Ron Arnold

Ron Arnold (Deceased)

Credentials

  • “2 years transfer credits and alumni staud, Business Administration” — University of Washington (1958 – 1962).1Ron Arnold,” LinkedIn. Accessed July 25, 2017.
  • “2 years 1954-1956, transferable credits to University of Washington”  — The University of Texas as Austin (1954 – 1956).2Ron Arnold,” LinkedIn. Accessed July 25, 2017.

Background

Ron Arnold has been called “the father of the Wise Use movement,” and also claimed credit for coining the term “eco-terrorism.” He worked as the Executive Vice President of the the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise (CDFE), alongside the group’s President Alan Gottlieb.3The Birth of a Buzz Word: Eco-Terrorism”, The Indypendant, September 17, 2007. Archived October 26, 2007. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/gFjGH Arnold proclaimed himself the “Darth Vader for the capitalist revolution.”4Terrorist Tree Huggers,” Truthout, June 25, 2004. Archived July 28, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/dhwEd Ron Arnold passed away on January 24, 2022.5Ron Arnold (1937 – 2022),The Heartland Institute. Archived March 2, 2023. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/8cjbA

Arnold was the first president of the American Freedom Coalition (AFC) from 1989 to 1991, a group that reportedly acted as the political arm of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon‘s Unification Church. Arnold served as president for three years at AFC, and Alan Gottlieb was a director for two. The American Freedom Coalition shared offices and staff with CDFE.6Ron Arnold,” ScienceCorruption.com. Archived July 27, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/VhVJp 7DRAFT: Remarks of Sen. Tim Wirth, On the floor of the Senate.” Retrieved from Polluterwatch documents.

Arnold, while working at CDFE, has declared his goal is “to eradicate the environmental movement.” Apart from ExxonMobil, which provided at least $290,000, one of CDFE‘s largest funders is the Mercer Family Foundation. The foundation controlled by Rebekah Mercer (daughter of hedge fund manager Robert Mercer) contributed total of $800,000 between 2013 and 2014, Newsweek reported.8Katherine Long, “A grinch who loathes green groups: our goal is to destroy the environmental movement’ says affable Ron Arnold, champion of Wise Use‘,” Toronto Star, December 21, 1991.  9Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise,” Conservative Transparency. Accessed July 28, 2017. 10Carrie Levine. “MEET THE ANTI-GOVERNMENT RECLUSE WHO BANKROLLS TRUMP,” Newsweek, October 8, 2016. Archived July 28, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/00MD3

Documents on file at Polluterwatch note that, in 1990, Arnold and Gottlieb created another organization called “Earth Citizens Alliance for Resources and the Environment” with the stated goal to “educate the public about the wise use of resources” according to documents from Washington Secretary of State. Earth Citizens shared offices with CDFE at the Gottlieb-owned “Liberty Park” building at 12520 NE 10th Place, Bellevue, WA.11ALLAN GOTTLIEB AND RON ARNOLD,” May 8, 1995. Retrieved from Polluterwatch. 12Unification Church Ron Arnold and the Moonies,” Retrieved from DocumentCloud.

According to a 1991 New York Times article by Timothy Egan, Ron Arnold received $3,000 per day as a speaker or organizer of groups combating environmentalists, while public 990 forms for the CDFE list no compensation for Arnold.13Timothy Egan. “Fund-Raisers Tap Anti-Environmentalism,” The New York Times, December 19, 1991. Archived July 26, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/3A1Ax

“Wise Use” Movement

Common Dreams reported that Ron Arnold likely appropriated the term “Wise Use” from Gifford Pinchot,  the first chief of the U.S. Forest Service, who is quoted as saying “Conservation is the wise use of resources.” Arnold used the term during a multiple use strategy conference in Reno, Nev., where he suggested that “wholesale mining, logging and grazing are possible while simultaneously preserving the land.”14Bill Berkowitz. “Terrorist Tree Huggers: Ron Arnold, Father of the ‘Wise Use’ Movement, sets his Sights on ‘Eco-Terrorists’,” Common Dreams, July 7, 2004. Archived June 15, 2006. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/fSTrJ

Ron Arnold helped organize the 1988 founding conference of the Wise Use movement in Reno, Nevada, where he also published the “Wise-Use Agenda.” Some of The Agenda’s top 25 goals included:15“CDFE: the wise use agenda 00089,” Polluterwatch. Retrieved from DocumentCloud. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog. 16SHARE GROUPS IN BRITISH COLUMBIA,” Claude Emery, Political and Social Affairs Division, December 10, 1991. Retrieved from Polluterwatch documents.

