confessions of a greenpeace dropout: the making of a sensible environmentalist

Confessions of a Greenpeace Dropout -The Making of a Sensible Environmentalist

Minneapolis - November 5, 2013

Patrick Moore, Ph.D.

Allow Golden Rice Now!

Agri-Growth CouncilMinneapolis - November 5, 2013

Environmental Extremism

•Anti-Human•Anti-Science and

Technology•Anti-Trade and Anti-Globalization•Anti-Business and Anti-

Capitalism•Just Plain Anti-Civilization

Wood is the most important renewable energy source and the most important renewable material resource

We should be growing more trees and using more wood. Many activists argue that we should cut fewer

trees and use less wood.

Trees grow in a factory called the forest, by renewable solar energy

www.greenspirit.com

TREES ARE THE ANSWER

WOOD is GOOD

Steel, concrete, and other non-renewable materials are made in real factories with huge

inputs of energy, mainly fossil fuels.

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“In the long term, a sustainable forest management strategy aimed at maintaining or increasing forest carbon stocks, while producing an annual sustained yield of timber, fibre, or energy from the forest, will generate the largest sustained mitigation benefit.” (38 words)Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - 4th Assessment Report, 2007

Grow More Trees - Use More Wood(6 words)Patrick Moore - Repeatedly

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the foremost peer-reviewed experts on climate change, says the easiest and cheapest way to fight climate change is to "leave trees standing and protect its biodiversity."Stephanie Goodman, Greenpeace, Vancouver Sun, Feb. 2011

Sustainable Salmon Aquaculture - British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Washington State, Maine, Norway, Chile, Scotland, New Zealand, Australia.

“I would never feed a child farmed salmon. It’s poison”

David Suzuki

Toronto Star, September 15, 2004

There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth's atmosphere and disruption of the Earth's climate. Global Warming Petition Project – Opposed to Kyoto – Signed by 31,000 Scientists and Professionals.

“I am certain there is too much certainty in the world”Michael Crichton, “State of Fear”, 2004

Most of the observed increase in global average temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic GHG concentrations.United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - 2007

There are many opinions about climate change

CO2 Levels in the Global Atmosphere

A Billion Years of Global Climate Change

22C

17C

12C

TextText14.5C

CO2 LEVELS HAVE FLUCTUATED GREATLY

What happened here?

1998warmest year to date

Why did it get warmer here?

Ocean Temperature is not Increasing Like the Models Predicted

Summer 2007

Winter2007

This is the sum total of our knowledge of the extent of sea ice in the northern and southern hemispheres.

Source: Polar Research Group - University of Illinois http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/

Good thing we weren’t around 10,000 years ago

Tropical Cyclone Energy is Not Increasing

"There is medium evidence and high agreement that long-term trends in normalized losses (from extreme weather events) have not been attributed to natural or anthropogenic climate change"IPCC - Special Report on Extremes, March 2012

Hydro supplies 20% of global electricity production. It is the most important and cost-effective source of

renewable electricity

Three Gorges Hydroelectric Dam - Yangtze River, China22,500 Megawatts = 40 Coal-Fired Power Plants

China, Canada and Brazil Lead in Hydroelectric Generation

Greenpeace’s Fossil Fuel Dilemma

Greenpeace says: "This ship is driven by super-efficient electric motors and sails that set a standard for sustainable shipping. It will be powered by the wind.”http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/Blogs/makingwaves/clean-energy-now-rain

bow-warrior-in-action/blog/37537/

Nuclear energy will be the most important source of electricity in the future. There is fuel for thousands of years.

21 countries produce 15% or more of their electricity from nuclear energy.

52Used Nuclear Fuel is one of Our Most important Future

Energy Resources

Nuclear and hydroelectric energy are the only non-greenhouse gas-emitting energy sources that can

effectively replace fossil fuels and satisfy global demand

Electricity

Hydrogen

Desalinization

Heating

Heavy Oil Upgrader - Suncor

Oil Sands Mining - Canada

Coal Mining - USACO² Emissions from Burning US Coal Production are

About 15 Times Higher than from Burning Canadian Oil Sands Production

Oil Sands

Edmonton

Reclaimed Tailings Pond at Suncor Oil Sands Project

Bison Managed by Fort McKay First Nation on Reclaimed Tailings Pond at Oil Sands Project

Reforested Area Reclaimed from Active Mining Operations

Good Enough For Me!

