re: Greenpeace and Patrick Moore:
I found this gem, a quote of Moore's:
"clearcuts are temporary meadows."
Also: "Not one species has gone extinct as a result of logging."
He's moved a bit, ideologically, since his tree-hugger days.
I'm still interested in what happened at Faslane. And I'm open to changing my opinion about Greenpeace, if you provide some credible details.
The article you posted, directly and repeatedly contradicts your assertion that Greenpeace and the environmental movement is "very unpeaceful":
<We (Greenpeace) linked peace, ecology, and a talent for media communications and went on to build the world's largest environmental activist organization.>
<...the largely pacifist, intellectual mainstream of the (environmental) movement...>
<Violence against people and property were the only taboos. Non-violent direct action and peaceful civil disobedience were the hallmarks of the movement.>
re: <The politics of blame and shame must be replaced with the politics of working together and win-win.>
With the Clinton (or even Bush1) Administrations, that was true. The consensus of the global environmental movement is, however, that Bush2 is a radical ideological anti-environmentalist, the most UnGreen U.S. President in 60 years (worse than Reagan, and far worse than Nixon), and there is no point in trying to negotiate with him.
Saying "We've won, let's rest on our laurels, nothing more nees to be done" is the stance taken in recent years, to try and roll back every progressive victory since the New Deal. It is the stance taken to erode gains by the Greens, feminists, worker rights, Social Security, health care reformers, etc.
re: <As an environmentalist in the political center I now find myself branded a traitor and a sellout>
Patrick Moore did not move from the radical activist edge of environmentalism to the mainstream. He moved all the way to the other side. Follow the money. He now works with, and works for, and gives speeches to, and receives money from, anti-environmental corporations and organizations:
Patrick Moore's employer, the Forest Alliance of British Columbia, is funded primarily by the following timber companies: INTERFOR, Doman, MacMillan Bloedel, Weyerhaeuser, TimberWest Forest, Canfor Corporation, Weldwood, Crestbrook Forest Industries, Riverside Forest Products, Skeena Cellulose and West Fraser Timber.
fanweb.org
He is pro-biotechnology: 216.239.57.104
He is pro-logging: 216.239.57.104
<... (since the fall of the Berlin Wall,) Suddenly the international peace movement had a lot less to do.>
Claiming that the Peace movement has achieved victory, and has nothing more to do, is as absurd as claiming the same for the Green movement.
<Pro-Soviet groups in the West were discredited.>
He implies that "pro-peace" = "pro-Soviet". More mud-slinging.
<Many of their members moved into the environmental movement bringing with them their eco-Marxism and pro-Sandinista sentiments.>
It is true, there is a lot of overlap, between the Peace and Green movements. But there is little connection (and even that has faded since 1990) between them and the Marxists. At most, occasional tactical arms-length alliances. "eco-Marxism"??? He has invented a term, to make a false connection. The Soviets had an environmental track record worse than the U.S., and Greenpeace consistently opposed Soviet whaling, dumping nuclear waste in the oceans, nuclear weapons testing, etc. As I detailed in a previous post, with links.
re: eco-extremism: What was extreme in 1970, is now the mainstream. And what is extreme today, will be the mainstream 30 years from now. The world is still mining and trashing the air, water, and land, in ways that are unsustainable. Global warming is real, the consequences will be huge, and our response so far has been denial and evasion. This is equally true for capitalist America, sort-of-Communist China, and ex-Communist Russia. With critical resources, like fresh water and oil, we are already at the point where wars are being fought over them. Unless we learn to live within our means, in a sustainable manner, these wars will increase and spread. That implies the need for a vast Broadening and Deepening of the Green Ethic. |