  • Clear Cutting old-growth in national forests
  • Rewriting the Endangered Species Act to delist “non-adaptive species” such as the California condor
  • Immediately start drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
  • Open all public lands, including national parks and wilderness areas, to mining and oil exploration

According to the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise, Arnold also wrote an essay that was “the seminal expression of the ideas that have evolved into the richly diverse wise use movement.”17Wise Use: What Do We Believe?” CDFE.org. Archived April 8, 2001. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/2oFHI

In 1991, Ron Arnold told Outside magazine that he picked the term “Wise Use” because it was ambiguous and fit neatly in newspaper headlines. “Facts don’t matter; in politics perception is reality,” Arnold said.18William Kevin Burke. “The Wise Use Movement: Right-Wing Anti-Environmentalism,” Political Research Associates., Vol 7, No. 2. (June, 1993). Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/WyE1e

Arnold has said the goal of wise use is to “destroy environmentalism once and for all.” He was quoted in a fall 1992 interview with Common Ground of Puget Sound:

“The goal of the Wise Use movement is very clear. Referring to environmentalists, Arnold explains, ‘We’re out to kill the fuckers. We’re simply trying to eliminate them. Our goal is to destroy environmentalism once and for all.’”19Common Ground of Puget Sound, Fall 1992. Retrieved from Greenpeace/Polluterwatch research doocuments.

“Wise Use”, CDFE and the Unification Church

Source: Walter Hatch, “Big Names Lend Luster to Group’s Causes: Church Leader Gains Legitimacy Among U.S. Conservatives,” The Seattle Times, February 13, 1989. Reprinted in ”SHARE GROUPS IN BRITISH COLUMBIA.”20Wise Use: What Do We Believe?” CDFE.org. Archived April 8, 2001. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/2oFHI

Numerous investigative newspaper accounts from the late 1980s linked the Wise Use movement to the Unification Church, a group run by Rev. Sun Myung Moon. The Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise shared offices and directors with the American Freedom Coalition (AFC), a group known as a front group for the Unification Church.21Wise Use: What Do We Believe?” CDFE.org. Archived April 8, 2001. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/2oFHI 22Hume, Steven. “We Have Met the Enviro-Terrorists and They Are Us.” The Vancouver Sun, April 22, 1991. 23Howard Goldenthal, “Polarizing the Public Debate to Subvert Ecology Activism,” Now, July 13-19, 1989. 24Jon Krakauer, “Brown Fellas,” Outside, Vol. XVI, No. 12, December 1991.

AFC received at least five million dollars from the church, as the national president and founder Robert Grant admitted in a Washington Post article. Grant said the church had donated a third of the group’s $17 million budget since its founding, and also noted that “Unification church members paid by a church organization, make up more than half of the AFC‘s staff.”25Robert Grant. “Taking Exception,” Washington Post, October 29, 1989. 26Overview of Ron Arnold and Alan Gottlieb: Authors of Trashing the Economy,” Clearinghouse on Environmental Advocacy and Research. Retrieved from Polluterwatch Research Documents.

The Seattle Times described the American Freedom Coalition as a “marriage of the Unification Church and Christian Voice,” pointing to ACU leader Gary Jarmin who also helped run Christian Voice and its PAC, Moral Government Fund. The Times listed Arnold and Gottlieb as two of seven key people in the Unification Church in the Northwest. The network was reportedly headed by Matthew Morrison, a regional coordinator for AFC and church member, who at the time rented an office space from Gottlieb in Bellevue, Washington. Arnold was a member of the speaker’s bureau of CAUSA (Confederation of Associations for the Unification of Societies of the Americas), formerly the political action arm of the Unification Church. 27Walter Hatch, “Big Names Lend Luster to Group’s Causes: Church Leader Gains Legitimacy Among U.S. Conservatives,” The Seattle Times, February 13, 1989. 28Moonies are more active and gaining influence,” Group Research, Vol. 28. No. 2 (Summer, 1989). Retrieved from Polluterwatch research documents. 29Walter Hatch. “Mainstream Moon,” Seattle Times, February 13, 1989.