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Allow Golden Rice Now!

Organizations That Say GM Food is Safe

The American Medical AssociationThe American Assn for the Advancement of ScienceThe World Health OrganizationThe National Academy of SciencesThe Royal Society of Medicine (UK)The European CommissionThe American Council on Science and HealthThe Academy of Nutrition and DieteticsThe American Society for Cell BiologyThe American Society for MicrobiologyThe American Society of Plant SciencesThe International Seed FoundationThe International Society of African ScientistsThe Federation of Animal Science SocietiesThe Society of ToxicologyThe French Academy of ScienceThe Union of German AcademiesThe International Council for Science and many more

The Main Biotech Crops Grown Today are Corn, Soybeans, Cotton, Canola, and Papaya. Many others are in development.

Since 2002, when GM corn was introduced in the Philippines, farmers income has increased by $155 million per year, and pesticide use has declined more than 50%.

A farmer with Bt corn in the Philippines – Greenpeace warned of “dying children and cancer clusters”.

Indian farmers forced the government to legalize Bt cotton

Since 2002 when GM cotton was introduced in India, production has more than doubled. India was a cotton-importing country. Today India exports 20% of its production. 70 million people are employed in cotton farming.

A good illustration of the effectiveness of GM technology. The potato plants on the right have been modified to resist the Colorado potato beetle. Those on the left have not been modified. It is easy to see why farmers grow GM crops.

Vitamin A Deficiency in Preschool-Age Children

250 million preschool children are vitamin A deficient.World Health Organization

Photo taken in India: December 2012 by Prof Ingo Potrykus

More than 2 million people die from diseases related to vitamin A deficiency every year. Golden Rice Project

Right to left: Prof. Peter Beyer, and Dr. Ingo Potrykus, the co-inventors of Golden Rice. Dr. and Ms. Datta helped in the lab during the nine years of discovery. Their work may one day end nutrient deficiency for hundreds of millions of people.

Golden Rice has the potential to eliminate Vitamin A deficiency in developing countries, saving 250,000 - 500,000 children from blindness and death every year due to vitamin A deficiency.

The only difference between conventional rice and Golden Rice is that Golden Rice contains the essential nutrient beta carotene.

Under the agreement reached among patent holders and the Golden Rice Project, any farmer in a developing country earning less than $10,000 a year will not pay a license fee for Golden Rice and will be able to save and replant the seed.

Organizations Involved With the Development of Golden Rice

The Golden Rice Humanitarian BoardThe International Rice Research InstituteThe Rockefeller Foundation Syngenta FoundationBill and Melinda Gates Foundation Philippine Rice Research instituteBangladesh Rice Research InstituteHelen Keller InternationalBiosafety Resources NetworkBiotechnology Institute of the PhilippinesSeed StoriesUnited States Agency for International Development (USAID)US National Institutes of Health

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A Golden Rice Field Trial at the Philippine Rice Research Institute

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Urban activists, supported by Greenpeace (these are not farmers) destroying research crops in the Philippines in August 2013. Filipino

farmers don’t have tattoos, video cameras, or dyed hair.

Greenpeace anti-GMO Activists Claiming that Golden Rice is Deadly The ultimate disinformation and ignorance

Greenpeace claims that there has not been enough testing on GM foods, including Golden Rice. Yet when scientists conduct field tests and clinical nutrition tests, Greenpeace destroys the field tests and trashes the scientists who do the nutritional tests. Does Greenpeace really believe that “possible unforeseen circumstances” are worse that 500,000 children going blind every year?

40 grams of Golden Rice a day is all that is needed to prevent blindness and death

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Summary- A Sensible Environmentalist Would:

1. Grow more trees and use more wood

2. Choose hydroelectric power where it is available.

3. Choose nuclear energy over coal for electricity production.

4. Use geothermal heat pumps in most buildings.

5. Develop cost-effective technologies that require less fossil fuels.

6. Use genetic science to improve food and medicine.

7. Not ban useful chemicals unless there is evidence of harm.

8. Embrace aquaculture as a sustainable industry.

9. View climate change as natural and not catastrophic.

10. Recognize that poverty is the worst environmental problem.

11. Not kill or capture whales or dolphins anywhere, ever.

Thank You!

www.amazon.comwww.ecosense.me