Peter Raven at College of the Atlantic
Producer: John Greenman
Time Magazine has called him a “Hero of the Planet” for his championing of conservation and biodiversity. But Dr. Peter Raven is a controversial figure among some conservationists. The long-time director of the Missouri Botanical Garden makes no excuses for the millions of dollars in grants he’s received from Monsanto for his biotechnology research. But none of this came up at a recent speech Dr. Raven gave to an invited audience at College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor. Dr. Raven spoke eloquently and passionately about the need for humans, especially Americans, to use less, to be more conscious of the effects of their actions. Only at the very end of the hour-long power-point presentation, in a question and answer period, did the subject of genetically modified plants come up briefly.
For more information about Dr. Peter Raven, biodiversity, Genetic Modification and the Missouri Botanical Garden, go to www.mobot.org. And for an independent profile of Dr. Raven, you can visit gmwatch.org.