Arnold has denied any connection between Moonie’s church and the Multi Use Conference in Reno, and has said “I am not a Moonie.” He added that CDFE does not receive funding from the Unification Church. “We never get a dime,” he said. At first he claimed that “The Unification Church has no connection to the Centre whatsoever,” then clarified that “The Centre for the Defence of Free Enterprise is allied in a movement (with the Unification Church) but has no affiliation with it in terms of money exchange.”30PROFILE OF RON ARNOLD: PROPHET FOR PROFITS,” Greenpeace research, December 5, 1993. Retrieved from Polluterwatch.

Influence on Canadian “Share” Groups

Arnold spent several years touring North America where he set up “community” coalitions, many of which used the word “care” or “share” in their names. He has advised the B.C. forestry industry. According to one report, many share groups in British Columbia originated from Arnold’s “Wise Use” movement in the U.S. The original Wise Use Conference in Nevada included a range of affiliate groups from British Columbia, including several representing the forestry, mining, and logging industries.31Wise Use: What Do We Believe?” CDFE.org. Archived April 8, 2001. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/2oFHI 32Noel McNaughton, “Propaganda,” CBC Radio, Noon, July 21, 1989. 33Carol Latter and Juaneta Haddad, “Sharing with the Share Groups,” The Leaflet, Vol. 26, No. 1, January 1989, p. 1.

“Ron Arnold and the Wise Use movement have been credited as having done more than counsel and organize Share Groups in B . C .; they have evidently influenced the rhetoric and vocabulary used in the resource debate, as seen in the use of words and phrases such as ‘archetypal symbolism,’ ‘unfinishable agenda,’ ‘wise use,’ ‘multiple use,’ ‘sharing[…],” The report noted.

Stance on Climate Change

May, 2015

In a 2015 Canada Free Press article, Arnold argued that “President Obama had it all wrong” when he said climate change deniers are a threat to national security. Arnold wrote:34The real climate threat to our national security,” Canada Free Press, May 28, 2015. Archived July 27, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/QDlVs

“In fact, climate change true believers are the real threat to our national security. That includes the notorious Seattle mob of Greenpeace ‘kayaktivists’ who were recently paddling around Puget Sound, in kayaks made from petroleum, trying to stop Shell Oil’s Polar Pioneer Arctic drilling rig from making a layover at the Port of Seattle to gear up for Alaskan waters.”35The real climate threat to our national security,” Canada Free Press, May 28, 2015. Archived July 27, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/QDlVs

December 21, 1991

The following is from a 1991 interview of Ron Arnold at the Toronto Star:36Katherine Long, “A grinch who loathes green groups: our goal is to destroy the environmental movement’ says affable Ron Arnold, champion of Wise Use‘,” Toronto Star, December 21, 1991. 37Ron Arnold,” SourceWatch profile. Archived July 25, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/snxh5

“If chlorflourocarbons really destroy ozone, why isn’t there a hole over chlorflourocarbon factories? As for the greenhouse effect, he was emphatic. ‘There isn’t any such thing’.”

Key Quotes

May, 2004

In a 2004 interview with Playboy magazine, Ron Arnold outlined some of the ideas behind the “wise use” movement. He told Playboy about a “list of demands” he had made at a 1988 meeting in Reno:38Ron Arnold, an enemy of nature,” Playboy Magazine, May 2004. Republished by Portland Independent Media Center, April 18, 2004. Archived January 4, 2005. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/Scc5n

“Number one was educate the public about the use of natural resources. Immediately develop petroleum resources in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Cut down remaining old-growth forests on public lands and replace with new trees. Cut down 30,000 acres of the Tongass National Forest each year to promote economic forestry practices. Open all public lands, including national parks, to mining and oil drilling. Construct roads into all wilderness areas for motorized wheel chair use. Stop protecting endangered species, such as the California condor, that were in decline before man arrived. Force anyone who loses litigation against a development to pay for the increase in costs for completing the project, plus damages. But the idea of wise use has become embedded. It’s no longer a list like that.”39Ron Arnold, an enemy of nature,” Playboy Magazine, May 2004. Republished by Portland Independent Media Center, April 18, 2004. Archived January 4, 2005. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/Scc5n

