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Patrick Moore: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

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Patrick Moore

Patrick Moore was one of the early members of the environmental action group Greenpeace. He is now a prominent climate change skeptic and an outspoken opponent of the Green New Deal. There’s a lively debate over whether Moore was actually a founding member of the organization; Moore says that he co-founded Greenpeace, but the organization itself says that this is not true. Moore left Greenpeace in 2006 because, he said, the group had been taken over by “sensationalism.” His foes say that he sold out to the energy sector; Moore says that he simply wanted to find a “balanced” solution to the world’s climate and energy problems.

Here’s what you need to know about Patrick Moore:

1. Moore Says That Google Has ‘Erased” His Image & Name from the ‘Founder of Greenpeace’ Search Results

Moore recently tweeted that “Tech Tyranny’ had erased him from search results for the “founder of Greenpeace.” Moore wrote that up until mid-March, a Google search for “Founders of Greenpeace” yielded photos of him, along with the group’s other founders. But on March 16, Moore said, the search results no longer included his photo or his name.

Greenpeace itself says that Moore did not co-found the group. In a page on its website, Greenpeace writes, “Patrick Moore frequently portrays himself as a founder or co-founder of Greenpeace, and many news outlets have repeated this characterization. Although Mr. Moore played a significant role in Greenpeace Canada for several years, he did not found Greenpeace. Phil Cotes, Irving Stowe, and Jim Bohlen founded Greenpeace in 1970.” The Greenpeace website also stresses that Moore was affiliated with the group “long ago” and that he should not be treated as a representative of the organization. Moore contests that view, arguing that since he was a member of the group’s original voyage, he should be considered a co-founder of the group.

2. Moore Called Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez a ‘Pompous Little Twit’

Patrick Moore appeared on Fox & Friends to discuss Alexandria Ocasio Cortez’s “Green New Deal.” Moore was scornful of the New York congresswoman’s proposal, saying that it was a “silly plan” and that Ocasio Cortez herself was a “pompous little twit.”

In a long-form interview with the Heartland Institute (where Moore is a consultant), Moore went further into his views on Ocasio Cortez. He said, “She is basically just an actor. She is working for the Sunrise Movement…it’s a bit like Occupy warmed-over. She’s just a spokesperson. She’s not a real activist politician herself. She was a bartender when she auditioned for this role. She is a front for this movement to take over the Democratic party from the extreme left.”

Moore added, “Alexandria Ocasio Cortez is not schooled in these subjects. The Green New Deal was produced in a weekend of brainstorming, taking every crackpot idea from the extreme left…it’s a hodgepodge of environmental and social policies.”

3. Moore Is a Spokesman for the Nuclear Industry

Moore spent years of his life as a member of Greenpeace, serving as the organization’s director for 15 years. But by 2007, Greenpeace declared that Moore had gone “off the rails” and distanced itself from him. Moore himself says that he separated himself from Greenpeace because the group had become “extremist” and “irrational.” Moore argued that in fact, the work of activists in the 1970s and 1980s made a huge difference and went a long way to improve the environment; he said that groups like Greenpeace were refusing to acknowledge the “good work” that had already been acheived. Moore also complained that Greenpeace was leaving behind its humanitarian inclination and was putting more emphasis on the environment than on the needs of human being. You can listen to Moore talking about his experiences with Greenpeace here.

Greenpeace says that Moore is now a spokesman for the nuclear and the logging industries. Moore co-chairs the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition, which advocates for the use of nuclear energy. Moore also co-founded the Allow Golden Rice Society, which advocates for allowing the use of a strain of genetically modified rice. He is a policy adviser to the Heartland Institute, which describes itself as a “free market think tank.”

4. Moore’s Family Has Been in the Fishing & Logging Industries for Years

According to his official biography, Patrick Moore grew up in British Columbia. He was born and raised in Winter Harbour on Vancouver Island where, he wrote, his family “has been involved in logging and fishing for many years.” His father, Bill Moore, was the president of the British Columbia Truck Loggers association and the past president of the Pacific Logging Congress. Patrick and his wife, Eileen, now live in Vancouver. You can read Moore’s own account of his childhood and later life here.

5. President Trump Tweeted About How Impressed He Was by Moore

After Moore appeared on Fox & Friends, Donald Trump took to Twitter to voice his admiration for him. The president wrote:

“Patrick Moore, co-founder of Greenpeace: “The whole climate crisis is not only Fake News, it’s Fake Science. There is no climate crisis, there’s weather and climate all around the world, and in fact carbon dioxide is the main building block of all life.” @foxandfriends Wow!”

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