Went to the Independent Garden Centers Show at Navy Pier today. This is a very good trade show (not open to the public, sorry), directed at owners of non-big-box garden centers and nurseries, where I have learned a great deal in past years about new products and especially about market research into the wants and behavior of gardeners. I attended a very useful session today, in fact, about the gardening behavior of Gen X and Gen Y couples.
But at noon, there I sat in the keynote session, listening to Patrick Moore -- yes, that Patrick Moore, once-upon-a-time Greenpeace member who now denies the effects of climate change and pooh-poohs fears of pesticides in the food chain, usually at the behest of big-bucks industrial clients.
Sure, maybe his message appeals to some people in a mom-and-pop industry where many business owners would love to be told they can just keep on doing things the way they've always done things and not worry about the price other people (or other species) may have to pay for it.
But I sat there thinking: This is the industry that generates tons of plastic waste every year and refuses to take responsibility for it (see this blog post and this one and this one). This is the industry that has had to be ordered to stop selling phosphate lawn fertilizer in Minnesota, Canada and other places because it contributes to choking algae growth that kills off other life in streams, lakes and seas. This is the industry that keeps dragging its feet on organics instead of leading the way. This is the industry that chooses Patrick Moore to set its tone.
And as I sat there, listening to Moore recite the same old discredited pseudo-"evidence" about how climate change really isn't happening, or maybe it is but it isn't that bad, or maybe it is that bad but that's really a good thing because melting glaciers and a CO2 buildup will allow more trees to grow in the Arctic, I thought:
This is the industry that wants people to call it a "green" industry, finding yet another way to shoot itself in the foot.
Got a garden question? I recommend you call or e-mail the Plant Clinic of The Morton Arboretum in Lisle, the Master Gardeners of the University of Illinois Extension or the Plant Information Service of the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe.
All contents of this post are copyright Beth Botts. Feel free to link or share a brief excerpt with a link, but please do not reproduce photos or any other part of this blog without my express permission.
3 comments:
I was also disappointed in the speaker and the speech. There are good arguments to be made for the limited and careful use of some pesticides, but rather than present those as a response garden center owners could make to customers questioning the sale of pesticides, they were given that Orwellian claptrap.
What a dissapointment.
Thanks for the links Beth. I had no idea he'd gone in this direction on these politically, socially, morally, scientifically-controversial issues.
A lot of well-researched facts have to be ignored to come up with these expedient, short-sighted positions.
Thanks for writing about this.
So.... Who is responsible for scheduling/booking Patrick Moore at the Independent Garden Centers Show?
If the Association of Independent Gardeners supports Moore and his propaganda, why should anyone shop at a company paying dues to the Organization?
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