During the interview, Arnold also described the original idea behind the “Wise Use” movement: 

“To renew the conservation movement of President Teddy Roosevelt and his sidekick, Forest Service chief Gifford Pinchot. Pinchot once said that conservation is the wise use of resources. It’s an attempt to revitalize the conservation movement against the ‘don’t use it at all’ thinking that has evolved in environmentalism.”40Ron Arnold, an enemy of nature,” Playboy Magazine, May 2004. Republished by Portland Independent Media Center, April 18, 2004. Archived January 4, 2005. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/Scc5n

June 20, 1993

Arnold was quoted in a 1993 Washington Times article:41CLEAR PROFILE: RON ARNOLD,” Clearproject.org. Archived June 20, 2002. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/bE30C 42“’Wise use’ drive fights environmentalists Grass-roots groups spread across West to defend human, business interests,” Washington Times. June 20, 1993.

“Since the Democrats got into power, our income has doubled.”

May 30, 1993

The following is from a May, 1993 interview with Ron Arnold at CNN:43CLEAR PROFILE: RON ARNOLD,” Clearproject.org. Archived June 20, 2002. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/bE30C

VOICE OVER: “Arnold’s followers consider this a battle for personal freedom.”

ARNOLD: “And that sword has two purposes: to carve out a niche for your agenda, to reshape the American law in your image; and, kill the bastards.”

INTERVIEWER: “Describe yourself as you would like others to think of you.”

ARNOLD: “As I would like others to think? People in industry, I’m going to do my best for you. Environmentalists, I’m coming to get you.”

1992

He was quoted in a fall 1992 interview with Common Ground of Puget Sound:

“The goal of the Wise Use movement is very clear. Referring to environmentalists, Arnold explains, ‘We’re out to kill the fuckers. We’re simply trying to eliminate them. Our goal is to destroy environmentalism once and for all.’”44Common Ground of Puget Sound, Fall 1992. Retrieved from Greenpeace/Polluterwatch research doocuments.

February 4, 1992

In an ABC New Nightline show, Ron Arnold was quoted:45Ron Arnold: Portrait of an Anti-Environmental Propagandist,” Retrieved from Pollutewatch documents. 46“The Environmental Movement’s Latest Enemy” ABC News Nightline show #2792, February 4, 1992.

“The environmental movement is the establishment now, and now we are the rebels coming to tear them down. Now they’re Goliath, and we’re David, and we intend to put the stone in their head.”47Ron Arnold: Portrait of an Anti-Environmental Propagandist,” Retrieved from Pollutewatch documents. 48“The Environmental Movement’s Latest Enemy” ABC News Nightline show #2792, February 4, 1992.

January 13, 1992

Arnold was quoted in a 1992 Boston Globe article by Marla Williams,49Marla Williams. “New, militant antienvironmentalists fight to return nature to a back seat,” Boston Globe, January 13, 1992. as reported by SourceWatch.50Ron Arnold,” SourceWatch profile. Archived July 25, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/snxh5

“We are sick to death of environmentalism and so we will destroy it. We will not allow our right to own property and use nature’s resources for the benefit of mankind to be stripped from us by a bunch of eco-facists.”

December 21, 1991

In a 1991 interview with Toronto Star reporter Katherine Long,51Katherine Long, “A grinch who loathes green groups: our goal is to destroy the environmental movement’ says affable Ron Arnold, champion of Wise Use‘,” Toronto Star, December 21, 1991. as reported by SourceWatch, Arnold said:52Ron Arnold,” SourceWatch profile. Archived July 25, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/snxh5

“Our goal is to destroy, to eradicate the environmental movement […] We’re mad as hell. We’re not going to take it anymore. We’re dead serious – we’re going to destroy them,” he said. “We want to be able to exploit the environment for private gain, absolutely […] and we want people to understand that is a noble goal.”

