Green Campaigners an "Obstacle” to Climate Change

Nuclear power and sustainable development must form part of the solution to reducing global carbon emissions and meeting future energy demands, a leading environmental scientist has announced.

In an impassioned speech to delegates at Power-Gen International in New Orleans, the co-founder and former director of environmental activist group Greenpeace International, Dr Patrick Moore, slammed the environmental activist movement, which he believes is deliberately "misinforming" the public by creating a sense of fear surrounding nuclear power.

Referring to the movement as "stuck in the 70s", Moore believes Greenpeace is "creating an obstacle by opposing realistic alternatives, in particular nuclear power".

He warns that governments should not ban official uses of any technology such as nuclear, just because they can be used for "destructive purposes," hinting at global pressure on countries such as Iran to curb nuclear capacity.

Moore does not support the theory the world is heading for almost certain disaster due to climate change, but says individuals can work together towards a strong possibility of improving the situation.

He does however believe the world needs an "insurance policy" to avert problems of excessive energy consumption by reducing the use of fossil fuels and introducing alternative technologies.

He also attacks countries such as Germany, which has a "logically inconsistent energy policy".

Since shutting down its nuclear plants and banning the building of new ones, Germany has bought electricity from France, which relies on nuclear power, to meet 80 percent of its energy demands.

Moore points to Sweden, which produces the lowest CO2 emissions per capita in the world, where 50 percent of energy comes from hydroelectric, with the rest produced by nuclear sources.

By Ozge Ibrahim