The Making of a Sensible Environmentalist

Dr. Patrick Moore began calling himself a sensible environmentalist because he saw the environmental movement becoming too extreme-falling prey to misguided priorities and refusing to evolve beyond confrontational tactics.

When he helped co-found Greenpeace in the early 1970s, his goal was to sound the environmental alarm. Humans were causing serious harm to this planet (through atmospheric nuclear testing, for example, and the dumping of toxic waste), and giving little or no thought to the environment. As part of the first wave of activists, he believed that confrontation was necessary to make people aware of these and other issues.

By the mid-1980s, the environment had become a priority concern throughout the western world, thanks largely to Greenpeace. With people listening to what he and his colleagues had to say, Moore felt that it was time to stop fighting and begin working with and helping those in charge to make improvements.

Soon afterwards, he became a convert to the idea of sustainable development and the need to consider social and economic issues along with his environmental values. Every day, six billion people wake up with real needs for food, energy and materials. The challenge is to provide for those needs in ways that reduce the negative environmental impacts. Moore felt strongly that, in order to achieve sustainability, cooperation among governments, industries, academia and the environmental movement was required.

For 15 years, Moore focused on building consensus among these groups. But, as he watched the environmental movement become even more extreme and increasingly muddy the line between environment and politics, he felt the need to do more. It was time to give people concerned about the environment an alternative to extremism-a sensible approach to the issues, based on science and logic and not on left versus right.

Moore says that, above all, sensible environmentalists rely on scientific evidence. They believe in compromise and cooperation, and work hard to find constructive solutions to real issues. It is his hope that, over time, these individuals will reclaim the environmental movement from those whose priorities are political and, in the end, have little to do with the environment.