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Some environmentalists see atomic energy as the answer to global warming. In theory, the March 11, 2011, disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant should have bolstered environmentalistsÂ’ opposition to new nuclear-energy projects. But in the wake of the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl, some of the worldÂ’s leading Greens have done just the opposite: they have come out in favor of nuclear power. Perhaps the most prominent convert is British activist and journalist George Monbiot, who even cites the disaster as one reason for his change of heart. Just ten days after Fukushima, in a column for the Guardian,...

Earth Day outcroppings By Patrick Moore Published April 22, 2006 Back at the time of the first Earth Day in 1970, I was a grad student at the University of British Columbia preparing to go on an ocean voyage against U.S. hydrogen bomb testing that would result in the birth of Greenpeace. For the next 15 years, I would lead Greenpeace on a range of campaigns, finally leaving the group in 1986. A lot has changed since those days, not least the significant improvement in agricultural technology. There should be no irony on this Earth Day that we should think...

(CNSNews.com) - "There is a lot of quality to be had in poverty," and the introduction of electricity is "destroying" the cultures of the world's poor, according to a U.S. environmentalist, who commented on the eve of the United Nations Earth Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa. But a pioneer of the environmental movement who left it because he viewed it as too radical, called the anti-electricity views an example of the "eco-imperialism" of the white upper-middle class who think it's "neat to have Africans with no electricity." Gar Smith, editor of the Earth Island Institute's online magazine The Edge,...

Before President Bush touched down in Pennsylvania Wednesday to promote his nuclear energy policy, the environmental group Greenpeace was mobilizing. "This volatile and dangerous source of energy" is no answer to the country's energy needs, shouted a Greenpeace fact sheet decrying the "threat" posed by the Limerick reactors Bush visited. But a factoid or two later, the Greenpeace authors were stumped while searching for the ideal menacing metaphor. We present it here exactly as it was written, capital letters and all: "In the twenty years since the Chernobyl tragedy, the world's worst nuclear accident, there have been nearly [FILL IN...

United Kingdom, Greenpeace self-professed "spin doctor" Ben Stewart did not like Canada Free Press’ take on a recent Greenpeace protest gone wrong. Thirty-five Greenpeace activists, likely expected no trouble when they decided to storm the International Petroleum Exchange (IPE) in London last week. With long ago studied stealth, they slipped into a closing door and then charged onto the trading floor, blowing ear-piercing whistles and sounding doleful foghorns. Rudely disturbed from their daily work and initially taken by surprise, traders, most of them below 25 years old, decided to rush the loud and boisterous protesters. Using anything close at hand,...

In the early 1970s when I helped found Greenpeace, I believed that nuclear energy was synonymous with nuclear holocaust, as did most of my compatriots. That's the conviction that inspired Greenpeace's first voyage up the spectacular rocky northwest coast to protest the testing of U.S. hydrogen bombs in Alaska's Aleutian Islands. Thirty years on, my views have changed, and the rest of the environmental movement needs to update its views, too, because nuclear energy may just be the energy source that can save our planet from another possible disaster: catastrophic climate change. Look at it this way: More than 600...

In 1971 an environmental and antiwar ethic was taking root in Canada, and I chose to participate. As I completed a Ph.D. in ecology, I combined my science background with the strong media skills of my colleagues. In keeping with our pacifist views, we started Greenpeace. But I later learned that the environmental movement is not always guided by science. As we celebrate Earth Day today, this is a good lesson to keep in mind. At first, many of the causes we championed, such as opposition to nuclear testing and protection of whales, stemmed from our scientific knowledge of nuclear...

Despite the anti-forestry scare tactics of celebrity movies, trees are the most powerful concentrators of carbon on Earth. Dr. Patrick Moore is a co-founder of Greenpeace and chairman and chief scientist of Greenspirit Strategies Ltd. in Vancouver. It seems like there's a new doomsday documentary every month. But seldom does one receive the coverage that Hollywood activist Leonardo DiCaprio's latest climate-change rant, The 11th Hour, is getting. When we're bombarded anew with theatrical images of our earth's ecosystems when the film opens across B.C. this Friday, I'm concerned that we're losing sight of some indisputable facts. Here's a key piece...

Whalers slam Greenpeace pursuit JAPANESE whalers have called on Greenpeace to stop pursuing its fleet in the Southern Ocean, accusing the environmental organisation of engaging in piracy. In an open letter to Greenpeace, Institute of Cetacean Research director-general Hiroshi Hatanaka said the environmentalists were behaving dangerously in pursuing whaling ships. "Greenpeace's intention to highlight environmental degradation of the seas with the aim of protecting the marine environment is in itself laudable," Dr Hatanaka said in the letter. "However, your organisation's actual behaviour is nothing but an opinionated display of self-righteousness. "I strongly request Greenpeace stops pursuing our research vessels immediately...

Environmentalists have their thongs in a wad because the Bush administration has given oil companies permission to "annoy" and "potentially harm" polar bears. This past week, the Fish and Wildlife Service issued regulations that give legal protection to seven oil companies that are planning to search for oil and gas in the Chukchi Sea off the northwest coast of Alaska. Out of the estimated 25,000 polar bears in the Arctic, about 2,000 supposedly live in or around the Chukchi Sea. Of course, the environmentalists are throwing a fit because they believe that this gives oil companies a blank check to...

