Interview with Dr. Patrick Moore: De-platforming, climate change and 'Threats of Doom' — Ezra Levant

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Well I was excited when I heard that my friend Dr. Patrick Moore was scheduled to speak at a conference in Regina on sustainability. Now when I hear that word sustainability it makes me a little bit nervous because that's code for a lot of things I don't like but in the case of Dr. Moore a co-founder of Greenpeace he thoughtfully works through well what does sustainable energy mean and often that means atomic energy and that's perfect for Saskatchewan with their uranium reserves. You know atomic energy is so safe that whole Fukushima earthquake and tsunami only one death was attributed to that event and the reason I mention that is that the scaremongering around nuclear energy is false and disproportionate to the facts. In any event let the man speak. Dr. Moore was one of 45 speakers scheduled for this Regina conference but then the media party heard about it and they can't stand the idea of one dissenting voice even in a room of 45. So the media and some censorious professors got a bit of an online mob going and in the end the mayor of Regina fired Dr. Moore from the conference deplatforming him canceling a contract for him to speak. Well I called up Dr. Moore and I said let's have that speech anyways and yesterday I'm pleased to say we signed a contract with the Conexus Arts Center which is a large convention facility in Regina and they have agreed to host an event on May 19th on May 19th on the eve of the city's conference. We've signed the contract we're going we're going to keep ticket prices very low 25 bucks ahead and everyone's invited. We are re-platforming Dr. Moore after the deplatforming and I'm pleased to say that Dr. Moore joins us now via Skype. Great to see you Dr. Moore. I'm so excited and thank you for agreeing to speak after all in Regina. I guess you never disagreed it was the city that disagreed. [00:02:20] Dr. Patrick Moore: That's wonderful Ezra and I really appreciate your involvement in this in coming in to save the day. I felt a bit bad about being deplatformed. When I really looked into what the subject of the conference was though I was sort of happy I didn't have to go to it because the objective of this conference is how to make the city of Regina 100% renewable by 2050. So it's just a bunch of virtue signaling as far as I'm concerned. First off even if you were trying to do it by 2100 it's impossible to make a whole city renewable like what are what are they going to do say that you can't have steel and concrete which is non-renewable in buildings like city buildings are they going to have solar powered fire trucks are they going to ban fossil fuels inside the city limits what what what are they going to talk about 100% renewable city by 2050 and most of them will be in nursing homes by that time anyway so like what is the point of talking about 2050 maybe they should have some goals for the next 10 years that would be a reasonable thing to do and not 100% but maybe finding some cost-effective renewable solutions there's nothing wrong with that but the the agenda that they have chosen for themselves is just a bunch of grandstanding and then they decide that they don't even want me to come and talk to them about some of the opinions I have on this subject so and I speak in conferences all around the world and yet they felt that they should listen to a bunch of whining activists about why I shouldn't be allowed to talk yeah well I've [00:03:58] Speaker 1: had the pleasure of hearing you speak a few years ago you spoke on one of the cruises we did I learned so much from you because you come across as someone who deeply deeply cares and a lot of environmentalists have that part down pat but you also put your brain in gear so you say well if we deeply care let's be thoughtful about this and here's how to do it I I was riveted by your presentations on the cruise that we did and I I really think that that conference is going to miss out by not having you but it it's just so infuriating to me even if you even if you're wrong and I think you're right and even if you're really wrong so what you know have a debate let people ask you questions I don't understand this new thinking that if people say you're wrong well then you can't even have a platform especially at a conference where there's 45 speakers that's the part I don't get Dr. Moore what bugged me the most was professors in Regina were calling for you to be silenced shouldn't a professor said well I don't like what he's saying and I'm going to go and ask him my toughest question like what's with this new [00:05:09] Dr. Patrick Moore: cancel culture well I think it's a very simple definition of totalitarianism unwilling to entertain any view that is even slightly different than your own and basically wanting to banish anyone who has a different opinion or a different different facts or different points of view and that's exactly what non-learning is about my mom taught me when I was a kid that I should not stop learning just because I become an adult that lifelong learning is the best way to go through life and I have I have followed that all my life that I I think I learn five