page ft sion the Edge Feb. 07, 1996
ENVIRONMENTAL BACKLASH, WESTCOAST STYLE ayy white

This week, students of UNBC
were privy to an informal
“fireside chat” with the
controversial ex-founder of
GreenPeace, and chair of the
Forest Practices Committee of
the BC Forest Alliance, Dr.
Patrick Moore. From his self-
proclaimed position as an
“environmentalist in the
political centre” and despite his
brand as an “eco-judas”,
traitor and sellout to the
integrity of the environmental
movement, Dr. Moore
purports to improve the forest
industry’s environmental
performance through a
firestorm of public relations
attempts and media blitzes
reminiscent of his days with
GreenPeace.

His greatest achievement
towards this goal seems to be
his drafting of the Principles of
Sustainable Forestry, which he
reminds ad nauseam, have
been adopted by the bulk of
industry in British Columbia;
industry that has financed such
fronts for resource extraction
interests under the guise of
“local citizens’ coalitions” to
the tune of one million dollars
in the case of the BC Forest
Alliance’s first year.

The BC Forest Alliance was
initiated as a public relations
measure in order to improve
the image of the forest industry
in British Columbia according
to Dr. Moore, others have seen
it as an environmental counter-
movement similar to the “wise-
use” groups of the United
States, and the Canadian
“Share” movement. In the
autumn of 1990, public
relations and image consultant
firm Burson-Marsteller Inc.
was enlisted to advise thirteen
of the largest forest companies
in British Columbia of a long-
term strategy to improve the
image of such industry giants
who were netting millions of
dollars in timber revenues,
while the forest sector in BC
continued to lose in excess of
$59 million per year. As
negative publicity rose
internationally about forest
practices in BC, particularly
the issue of clear cutting
ancient rainforest in Clayoquot
Sound, US based Burson-
Marsteller, a controversial PR
company that “issue-managed”
such corporations responsible
for the nuclear reactor failure
at Three Mile Island, the

Dalkon Shield, Union Carbide’s
Bhopal disaster, proclaimed that
the Forest Alliance was
“exploring all the issues, listening
to all sides, and working toward
developing a British Columbian
solution to BC’s problems”.
Regarding the question of the
Alliance’s integrity in light of its
connections to multinational
forest industry giants, and a PR
firm with a history of association
with fairly disreputable
companies, Dr. Moore
defensively announced to a
packed Doug Little lounge Forest
Alliance was no longer associated

status quo, and Dr. Moore has
perfected the art. According to
an article written by Jamie
Sayen in Earth Island
magazine, in addition to being
a corruption of thoughtfulness,
obligatory skepticism is a
symptom of human’s desire to
be liked, respected, and to be
able to keep a position of
power at the bargaining table.
Patrick Moore clearly is
clutching on to the last bastion
of a huge global-corporate
state, kicking and screaming as
the impending reality of
ecological crisis becomes more

nostalgic account of the
forest industry and his
childhood spent playing in
clear-cuts, as well as absurd
comparisons between
existing agricultural land
and clear-cut forests. It is
hard to swallow the
interspersed information
about species diversity,
genetic diversity, biological
diversity, sustainable
forestry and other issues
from a man, regardless of his
level of education, guided by
the promise that human
beings can stay the course,

Winter 1995-96 — Earth Island Journg}

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with Burson-Marsteller, and had
not been for the last two years.
Despite the controversial and
somewhat objectionable positions
Dr. Moore holds on many
different forestry issues, students
carried on a safe and guarded
discussion that resembled a
forestry love-in. Those who have
decided to educate themselves in
order to make positive changes in
the forestry industry, sat by and
allowed themselves to be
manipulated by what can only be
described as “obligatory
skepticism” delivered through
intellectual posturing and verbal
intimidation. It is a tactic used
by industrial society to defeat
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and more imminent.

Aided by the crutch of
mechanistic, reductionist
science, Moore pays homage to
the economic and resource
extractive status quo in his
book *Pacific Spirit, The
Forest Reborn*. He states that
“public policy issues need to be
determined by practical,
defensible criteria rather
[than] obscure matters of
individual spiritual belief”, yet
his own beliefs about forestry
are enshrined, and
disseminated in utilitarian and
“wise use” values. Aside from
the pretty pictures and glossy
print, the book itself is a
subjective and somewhat

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and continue to degrade the
earth with the same clear-cut
techniques used since the
Industrial Revolution.

In his effort to “speak out”
against some of his
“environmental colleagues”
who he claims have been
misinforming the world
about the destructive nature
of forestry, Dr. Patrick
Moore upholds industry’s
tradition of democracy
subversion and protection of
corporate power that allows
companies to do anything
they want to the global
commons in the pursuit of
profit until environmentalists
prove that irreparable

damage has been done.

The methods of obligatory
skepticism that Dr. Moore
chose to use on those who came
to engage in dialogue on
Wednesday, judged the
credibility of those who did
question the role of the Forest
Alliance, as ridiculous, or
uninformed; as if to say that
we were dreamers. In the
words of Bill Rees however,
“the real utopians-dreamers of
the impossible are those who
still support the material
growth and maintenance of
our economic status quo”.

This reflection on Dr.
Moore’s visit is intended to
bring out the productive
discussion about forest
practices and global resource
issues that was seriously
lacking because of either
intimidation, or plain apathy,
in what was publicized by the
forestry department as a
chance to have a “conversation
about clear-cuts”. There must
be an open forum to break the
trepidation surrounding
forestry and resource issues
created by such individuals
and groups that pit workers
against environmentalists and
vice versa. The dynamics
between the groups are
changing as more and more
contact and sharing of ideas is
established through efforts to
make real changes to the
mistakes of the past. It isa
labour of courage and integrity
that challenges our world view
of abuse and extraction
fostered by the kinds of non-
partisan, open, and nurturing
learning that is education; not
by the macho manipulative
power play that we were
witness to on Wednesday.