4 ~ Sunday, February 14, 1993 ~ North Shore News

Dr.

oore-or-less: Judas

of the ecology movement

ONE OF the uglier personal disputes going on within the
environmental movement (an arena famous for its ugly
personal disputes) is the struggle between Monte Hummel,
president ef the World Wildlife Fund Canada, and Patrick
Moore, chairman of the Forest Practises Commiltee of the

Forest Alliance of B.C.

Patrick Moore... Wait a se-
cond! That wouldn't be Pat
Moore, the former president of
Greenpeace, would it?

It would indeed. Dr. Moore-
Gr-Less, as we used to call him.
A formidable dude, as the en-
vironmental movement, which
once spurned him, is beginning to
learn. The brainy PhD had
another nickname, I should warn
them: Dr. Beaver. Talk about
foreshadowing!

Actually, Pat is the guy 1 hand-
ed the job to after I quit, having
served for a couple of years as the
Greenpeace prez and chairman of
the board, and for seven years in
all as a backroom media adviser,
idea man, fundraiser, campaign

‘coordinator, and all-round volun-
teer eco-flack.

Moore served as prez fora
couple of years himself, until he .
was finally toppled in a combined
coup d’etat and multi-front
assault, with Moore's presidency
in Vancouver being the final

_. bulwark against the true interna-
. fonalization of Greenpcace — or
at least that's how it was viewed
at the time.

In the end, an international
headquarters was set up in
Amsterdam, and a guy named
David McTaggart, not Moore,
was named executive director.

_ Perhaps the only sweet irony
was that an international revolt
begun against a Canadian, Moore,
had ended in @ victory by another
Canadian, McTaggart, in the
name of internationalism,

Of course, McTaggart has since

been shown the door too.

(Only those of us smart enough
‘to resign avoid getting sooner or

later dumped.)

McTaggart is now merely the
honorary chairman of Greenpeace
International, which he ruled for a
decade after Moore. It happened
last year. Since then, as far as I
can gather, the international -
council has been in disarray.

_ Loften say, out on the lecture.
circuit, that if Greenpeace had’
started in any other country.than
Canada; the head office would
still be there.

Can you imagine the Germans

_ or Brits or Americans or
Spaniards giving up the title? Not
on your lifel =

Believe it or not, this all ties
back in to the fight between

-Monte Hummel and Pat Moore, a

STRICTLY PERSONAL

conflict that has its roots in
another environmental battle long
ago, one that Moore lost. :

In 1979, having won an impor-’
tant court case over ownership of
the Greenpeace name, the Van-

_ couver office was in a position to

;

rule the rapidly expanding
organization by fiat, if i wanted.
And that's how Moore, who was
then running the show, wanted it.

He had packed the hame board
of directors with allics, and was in
a solid position to hold on to i
power. for life. :

It was only after the Old Guard

of the graup in Vancouver ganged

“up on lim, applying remorseless

peer pressure, that he finally sur-
rendered control.

I fhe had not Iirned off so
many old buddies 5, who turned on
him because of, his hubris, Dr.
Moore-Or-Less might today still
be chief poobah at Greenpeace,
which would then presumably tule
the world organization with an
iron fist from Vancouver.

At the time, | was one of those .
who believed a true international
organization could only be
achieved by headquartering it in
Europe, with equal representation
for each country, An impeccable
correct internationalist doctrine.

In retrospect, | wonder. Maybe
it would have been better if it had
remained a home town dictator-
ship. Might have got more work
done with less time wasted on in-,
ternal politics.

Under Moore, it is unlikely that
Greenpeace would today be cam-
paigning against current forestry
practices in B.C., but that would

have put the organization so far
out of whack with the rest of the
environmental movement as to be
laughable,

The likeliest event is that, as
chief executive, Moore would find
himself stuck with some kind of
policy, and would be forced to
join the battle against Jack
Munro, boss of the International
Woodworkers of America, and
Noranda kingpin Adam Zimmer-

_ man, two of the arch-nemeses of

the environmental movement.

Instead, Dr. Moore-Or-Less is
working for Munro and Zimmer-
man.

I submit the poor reader to such
arcane detail in order to prepare
her or him for the news that, since
having been deposed at
Greenpeace, and eventually
manoeuvred out of the organiza-
tion entirely by a cruel political .
trick, Pat Moore has been trying
to re-define himself, first as a fish
farmer, and now as a champion
of ‘‘sustainable forestry prac-

* tices,’? working through the me-

dium of an industry-backed front
organization called the B.C. ©
Forest Alliance.

It would all be very disgraceful,
except that, much as I hate to
reveal this detail, the fact is that
Moore was emphasizing the intel-
lectual cosiness between conserva-
dion and conservatism a long time
ago. He was always a Green Tory
at heart.

His father, Bill, is a successful
logger on the northwestern corner
of Vancouver Island, at Winter
Harbour, and Pat, the scion of a
lumber baron, was always very
much a believer in the one-com-
pany-one-voice style of rule."