Long added that he didn’t believe in the greenhouse effect. 

“If chlorflourocarbons really destroy ozone, why isn’t there a hole over chlorflourocarbon factories? As for the greenhouse effect, he was emphatic. ‘There isn’t any such thing’.”53Katherine Long, “A grinch who loathes green groups: our goal is to destroy the environmental movement’ says affable Ron Arnold, champion of Wise Use‘,” Toronto Star, December 21, 1991. 54Ron Arnold,” SourceWatch profile. Archived July 25, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/snxh5

December 19, 1991

In a 1991 New York Times article by Timothy Egan, Arnold is quoted as saying:55Timothy Egan. “Fund-Raisers Tap Anti-Environmentalism,” The New York Times, December 19, 1991. Archived July 26, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/3A1Ax

“We want to destroy environmentalists by taking away their money and their members.” 

“We [CDFE] created a sector of public opinion that didn’t used to exist. No one was aware that environmentalism was a problem until we came along.”

December, 1991

According to a profile Outside Magazine, Arnold has said:

“Facts don’t matter; in politics perception is reality.”56William Kevin Burke. “The Wise Use Movement: Right-Wing Anti-Environmentalism,” Political Research Associates., Vol 7, No. 2. (June, 1993). Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/WyE1e

Arnold also claimed, at a speech at the New Mexico Wool Growers Association at the Las Cruces Hilton:

“[G]reen organizations aren’t really concerned about protecting the environment; they simply ‘invent the environmental threats in order to recruit members and make money.’”57Outside magazine, December 1991. 58Overview of Ron Arnold and Alan Gottlieb: Authors of Trashing the Economy,” Clearinghouse on Environmental Advocacy and Research. Retrieved from Polluterwatch Research Documents.

1991

As reported by The New York Times, Arnold said in a speech to a group of New Mexico wool growers in 1991:59Timothy Egan. “Look Who’s Hugging Trees Now,” The New York Times, July 7, 1996. Archived July 27, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/j9yJk

“Environmentalism is a new paganism that worships trees and sacrifices people.”

Key Deeds

March 28, 2018

Paul Driessen and Ron Arnold co-published the second edition of their book, Cracking Big Green: To Save the World from the Save-The-Earth Money Machine.60Ron Arnold and Paul Driessen. Cracking Big Green: To Save the World from the Save-The-Earth Money Machine Kindle Edition, Amazon.

The book bills itself as “A stunning expose of Big Green – the modern environmental movement and its hidden financial masters.”61Ron Arnold and Paul Driessen. Cracking Big Green: To Save the World from the Save-The-Earth Money Machine Kindle Edition, Amazon.

The first version of their book, bearing the same title, was published in 2014 by the pro-fossil-fuel, climate change denial organization CFACT.62Exposing the Green Money Machine,” Canada Free Press, November 4, 2014. Archived April 14, 2018. Archive.is URL: https://archive.li/vq6Ub

April 10, 2017

Writing at the Washington Examiner, Ron Arnold promotes a Pacific Legal Foundation petition that describes the listing of Preble’s meadow jumping mouse from the “threatened” list of the Endangered Species Act.63Ron Arnold. “The mouse that won’t stop roaring,” Washington Examiner, April 10, 2017. Archived July 25, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/rV0B4

“The Endangered Species Act does not regulate species but habitat, which is land-use control,” Arnold wrote. “The Fish and Wildlife Service uses its power to separate land from use. 

“The Endangered Species Act does not regulate species but habitat, which is land-use control. The Fish and Wildlife Service uses its power to separate land from use. 

July 7 – 9, 2014

Arnold was a speaker at the Heartland Institute‘s Ninth International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC9).64ICCC9 Speakers,” International Conferences on Climate Change (The Heartland Institute). Archived July 27, 2015. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.

