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A

Dr. Patrick Moore, co-Founder of Greenpeace,

at CPBIS Distinguished Lecture Series:

Trees are the answer.

 

 

ATLANTA, GEORGIA, January 24, 2003 --- Patrick Moore was the fourth speaker in a Distinguished Lecture Series presented by the Center for Paper Business and Industry Studies (CPBIS), the Institute of Paper Science and Technology (IPST), and Buckman Laboratories. The seminar was held on January 24, 2003, at 11:00 a.m. in IPST's Kress Auditorium. Dr. Moore discussed why he believes that trees are the answer. To view the recorded webcast, please click here.

Dr. Patrick Moore, Ph.D., has been a leader in the international environmental field for over 30 years. He is a founding member of Greenpeace and served for nine years as president of Greenpeace Canada and seven years as a director of Greenpeace International. As the leader of many campaigns, Dr. Moore was a driving force shaping policy and direction while Greenpeace became the world's largest environmental activist organization.

In recent years, Dr. Moore has been focused on the promotion of sustainability and consensus-building among competing concerns. His latest effort provides a new insight into how forests work and how they can play a powerful role in solving many of our current environmental problems. Jim McNutt, executive director of the Center for Paper Business and Industry Studies (CPBIS), says, "Patrick Moore is focused on activism by consensus and is working toward balancing the social issues of economics and people's needs with environmental and recreational needs. He offers a refreshing and unique perspective on the environmental issues facing our industry and our world."

Dr. Moore said, "The forest industry stands accused of some very serious crimes against the environment. It is charged with the extinction of tens of thousands of species, the deforestation of vast areas of the earth, and the total and irreversible destruction of the ecosystem. I have spent the last 15 years trying to understand the relationship between forestry and the environment, to separate fact from fiction, myth from reality. Since 1991, I have chaired the Sustainable Forestry Committee of the Forest Alliance of British Columbia. This has provided an ideal opportunity to explore all aspects of the subject."

In his lecture, Dr. Moore explained his belief that we cannot simply switch to basing all our actions on purely environmental values. Every day 6 billion people wake up with real needs for food, energy, and materials. The challenge for sustainability is to provide for those needs in ways that reduce negative impact on the environment. But any changes made must also be socially acceptable and technically and economically feasible. It is not always easy to balance environmental, social, and economic priorities. Compromise and cooperation with the involvement of government, industry, academia, and the environmental movement are required to achieve sustainability. This effort to find consensus among competing interests has occupied Dr. Moore's time for the past 15 years.

Dr. Moore said, "It has become clear to me that the policy of 'use less wood' is anti-environmental because it would result in increased carbon dioxide emissions and a reduction in forested land. I believe the correct policy is a positive rather than a negative one. From an environmental perspective, the correct policy is 'grow more trees and use more wood'. I believe that trees are the answer to many questions about our future on this earth."

Dr. Moore recently appeared on the Bob Vila television show and gave a tour of a working forest in Maine. On the same subject, from Bob Vila web site: why wood makes sense: click here.

 

The next speaker in the series will be Bob Buckman on February 28, 2003. Mr. Buckman will speak on globalization and knowledge transfer.
To view the FREE webcast, please register at: http://www.ipst.gatech.edu/lectureseries.html.

Buckman Laboratories sponsors the Distinguished Lecture Series. The series is free to the public.

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About CPBIS: The Center for Paper Business and Industry Studies (CPBIS) is a globally recognized and industry-valued academic center, creating knowledge and tools that support paper industry decision-makers, and producing interdisciplinary graduates who contribute to the long-term success of the paper industry. The CPBIS is co-sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Institute of Paper Science and Technology (IPST), the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), and the Paper Industry.
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