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Evaluate Expertise: Is Patrick Moore an expert on climate change?

SKILL: Evaluate Expertise

DIFFICULTY: Challenging

SUBJECT(S): Climate change

Students evaluate the expertise of Dr. Patrick Moore to learn that while he has what could be considered relevant domain knowledge, his industry affiliations constitute a conflict of interest.

Related Lesson

CTRL-F Lesson 2: Investigate the Source (Sign in required)

Link to Example

Patrick Moore (Twitter/X)

Background

Greenpeace is an international NGO that advocates for many environment-related issues, including climate change, deforestation, and opposing nuclear energy and GMOs. It is known for high-profile direct action campaigns.



About the Example

This tweet from @TomANelson introduces Patrick Moore as the co-founder of Greenpeace, with  a video of him stating: “There is no truth to the idea that the Earth is warmer now than it has been in the past. It’s a lie. There is no truth that CO2 is higher than it should be. That is a lie.” 

We might be surprised to hear such a statement from the co-founder of Greenpeace, an organisation known for environmental activism. If we click on the tag ‘@EcoSenseNow’ to view Moore’s profile, we see that he describes himself as a “sensible environmentalist” with a PhD in ecology.

Before we question everything we know about climate science, let’s investigate the reputation of Patrick Moore to evaluate whether he is a good source of information on climate change. 

His Wikipedia seems to tell a different story than his Twitter bio, including criticism from Greenpeace and claims that his views contradict “scientific consensus on the effects of global warming.”

Let’s do a quick round-up of what we can learn about Moore:

Is he the co-founder of Greenpeace? Not quite. He was an early member and past president of Greenpeace Canada before he left in 1986.

Does he have relevant domain knowledge? A PhD in Forestry from the University of British Columbia could be relevant to climate change.

What is his agenda? Moore currently works as a consultant for corporations and lobby groups, including in industries like logging and nuclear energy. This signals that the agenda of information he shares may be to influence rather than to inform.

So while Moore may very well have relevant credentials and domain knowledge, his possible conflicts of interest and denial of the scientific consensus on climate change means we probably want to consult other sources if we want to learn more about this topic.

Does this mean that everything Moore says is wrong? That might be going too far. But when it comes to science it’s important to look at what the community of scientists is saying, rather than what an individual is saying.



Activities

  1. Show students the tweet and video. Ask them to click on the tag ‘@EcoSenseNow’ to view the speaker’s profile and determine the following information:
    • What is the name of the speaker in the video? 
    • What credentials does he share on his Twitter/X profile to support his expertise on climate change? 
  2. Have students use a keyword search to locate the Wikipedia page for Patrick Moore (“Patrick Moore Wikipedia”). More than one result for Patrick Moore may appear. If they are unsure, they can add more keywords like “Greenpeace.” 
  3. Have students take a few minutes to skim the Wikipedia page and learn more about Patrick Moore. To find out more about his reputation, they can click on the ‘criticism’ section. Guiding questions: 
    • Does Patrick Moore have relevant domain knowledge on the topic of climate change? Explain your reasoning.
    • What is Patrick Moore’s agenda? 
    • Do you think Patrick Moore is a reliable source of information about climate change? Explain your reasoning. 
    • Why might Patrick Moore continue to advertise his early connection to Greenpeace?


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