Tribute to Earth Day

From the WSJ (subscription may be required). Patrick Moore was a founder of Greenpeace. He left the organization in 1986 because the organization "evolved into an organization of extremism and politically motivated agendas."

At first, many of the causes we championed, such as opposition to nuclear testing and protection of whales, stemmed from our scientific knowledge of nuclear physics and marine biology. But after six years as one of five directors of Greenpeace International, I observed that none of my fellow directors had any formal science education. They were either political activists or environmental entrepreneurs. Ultimately, a trend toward abandoning scientific objectivity in favor of political agendas forced me to leave Greenpeace in 1986.

The breaking point was a Greenpeace decision to support a world-wide ban on chlorine. Science shows that adding chlorine to drinking water was the biggest advance in the history of public health, virtually eradicating water-borne diseases such as cholera. And the majority of our pharmaceuticals are based on chlorine chemistry. Simply put, chlorine is essential for our health.

This is the evolution of the modern Earth Day, encompassing everything about "Global Warming." True, there has been no rise in temperature in a decade and a very marginal increase over the past century. True, the Antarctic ice sheets have been thickening, and true we had our coldest winter on record on over half the planet, and true, just 30 years ago everyone thought we were entering a mini ice age. And of course, farming on Greenland and Iceland used to be prevalent just 1,000 years ago and yes, the Earth has gone through natural warming and cooling cycles for thousands and thousands of years.

But somehow we are also supposed to believe that we need to change everything we do at all costs today or risk imminent destruction. Welcome to Earth Day.