02/07/05 The "sensible" environmentalist

Washington Ag February 7, 2005 Farmers attending the Washington State Potato Conference in Moses Lake last week enjoyed the keynote speaker, Doctor Patrick Moore, a founding member and former president of Greenpeace. Moore has since parted ways with his former environmental activists he now describes as environmental extremists, who have abandoned science and logic, and who he severely criticizes for their fear mongering of environmental issues. The man who led campaigns to save whales and baby seals now calls himself a "sensible environmentalist" supporting such things as nuclear power, pesticide use, forestry and the use of wood products, and genetic modified organisms, GMO's. Moore: "To tell you the truth there is still a lot of noise going on anti-GMO. I think it is all over but the whimpering myself. I think GMO's have won the debate especially with farmers but more and more now, it will be with consumers. And you are going to see this technology make wondrous changes to our nutrition, our welfare and to the environment in this century." Moore was critical however, on how some of our resources are spent, specifically mentioning the 390 billion dollars provided as agricultural subsidies in wealthier countries, which he called a 390 billion dollar strike against farmers in poor nations. I'm Bob Hoff.