January 13, 2006

Global warming a good thing?

Patrick Moore co-founded Greenpeace and dropped out because he disliked "environmental extremism" that was not supported by Science or Logic. I had written about him before here and here He gave a talk yesterday in Hawai'i -- the Honolulu Advertiser has the story:
Greenpeace co-founder praises global warming
Global warming and nuclear energy are good and the way to save forests is to use more wood.

That was the message delivered to a biotechnology industry gathering yesterday in Waikiki. However, it wasn't the message that was unconventional, but the messenger — Greenpeace co-founder Patrick Moore. Moore said he broke with Greenpeace in the 1980s over the rise of what he called "environmental extremism," or stands by environmental groups against issues such as genetic crop research, genetically modified foods and nuclear energy that aren't supported by science or logic.

Hawai'i, which is one of the top locations nationwide for genetically modified crop research, has become a focal point in the debate about the risks and value of such work. Friction between environmentalists and other concerned groups and the biotech industry surfaced most recently in relation to the use of local crops to grow industrial and pharmaceutical compounds. Last year that opposition halted a Big Island project planning to use algae for trial production of pharmaceutical drugs.
A bit more:
In direct opposition to common environmentalist positions, Moore contended that global warming and the melting of glaciers is positive because it creates more arable land and the use of forest products drives up demand for wood and spurs the planting of more trees. He added that any realistic plan to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and the emission of so-called greenhouse gases should include increased use of nuclear energy.
He is preaching to the choir as far as I am concerned. Nuclear is the most environmentally friendly and cost effective solution for electrical power that I can think of. As for logging -- we live bordered on two sides by state forest lands and although there are clearcuts, these will be back to mature forests in 30-50 years. Trees are a sustainable crop. Posted by DaveH at January 13, 2006 2:25 PM
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