Dr. Patrick Moore is a co-founder of Greenpeace. He lives in Vancouver, British Columbia and is now the chairman and chief scientist of Greenspirit Strategies Ltd. Having helped found one of the more vocal environmental advocacy groups, it is worth noting that Dr. Moore has penned a most noteworthy essay that some may find surprising in its direction.

I certainly was surprised.

In an essay in today’s Vancouver Sun — entitled An Inconvenient Fact — Dr. Moore takes issue with some of Hollywood’s would-be environmentalists over their short-sighted posture toward our sustainable, renewable forests. Dr. Moore specifically takes issue with Leonardo DiCaprio’s latest film, 11th Hour and about the nonsense in that film, he says:

DiCaprio’s movie, The 11th Hour, is another example of anti-forestry scare tactics, this time said to be “brilliant and terrifying” by James Christopher of the London Times. Maybe so, but instead of surrendering to the terror, keep in mind that there are solutions to the challenges of climate, and our forests are among them.

It is reassuring to see Dr. Moore’s advocacy on this issue and his statement that there are, in fact, solutions to rising greenhouse gases.

To address climate change, we must use more wood, not less. Using wood sends a signal to the marketplace to grow more trees and to produce more wood.

Introducing more reasoned dialogue into the debate on the environment is surely a better way to go than the ongoing sensationalism that often seems to grip Hollywood and even journalists and editors who should know better. Kudos and a high five to Dr. Moore for speaking up on this important topic.