This is one of those colunins
where [ want to continue the
discussion in the next edition, par-
tially because Dr. Moore-Or-Less
is an intellectual and a tactician of
considerable stature, to say
nothing of-being, in some
respects, a genius, and his'‘‘defec-
tion,”’ if that’s what itis, to the
forest industry side of the argu-
ment, is bad news indeed for the
environmental movement, :

Poor Dr. Moore has been called
the Judas of the eco movement,

and even some old friends are:

afraid to acknowledge him in
public, |

People make the sign of the,
eco-cross in front of him, and:
avert their hippie- children’s eyes.

Some environmentalists, like the
WWF's Monte Hummel, think
Moore has ‘‘gone too far?’ in the
zealousness of his attack on his
former allies. He wonders why.
Stay tuned, I'll explain.

City seeks input.on towncentre.
‘SAFER PEDESTRIAN movement, improved parking op-
; portunities and better. customer and business relations are
just some of the changes needed to improve the image of

. the Lonsdale towncentre in North Vancouver City, a con-
: sultant’ s report has recommended.

And city residents are ‘urged to
attend a council policy ‘committee
meeting on Monday, Feb. 15, at
7:30 p.m. ‘at city hall to -discuss

| improvement strategy goals for
the area.

Merchants, property owners,
residents and city staff have been

‘working .with a consultant team

over the past five months discuss-
ing ways to strengthen the Lons-
_dale towncentre shopping distticts."

The work
. questionnaire, and meetings and
“-have, resulted in a Phase. 1:
’ Downtown Strategy report.

‘That strategy’ includes 10 goals.

. designed to make the cornmercial
- districts more competitive.

The - Lonsdale ‘ towncentre. in-
cludes both’ lower and central

included a -public’

By Surj Rattan
News Reporter

Lonsdale from the city waterfront
to the Upper Levels Highway.
_ It contains over one million
square feet (92,900 sq. m) of retail
space and another one million —
square feet of office space. ’
Lonsdale Avenue contains over
800 shops and services and is
recognized’ as the .regional
towncentre for North Vancouver
by the. Greater Vancouver
Regional District. :
The consultant’s report: has said
that its overall goal is to revitalize

‘the Lonsdale towncentre through

and collective actions
increase customer

individual
designed to

“NORTH VANCOUVER,
CITY COUNCIL.

traffic, merchant sales volumes
and the overall economic state and
viability and attractiveness of the
commercial district. :
Other goals include:
6 raising the profile and com-
mercial viability of the Lonsdale
towncentre;
@ developing a towncentre trans-
portation plan that would
minimize conflicts between motor
vehicles and non-motorized modes
of transportation; :
® encouraging the development
and redevelopment of . vacant,
under-used and derelict sites
within the Lonsdale towncentre.
if there is public support for the
ideas and a general consensus on
the revitalization goals, a second
phase “containing : detailed actions
aimed at achieving the goals
would be prepared.

wing.

Former NV teacher,

Crown lose appeals

FORMER: North Vancouver
teacher Carlyle William Wayne
Stymiest has lost his last bid
for freedom. And it will be a
while before he is back at
school.

The B.C. Court of Appeal
tejected the teacher’s appeal in
a judgment released Monday in
Vancouver.

The former North Vancouver
teacher had been convicted of
gross indecency in July 1991.
The original sentence of 12
monttis now stands.

Stymiest befriended a Grade
6 pupil in 1972 and developed
a sexual relationship with the
minor.

The contact was initiated al
North Vancouver’s Burrard
elementary school, which is
now Cove Cliff elementary.

The teacher learned: that the
pupil’s father was an alcoholic,
and took the youth under his

In October of that year,
Stymiest took the youth to a
Richmond hotel during a
teachers’ conference. After
discussing the procurement of a

By Brent Mudry
Contributing Writer

prostitute, Stymiest instead led
the youth into mutual acts of
oral sex. .
. Through the next year, a
pattern of contact was estab-
lished after school in Stymiest’s
condominium.

Stymiest would call his wife
and ask her when she would be
home and what was for dinner.
Then he would enter the
bedroom with the youth for
brief encounters before driving
him home.

The victim, now 33, revealed
the affair during psychiatric.
counselling in 1989. He. was.
reluctant to report the incidents

until he realized that Stymiest <]~.

might still be teaching.

The special five-judge appeal '
court rejected lawyer Richard
Elgar’s appeal of Stymiest’s .
conviction,

The Crown also Jost a
related attempt to open a new:
trial for a previously rejected
second charge against Stymiest.

aha’u llah

(1817 - 1892)

“The diversity of humanity is

seen as attractive, welcome

and inspiring: a reflection of

the infinite creativity of God.

Ye are the fruits of one tree —
‘ and the leaves of one

branch.”

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