What President Trump, Fox and Breitbart Are Not Saying About Climate Science Denier Patrick Moore

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What does it take to become a legitimate spokesperson on climate change science and energy policy in the eyes of President Donald Trump and partisan conservative media like Fox News andย Breitbart?

If the current worshipping of non-expert and climate science denier Patrick Moore is anything to go by, the only qualification you need is the ability to call first-term Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez a โ€œpompous little twitโ€ onย Twitter.

No other actual expertise is, apparently, necessary.ย This is fortunate, because Moore has no expertise on climateย science.

Since Moore attacked Ocasio-Cortez โ€” known as AOC โ€” and her advocacy for a โ€œGreen New Dealโ€ in a Tweet on February 24, the Canadian has been โ€œinterviewedโ€ on Fox News by Sean Hannity and Tuckerย Carlson.

After introducing Moore, Carlson managed to not ask a single question of theย Canadian.

Now, President Trump is elevating Mooreโ€™s statements, thanks to yet another appearance on the Fox channel, this time on Fox and Friends. The President tweeted:

Moore has never published an independent scientific journal article on climate change and his claims are contradicted by every major national science academy in the world and all of the evidence they drawย on.

Moore does have a 1972 PhD in ecology, but DeSmog could not find any scientific papers published by Moore going back at least as far as 1994. Moore has written many articles for the publications of think tanks and lobbyย groups.

In his Fox interview with Carlson, Moore said there would โ€œnot be any electric trucks anytime soon.โ€ Electric trucks are being manufactured now. Volvo is about to launch its second.

A review of Mooreโ€™s past statements on climate change show he has taken contradictory positions, sometimes within weeks, on climateย change.

Moore has claimed that nuclear energy is a solution to rising greenhouse gas emissions.ย But in other forums, he has claimed there is no evidence for human-caused climateย change.

Mooreโ€™s attempts in recent days to counter suggestions that he is paid for his views by industry are contradicted by his own CV.

Tucker Carlson
Tucker Carlson speaking at the 2018 Student Action Summit hosted by Turning Point USA in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Credit:ย Gage Skidmore,ย CC BYSAย 2.0

Contradictingย Statements

In July 2018, Moore claimed that wind farms were a โ€œwealth-destroying technologyโ€ that would โ€œrust inย place.โ€

But the previous year, an article uploaded to his own website (with a URL showing the year 2017)ย said that wind farms were โ€œworks of art compared to some of our urban environments,โ€ย were โ€œcommercially feasible,โ€ and that โ€œa million times more birds are killed by cats, windows, and cars than by all the windmills in theย world.โ€

Moore claimed campaigners against forestry, hydroelectric dams, and nuclear energy were โ€œsickโ€ to โ€œdeprive developing nations of clean electricity, stop renewable wind energy, block a solution to global warming, and contribute toย deforestation.โ€

In an almost identical article published around March 2005, Moore wrote that โ€œa significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions seems unlikely given our continued heavy reliance on fossil fuelย consumption.โ€

Moore then quoted scientist James Lovelock saying that โ€œCivilization is in imminent dangerโ€ and criticized environmental groups’ positions against nuclearย energy.ย 

โ€œWe can agree renewable energies, such as wind, geothermal, and hydro are part of the solution,โ€ wroteย Moore.

Yet in the same month in 2005, Moore wrote in the Toronto Sun that: โ€œThe worldโ€™s climate has always been changing; it is impossible to tell if our activities are responsible for globalย warming.โ€

Careerย Advocacy

What appears clear is that when Moore is advocating for his favorite industries, global warming has been real.ย But when heโ€™s not, issues suddenlyย becomeย uncertain.

On Twitter onย March 7, 2019, Moore said: โ€œI have never worked for fossil fuel companies. I have worked with mainly with [sic] agriculture, forestry, and nuclearย energy.โ€

He also wrote: โ€œI have never put $$ ahead of trying to be honest and fair. I am always ready to be corrected on any matter.โ€ย  He has also denied being a spokesperson forย industry.

Between 2006 and 2013, Moore was the founding co-chair of the nuclear industry-funded front group Clean and Safe Energy Coalition (CASEnergyย Coalition).

Fellow nuclear energy advocates have been dismayed by Mooreโ€™s anti-science views.

In March 2016, DeSmog revealed that Moore had been paid by a European coal industry-lobbying group, Euracoal, to deliver a speech, where he told attendees they should โ€œcelebrate CO2.โ€

The president of the forum that hosted the talk later described Mooreโ€™s contribution as among the โ€œless rationalโ€ he had heard on globalย warming.

An archive of Mooreโ€™s CV up to 2001 reveals a host of industry clients.ย 

According to the CV, other clients included the Canadian Mining Association, the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada, Westcoast Energy and B.C. Gas, PVC manufacturer IPEX, and BHPย Minerals.

Between 1992 and 1996, Moore was โ€œretained by the Canadian Pulp and Paper Association for annual two-week tours of countries in Western Europe to brief decision-makers and opinion leaders on forestry and the environment inย Canada.โ€

Moore is also a director for the CO2 Coalition โ€” a climate science denial group founded by a former Exxon manager and professor emeritusย Will Happer, who has been picked by Trump to head an inquiry into the national security risk of climateย change.

Greenpeaceย Founder?

Mooreโ€™s well-known work as an advocate for industries including forestry and nuclear power have not been mentioned by his supporters at Fox or Breitbart, and his incorrect statements about climate change have goneย unchallenged.

But Mooreโ€™s fans never fail to mention that he was a โ€œformer Greenpeace founderโ€ even though he left that organization 33 years ago and that Greenpeace itself has stated many times that he was not aย co-founder.

Replying to the Presidentโ€™s tweet, Greenpeace USA said: โ€œPatrick Moore was not a co-founder of Greenpeace. He does not represent Greenpeace. He is a paid lobbyist, not an independent source. His statements about @AOC & the #GreenNewDeal have nothing to do with ourย positions.โ€

Former Greenpeace colleague and actual co-founder of Greenpeace International,ย Rex Weyler, has written: โ€œMoore has served as a corporate public relations consultant far longer than he ever worked for Greenpeace, and he has never worked asย aย scientist.โ€

At Canadian think tank the Frontier Center for Public Policy, Mooreโ€™s biography said his values were all about โ€œconsensus building.โ€ Moore has been chair of the think tankโ€™s โ€œEnergy, Ecology and Prosperity Programโ€ and has published several articles through theย group.

In 2014, Moore compared students who walked out of a speech he was giving to the Taliban.

When one fellow nuclear advocate pointed out a paper Moore had written about ocean acidification had been published by a think tank he worked at and was not a recognized scientific journal, Moore said โ€œGFY.โ€

Qualified?

So what are Mooreโ€™s scientificย qualifications?

According to his CV, Moore completed a degree in Forest Biology at the University of British Columbia in 1969. He gained a PhD in 1972 for his thesis focusing on โ€œThe Administration of Pollution Control in B.C., A Focus on the Miningย Industry.โ€

Despite speaking on climate change and energy policy, Moore has no qualifications in eitherย field.

British environment journalist Peter Hadfield has looked in detail at some of Mooreโ€™s contradictions and cherry-picked science in a YouTubeย video.

Main image: Fox host Tucker Carlson interviewing climate science denier Patrick Moore in Marchย 2019.

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