April, 2004

The “Earth Day Information Center,” a project of the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR), listed Ron Arnold as a public policy expert available for interview.65Free ‘Earth Day Interview Locator Service’,” 2001 Earth Day Information Center. Archived July 28, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/DC1wO

“Arnold is an expert in eco-terrorism, the funding of the establishment environmental movement, the Endangered Species Act, federal land management and property rights,” the website declared.66Free ‘Earth Day Interview Locator Service’,” 2001 Earth Day Information Center. Archived July 28, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/DC1wO

Other “experts” listed included Patrick Michaels, Henry Miller of the Hoover Institution, Steven Hayward of the Pacific Research Institute, and Margo Thorning of the American Council for Capital Formation.67Free ‘Earth Day Interview Locator Service’,” 2001 Earth Day Information Center. Archived July 28, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/DC1wO

February 15, 2000

After publishing a book titled Undue Influence: Wealthy Foundations, Grant-Driven Environmental Groups, and Zealous Bureaucrats That Control Your Future with CDFE, Ron Arnold testified before the U. S. House of Representatives,  Committee on Resources, Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health.68THE FUNDING OF ENVIRONMENTAL INITIATIVES AND THEIR IMPACTS ON LOCAL COMMUNITIES,” Undueinfluence.com, February 15, 2000. Archived June 18, 2004. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/vG3SR

In his testimony, Arnold promoted the message of the book and claimed there is a “powerful ‘iron triangle’” of environmental groups and funding that “unfairly influences federal policy to devastate local economies and private property.”69THE FUNDING OF ENVIRONMENTAL INITIATIVES AND THEIR IMPACTS ON LOCAL COMMUNITIES,” Undueinfluence.com, February 15, 2000. Archived June 18, 2004. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/vG3SR

“Madam Chairman, in my researches I found that every segment of America’s resource extraction economy – food, clothing and shelter – has been targeted by some coalition funded by wealthy foundations. This is an intolerable program of rural cleansing,” Arnold said.70THE FUNDING OF ENVIRONMENTAL INITIATIVES AND THEIR IMPACTS ON LOCAL COMMUNITIES,” Undueinfluence.com, February 15, 2000. Archived June 18, 2004. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/vG3SR

1993

In 1993, Arnold and Gottlieb issued a new Wise Use publication titled Trashing the Economy, subtitled “How Runaway Environmentalism is Wrecking America. It was published by Free Enterprise Press and distributed by Merril Press, the latter run by Gottlieb.71Alan Gottlieb: The Merchant of Fear,” Eastsideweek, October 26, 1994. Republished by sweetliberty.org. Archived July 27, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/eXFA6

According to the book’s forward, it served as a catalogue of the “secrets the environmental movement does not want the public to know.” Ron Arnold claimed that “every sentence” had been checked for source and accuracy.72Alan Gottlieb: The Merchant of Fear,” Eastsideweek, October 26, 1994. Republished by sweetliberty.org. Archived July 27, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/eXFA6

August, 1988

The Wise Use Movement was unveiled at The Multiple-Use Strategy Conference at the Nugget casino hotel near Reno, Nevada. According to an October, 1994 report in Eastsideweek, the conference was a meeting place to determine a common ground to fight environmentalism. 250 delegates were invited, representing industry and lobbyists.73Alan Gottlieb: The Merchant of Fear,” Eastsideweek, October 26, 1994. Republished by sweetliberty.org. Archived July 27, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/eXFA6

Companies included The American Mining Congress, the National Cattlemen’s Association, the DuPont Co., Exxon Co., USA, Louisiana Pacific Corporation, Northwest Independent Forest Manufacturers, Willamette Forestry Council, and Timber Association of California.74Alan Gottlieb: The Merchant of Fear,” Eastsideweek, October 26, 1994. Republished by sweetliberty.org. Archived July 27, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/eXFA6

EastSidweek reported that “There was a sufficient sprinkling of small grass-roots organizations names in the roster to provide some cover, though very few of the small groups listed in the conference report actually attended. This would become the familiar trade-mark of Wise Use: little guys carrying the banner for the big boys”:75Alan Gottlieb: The Merchant of Fear,” Eastsideweek, October 26, 1994. Republished by sweetliberty.org. Archived July 27, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/eXFA6

“The lobbyists, promoters, flacks and ‘leaders’ were industry supporters like Gottlieb and Arnold with CDFEPLUS