or six new things every day because I read extensively I use the internet for my research mostly and I I keep up with everything in my topic which is basically ecology of which climate change is a piece and every people are making out as if climate change is the biggest issue in the whole universe when in fact there are other subjects that are interesting too but climate change is a very interesting subject it's a probably one of the most complex systems on the planet because it involves all of the earth and all of the air and all of the water and all of the life and when you think of how many relationships and and complex interrelationships there are among all those different components of our earth system people who have simple answers like oh co2 is the main driver of global climate change is just too simple it's not that simple it couldn't possibly be there's so many other factors involved and so i like to have a conversation about these things and and i don't appreciate it when people [00:06:54] Speaker 1: just tell me to uh buzz off yeah well one of the most irritating uh parts of the mob that came for you is this story in regina's newspaper of record called the regina leader post and this headline really bugs me they called you a climate denier i hate that because that's tapping into the uh emotional power of holocaust denier when someone's a denier you're you're it's like you're a liar you're immoral not only is that inappropriate language because it it implies that you're you're evil but it's false i've seen your presentation half of what you talk about is climate change and how the climate always changes and you try and explain them you're not a climate denier this was the stupidest thing and it that's that reporter instead of smearing you should come and listen to you learn what you actually stand for maybe learn a little bit of science and if he has a real question he should put it to you that the fact that idiots like that would silence you shows all the more how you need to be given a platform to speak to teach [00:08:02] Dr. Patrick Moore: him yes it's really quite sad state of affairs that it's come to when people really believe that they have a right to stop you from your your free speech especially after you've been invited by the city with a formal contract uh and you've made your your your plans to to have that day at that conference and then just because a bunch of uh i guess i don't know what you'd call them [00:08:31] Speaker 1: bullies i call them bullies doctor i mean we talk about don't get into bullies bullying isn't right we're trying to teach kids not to bully what was this other than some mean girls uh saying he's not part of our cool club he we have to ban him don't sit with him at lunch oh you want like it was exactly what the whole anti-bullying thing was supposed to be against and here we have the civic leaders the city elders of regina shutting you up because they didn't even know what you stand for it was pure bullying and cowardice i'm so mad at them but i'm thrilled that you're coming let's talk about the event itself it's on may 19th which is the night before the regina conference that banned you i think that's great because that way hopefully in that morning's newspapers they'll have the real story of what you actually said and the people going to the other conference uh can learn what they missed [00:09:29] Dr. Patrick Moore: out on what do you think well you know it like well i think it's wonderful i think it's a preemptive strike and i think it's strategically very a very good outcome from what was a disappointing situation so uh being re-platformed uh in regina makes me feel real good and i'm going to do my very best to put on a really good show there you know to call me a climate denier i mean climate change denier uh what on earth are they talking about i don't deny that there's a climate i don't deny that the climate changes and virtually always has sometimes slower and sometimes faster through the history of the earth it was a pretty big climate change when that asteroid hit the planet 65 million years ago and wiped out nearly half the species on earth uh that's a that's a big change nothing like that is happening right now but they act as though it is and you know and i don't deny that humans have an impact on the environment of course i don't the the urban heat island effect for example there's 500 cities over a million people in the world and because those cities are made of concrete and steel they are warmer than the surrounding countryside even though they're in the same location so there's a sometimes a two degree or three degrees celsius difference between the center of of a city and the surrounding farmlands and forests so that changes the earth's climate at regional levels not necessarily at a global level but obviously at a global level humans have had a big impact our agriculture is the biggest impact impact that we have had on the earth when you put in a field of crops you basically eliminate the biodiversity of the ecosystem that was there previously we have to eat so that's why i'm in favor of intensive agricultural practices and using modern genetics and science to increase the productivity of the land one of the uh just it's not off topic because