NOTE: Here is the text of the Los Angeles Times opinion piece as originally accepted by the editors. Please note the the highlighted sections (in red) were cut or changed at the last minute by the editors. I had no opportunity to choose a different edit, as I would have if given the chance. I'm sorry the article doesn't give the public the names of the specific initiatives (CSA and SFI) that they could refer to for information. Otherwise I am very pleased the Times chose to run my article.Click here for a link to the LA Times article...

Environmentalists are pushing a new way to deal with global warming and overpopulation: the U.S. needs to “de-grow” its economy. What is “de-growth”? It means forcing people to work less to make them more equal, consume fewer goods and use less electricity. Think of it like camping, but for the rest of your life. Environmentalists at the New Economics Foundation in London and the Worldwatch Institute in Washington, D.C. argue that cutting the 40-hour work week and using less electricity is necessary. This includes a living wage requirement and a more progressive tax code. “There’s no such thing as sustainable...

There is an irresistible quality to the story about Al Gore's energy-hungry Tennessee home, replete with a heated poolhouse that burns more natural gas -- $500 a month worth -- than most of us can afford to use while heating houses that shelter people, as opposed to swimming lanes. Did you know that Mr. Gore's house uses more electricity in a month than the average household does in a year?

VANCOUVER, April 28 /CNW/ - Dr. Patrick Moore, Chairman and Chief Scientist of Greenspirit Strategies Ltd. and Co-Founder of Greenpeace, appeared before a committee of US federal legislators today and called for a revitalized program of developing alternative energy sources to reduce the need to burn oil, natural gas and coal in electricity generation. "Nuclear energy is the only non-greenhouse-gas-emitting power source that can effectively replace fossil fuels and satisfy global demand," Moore told the US House of Representatives Subcommittee on Energy and Resources in Washington, DC. "There is now a great deal of scientific evidence showing nuclear power...

Moore Wisdom Needed By Roger Bate Ah, global warming. Well, we're going through one of the cooler periods for the planet…It would be wonderful if Canada was a little warmer," said Patrick Moore, with a wry smile. This was one of the more playful quips told me by one of Greenpeace's co-founders. He was with me as a speaker in New York for the Congress of Racial Equality's recent event on "eco-imperialism." Patrick Moore, a native of Vancouver, with a PhD in ecology, started the "Don't Make a Wave Committee" in 1971 in his hometown. The Committee was protesting nuclear...

Montreal (CNSNews.com) - Nuclear energy would reduce the world's dependence on fossil fuels and help cut greenhouse gas emissions, said advocates at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Montreal. "Expanding nuclear energy is one way that we can actually [reduce] reliance on fossil fuels in a big way," said Patrick Moore, a founding member of Greenpeace. Moore left the group in the 1980s after becoming disillusioned with what he considered the group's radical approach to environmental concerns. He currently heads the Canadian-based environmental advocacy group Greenspirit Strategies, and he blames liberal green groups for halting the expansion of nuclear...

The environmental activist group Greenpeace wanted to be prepared to counter President Bush's visit last week to Pennsylvania to promote his nuclear energy policy. "This volatile and dangerous source of energy" is no answer to the country's energy needs, shouted a Greenpeace fact sheet, decrying the "threat" posed by the reactors Bush visited in Limerick. But after that assertion, the Greenpeace authors were apparently stumped while searching for the ideal menacing metaphor. "In the twenty years since the Chernobyl tragedy, the world's worst nuclear accident, there have been nearly [FILL IN ALARMIST AND ARMAGEDDONIST FACTOID HERE]," the sheet said. The...

Patrick Moore, co-founder of the environmental organization Greenpeace, isn’t too hot about global warming. Appearing on Fox Business Network with Stuart Varney on Thursday, he said global warming is a “natural phenomenon,” there’s no proof of man-made global warming, and suggested that “alarmism” is driving politicians to create bad environmental policies. He also said he’s not the only environmentalist that believes like him: Moore is the author of the book, “Confessions of a Greenpeace Dropout: The Making of a Sensible Environmentalist,” in which he exposes the green movement and explains why he left the organization.

Greenpeace co-founder Patrick Moore has said the environmental movement’s "campaign against biotechnology clearly exposes its intellectual and moral bankruptcy." It shows little regard for truth or the harm its ideologies inflict on poor people. As if to underscore how right Dr. Moore is, Greenpeace activist Farida Akthen recently blasted the Bangladesh agricultural ministry for approving research on one of the most promising of all biotech miracles: golden rice. By adding a daffodil gene to ordinary rice, researchers gave it a golden color and enriched it with beta-carotene, which people can convert to vitamin A. Simply by eating a few ounces...

Peter Wagner, a general partner at venture firm Accel, predicts there will be nuclear powered cars on the streets of San Francisco in a decade. You've just got to think of it more as indirect nuclear power. Cars won't have reactors, he explained during a panel discussion at the Venture Capital Investing Conference taking place in San Francisco. Instead, nuclear power will become a more acceptable form of energy to the American public as gas prices continue to climb and global warming worsens. Nuclear power will provide electricity to the grid, and individuals will charge electric cars by plugging them...