the Greenpeace name without permission of the Greenpeace Foundation.

Darren said...



The lawsuit was settled at a meeting on 10 October 1979, in the offices of lawyer David Gibbons in Vancouver. Attending were Moore, Hunter, David McTaggart, Rex Weyler, and about six others. At this meeting it was agreed that Greenpeace International would be created. This meant that Greenpeace would remain a single organization rather than an amorphous collection of individual offices. McTaggart who had come to represent all the other Greenpeace groups against the Greenpeace Foundation, was named chairman. Moore became president of Greenpeace Canada (the new name for Greenpeace Foundation) and a director of Greenpeace International. Other directors were appointed from the US, France, the UK, and the Netherlands. He served for nine years as president of Greenpeace Canada, as well as six years as a director of Greenpeace International.

In 1985, Moore was on board the Rainbow Warrior when it was bombed and sunk by the French government.[citation needed] He and other directors of Greenpeace International were greeting the ship off the coast of New Zealand on its way to protest French nuclear testing at Mururoa Atoll. Expedition photographer Fernando Pereira was killed. Greenpeace's media presence peaked again.

In 1986, after leaving Greenpeace over differences in policy, Moore established Quatsino Seafarms—a family salmon farming business at his home in Winter Harbour—and became a director of the B.C. Salmon Farmer's Association.[21] He later commented that he left Greenpeace because it "took a sharp turn to the political left" and "evolved into an organization of extremism and politically motivated agendas".


I'd say that Moore's characterization of himself is valid.

Darren said...

Now Moore has crossed the leftie line:
Google Deletes Dr. Patrick Moore from Greenpeace Founders List Following President Trump's Praise

Mike Thiac said...

There is a reason I don't use Google for anything that approaches politics. Bing may not be perfect, but at least it didn't have an office in the Obama White House.

From a Bing search:

https://www.greenpeace.org/archive-international/en/about/history/founders/

The Founders of Greenpeace

"...The committee's founders were Dorothy and Irving Stowe, Marie and Jim Bohlen, Ben and Dorothy Metcalfe, and Bob Hunter. It's first directors were Stowe, Bohlen, and a student named Paul Cote.

Canadian ecologist Bill Darnell came up with the dynamic combination of words to bind together the group's concern for the planet and opposition to nuclear arms. In the words of Bob Hunter, "Somebody flashed two fingers as we were leaving the church basement and said "Peace!" Bill said"Let's make it a Green Peace. And we all went Ommmmmmmm." Jim Bohlen's son Paul, having trouble making the two words fit on a button, linked them together into the committee's new name: Greenpeace.

Marie Bohlen was the first to suggest taking a ship up to Amchtka to oppose the U.S. plans. The group organised a boat, the Phyllis Cormack, and set sail to Amchitka to "bear witness" (a Quaker tradition of silent protest) to the nuclear test. On board were:

• Captain John Cormack, the boat's owner
• Jim Bohlen, Greenpeace
• Bill Darnell, Greenpeace

• ***Patrick Moore, Greenpeace***

• Dr Lyle Thurston, medical practitioner
• Dave Birmingham, engineer
• Terry Simmons, cultural geographer
• Richard Fineberg, political science teacher
• Robert Hunter, journalist
• Ben Metcalfe, journalist
• Bob Cummings, journalist
• Bob Keziere, photographer

Darren said...

Please see the 3/18/19 update on this post. That should settle this debate once and for all.