it's about climate change our putting of co2 into the atmosphere has resulted in a 30 percent increase in the growth of wild plants and farm plants in many parts of the world especially the drier parts because when you increase co2 you not only provide more food for the plants co2 being the main food for all life on earth and where the carbon comes from for all life on earth is through carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and in the seas and the lakes everywhere there's co2 there's going to be life and so co2 not only is the food for life it also makes plants more efficient with water it's a totally second aspect it's not anything to do with the food aspect it's got to do with that when co2 is more concentrated in the atmosphere the plants don't have to work so hard to get the co2 and they don't have to open up their little holes under their leaves called stomata as much so they don't lose as much water because those little holes are for the air to come in and for them to extract the co2 from the air but they're also allowing water to go out it's called transfer transpiration when you have higher co2 the plants don't lose as much water in their process and therefore are more efficient with it and now trees are spreading into dry grasslands in the in the dry areas of the u.s west like nevada where the trees were on higher ground where it's cooler and a little wetter and down in the valleys is just grass now trees are spreading there and this has been documented thoroughly by aerial photography over the last 50 years the the the the trees of the earth are happier with this level of co2 and so are all the other plants and therefore so should we be and and the the fact of the matter the the temperature of the earth on a global basis has only increased by one or 1.1 degree celsius i mean it's not accurate enough to do it in tenths of a degree but it's something along those lines one degree in 300 years because it started warming around 1700 one degree if we didn't have accurate thermometers we would not know that the earth had warmed like dr moore you just move from move from new york to florida that's a lot more than one degree celsius increase in temperature [00:14:01] Speaker 1: i got to tell you i'm having fond memories right now of how much i learned from you when you came on our cruise last time and i can hardly wait to have you with your powerpoint slides for two full hours in regina i'm learning i'm i'm learning from you even right now you're explaining it in layman's terms but but i'm getting real knowledge and i'm so excited and i'm so proud to be associated with you and thank you for this let's just talk for a minute about the event because i know not all of our viewers can make it to regina but if anyone's in saskatchewan and frankly alberta and manitoba i'd encourage people to make the journey um let me just tell our viewers what what's going to happen you correct me if i'm wrong on this doctor because i know we just figured this out yesterday so maybe i don't have it right we'll have a reception at six o'clock at the connexus art center in regina which is a nice facility and they've got a little bit of courage because they had dr jordan peterson and they didn't cave in they didn't de-platform him so if they're strong enough for dr peterson i think they'll be strong enough for us and by the way i i had the salesman the sales lady of connexus art center confirm with their ceo that they won't cancel i insisted that they check so at six o'clock we'll have a reception at 6 30 we'll have your big speech in the in the hall and big projectors for your powerpoint slides we'll have a q a session so from 6 30 to 8 30 two full hours of learning and then afterwards for those who are super fans um you've agreed to have dinner and a glass of wine uh for those who are interested in details on the different ticket prices uh on the website the website by the way is simply called reginaspeech.com but for those who just want to come to the two-hour lecture and q a that's 25 bucks which by the way the conference you were kicked out of that's 300 bucks to attend so we are hoping to [00:16:00] Dr. Patrick Moore: have maximum turnout here doctor i sure hope so ezra and i'm pretty hopeful about it let me just give you a brief synopsis of the overall subject that i'll be talking about my my talk is called my talk is called fake invisible catastrophes and threats of doom and it's not tongue-in-cheek it is a bit sensationalist i will agree but when people see what i have to say they will be amazed because here's my thesis it dawned on me a while back and it's funny how things come to you after so many years when you should have noticed them before it's come to my notice that almost all the scare stories that are bandied about today by these activists and climate justice people almost all of them are about something that is either invisible or so remote that no one can go and check for themselves or both take for example polar bears they're quite visible but they're saying they're going extinct because of carbon dioxide which is invisible so you can't point in the corner and say look what that co2 is doing over there as a cause-effect relationship so that means and take take for example uh gmos what is it