News Release – National award received

NEWS RELEASE

Greenpeace co-Founder to Receive National Award for Nuclear Science

For immediate release:
Vancouver March 6, 2009 – Greenpeace co-founder Dr. Patrick Moore will receive the National Award for Nuclear Science from the Einstein Society in Albuquerque, New Mexico, at a gala dinner on March 7.

The award is granted to an individual each year to “honor and celebrate the wide scope of achievement and commitment to furthering scientific endeavor made by individuals in areas of military leadership, medical technology, public policy and government, energy sciences, education and space exploration.” Dr. Moore is being recognized for his work in education and advocacy. He is co-Chair of the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition (CASEnergy), a grassroots coalition that unites unlikely allies across the business, environmental, academic, consumer and labor community to support nuclear energy.

Dr. Moore was a director and leader of Greenpeace from its founding in Vancouver Canada in 1971 to oppose US hydrogen bomb testing in Alaska. During this time he supported Greenpeace’s opposition to nuclear energy. He left Greenpeace in 1986 in order to make a transition from confrontation politics to the effort to seek consensus on environmental solutions. In the interim he has changed his position on nuclear energy, and today recognizes it is a clean and safe energy technology that can play an important role in reducing air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels.

“We got a lot of things right in the early years of the environmental movement; stop the bomb, save the whales, end toxic waste dumping,” stated Dr. Moore. “But we made one serious mistake when we included nuclear energy in with nuclear weapons as if all things nuclear were evil. This was as misguided as if we had included nuclear medicine with nuclear weapons. Both nuclear energy and nuclear medicine are beneficial uses of nuclear technology, using otherwise dangerous radioactive elements to improve our quality of life.”

“This was at the height of the Cold War and the height of the Vietnam War when we feared annihilation by all-out nuclear war. I believe that our understandable emotional reaction to the threat of nuclear weapons colored our attitude to all things nuclear,” continued Dr. Moore. “This is regrettable because there would be a lot fewer coal-fired power plants and a lot more clean nuclear plants today if we had seen things more objectively at the time.”

“It is gratifying that while some environmental groups remain staunchly opposed to nuclear energy, others are recognizing that it has a role to play,” said Dr. Moore. “Just last week a group of four prominent environmentalists in the UK, including Stephen Tindale who led Greenpeace UK until 2006, came out publicly in favor of nuclear power. This is just the beginning of a realization among environmentalists that the way forward is a combination of renewable energy and nuclear energy.”

In addition to his role with CASEnergy, Dr. Moore is Chair and Chief Scientist of Greenspirit Strategies Ltd. in Vancouver, Canada. He holds a Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of British Columbia and in 2005 received an Honorary Doctorate of Science from North Carolina State University

The award ceremony and dinner will take place at 6 PM, March 7 at the Albuquerque Sheraton Uptown. For details see: http://nuclearsciencemuseum.blogspot.com