in the gmo that is harmful has anyone shown it to you no it must be invisible how about radiation from nuclear power plants it's invisible therefore they can make up all kinds of scary stories about how it's going to mutate you and your children and on and on and on coral reefs are underwater and very far away so they can make all kinds of stories about them and so if you're not able to observe something for yourself which is the first principle of science observation because unlike religion science is about things that you have to be able to show that you have to be able to see not not only with your eyes but perhaps with a microscope or a telescope or a geiger counter or an instrument that can measure the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere which are not in very many homes these days and so if you can't observe and verify verification is the second stage in science and then after that comes replication where other people besides yourself do what you did and find the same answer that is how you go from a hypothesis to a theory in science now if you can't do that for yourself if you can't look out the window and count the polar bears in the arctic then you depend on activists politicians and the media to tell you what's happening and these days there is so much fake news and so much fake science that people who come and hear this talk are just going to be amazed well i'm sold i mean what you've just said in the last two [00:18:59] Speaker 1: minutes there is exactly what the people of regina and all of us need to hear i'm truly upset that the people who spent three hundred dollars to go to the official government conference won't let won't be able to hear you and i bet a number of people bought that three hundred dollar ticket just to hear you but i'm delighted that from you know they say if you'd like you visit lemons make lemonade instead of you just having one hour to talk now you'll have two hours instead of just having a smallish room to speak in we're going to a very large venue so from a bad thing maybe a very good thing can come and all the publicity of you being fired and deplatformed and cancelled maybe that publicity can attract people to say hey what is it that they don't want me to see let me see for myself i might have a question for dr moore i'm going to put it to him i'm going to put my toughest like i think that out of this terrible de-platforming which is anti-scientific and anti-freedom maybe a great thing can come and i just want to invite all our viewers from across the country frankly if you can make your way to regina even from calgary edmonton winnipeg even toronto vancouver i recommend it go to reginaspeech.com tickets start at 25 bucks for the general admission and there's other fancier things like a vip reception and dinner afterwards dr moore let's check in again between now and the event and we'll give you an update on how ticket sales are going i really want our people to come to learn from you but i also want them to come as a signal to censors and bullies and cowards that they can't stop your ideas by de-platforming and we are re-platforming you and i want this place packed as a signal and a symbol so i'm very proud to be associated with you and thank you for slumming it with us here at rebel news i think it's going to be a great event thank you for doing it [00:21:09] Dr. Patrick Moore: ezra i think there are a lot of people out there who are sick and tired of the cancel culture and the bigotry of these people who are basically anti-free speech and i think this story is a very good story i want to thank you a great deal for jumping right in there as soon as you saw what happened to me and and and making this thing uh a silk purse out of a sow's ear and it this is going to be a good event i just know it i feel it in my bones we've got lots of time to prepare for it it's not until may the 19th and we're going to build a big audience and we're going to put on a big show [00:21:47] Speaker 1: and it's going to show them something that they've never seen before well thank you my friend i you've put me in a great mood i was very upset on friday night when i heard the news and by the way canceling you on a friday afternoon shows cowardice also to to try and get it lost in the news cycle so i remember i called you right up i was very down in the dumps that day and today i feel on top of the world and i hope you do too lots of love from us here at rebel news to you and we'll see you in may my friend see you then ezra thanks a lot all right well this is going to be great there's our friend dr patrick moore i feel smarter just from this short interview we've had imagine two hours of his full powerpoint presentation and a question and answer session you really should go to reginaspeech.com and if you can adjust your schedule to make your way to regina on may 19th i know because i've seen his larger presentation an earlier topic before and i was riveted i know this is going to be a very special night so i hope to see you there reginaspeech.com that's an excerpt from the ezra levant show which is a show i do every day i do a monologue interview an interesting guest and then i read my hate mail but you've got to subscribe to it which you can do at premium.rebelnews.com