“The little guys were represented in the ‘Index to the Wise Use Movement’ by property owners associations and recreational clubs such as Bremerton Cruisers, Eastern Washington Dirt Riders, Roadrunners Motorcycle Club, Skagit Motorcycle Club, Tacoma Motorcycle Club, the Idaho Gem and Mineral Society, the Magic Valley Trail Machine Association, the Arizona Bowhunters’ Association, and the Yakima Valley Dust Dodgers. Most of the organizations listed did not attend, but rather “supported the Wise Use Movement” through their participation in umbrella organizations like the Blue Ribbon Coalition or the Public Land Users Society. It is questionable if the members of these organizations approved of, or even knew what the Wise Use Movement is all about. These are the spear carriers, the foot soldiers, the grass-roots. The ones who send Gottlieb money in the mail.

“There was also one other sponsor that has garnered a lot of attention: the American Freedom Coalition.”76Alan Gottlieb: The Merchant of Fear,” Eastsideweek, October 26, 1994. Republished by sweetliberty.org. Archived July 27, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/eXFA6

A key document to the newly dubbed “Wise Use Movement” would be The Wise Use Agenda, The Citizen’s Policy Guide to Environmental Resource Issues, A Task Force Report to the Bush Administration by the Wise Use Movement.77SHARE GROUPS IN BRITISH COLUMBIA,” Claude Emery, Political and Social Affairs Division, December 10, 1991. Retrieved from Polluterwatch documents.

The agenda outlined a number of the “two hundred twenty-four citizen organizations government agencies and individuals” who attended the Multiple Use Strategy Conference. View the attached spreadsheet for a complete list of the “Index of the Wise Use Movement” (xlsx). Notable Groups included:78Alan Gottlieb: The Merchant of Fear,” Eastsideweek, October 26, 1994. Republished by sweetliberty.org. Archived July 27, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/eXFA6

1986

Arnold visited New Zealand, sponsored by the Agricultural Chemical and Animal Remedies Manufactuers, where he described himself as the the “Darth Vader for the capitalist revolution.” He defended the use of herbicides that had been identified with the dioxin 2,4,5-T while warning that the US had experienced an “upsurge in eco-terrorism.”79Ron Arnold,” ScienceCorruption.com. Archived July 27, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/VhVJp

He was quoted in The New Zealand Herald:80“’Green campaign just cover’ says ‘Hit man’,”New Zealand Herald, March 19, 1986.

“We have had power stations blown up, bridges burned, electrical transmission towers collapsed, forest trails booby trapped with wired shotguns, attacks on forestry pesticide application crews, Forest Service officers shot to death and numerous other acts of violence in the name of the environment.”

According to ScienceCorruption, Arnold was later asked to cite the sources for these statements. When asked, he pointed to a government report and claimed the incident happened in Southern Oregon regarding a marijuana patch. Regarding the tie to environmentalism, he referred to one of his own articles in a conservative magazine. The article had no connection to either marijuana or to Southern Oregon.81Ron Arnold,” ScienceCorruption.com. Archived July 27, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/VhVJp

March, 1985

Ron Arnold gave a speech at a conference sponsored by the Canadian Pulp and Paper Association where he described his experience fighting the anti-pesticide movement. According to Arnold, a “small but vociferous minority in North America” was opposing “the use of vital agrichemicals.” He claimed that this movement constituted “less than 2% of the entire North American population.”82Wise Use: What Do We Believe?” CDFE.org. Archived April 8, 2001. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/2oFHI

He concluded his speech, saying environmentalists were “not likely to abandon their ideology because they hold their misguided beliefs with religious fervor.”

February, 1983

Before he joined the Center for Defense of Free Enterprise, Arnold wrote a piece on “Eco-Terrorism” at Reason Magazine.83Ron Arnold. “Eco-Terrorism,” Reason.com, February 1983. Archived July 27, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/ZHLUl

Responding to a September 2007 Indypendant article on the origins of the word “Eco-Terrorism,” Arnold claimed credit for coining the term “eco-terrorism” in his initial Reason Magazine. Arnold’s comment below:84The Birth of a Buzz Word: Eco-Terrorism”, The Indypendant, September 17, 2007. Archived October 26, 2007. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/gFjGH

Ron Arnold Says: 
September 17th, 2007 at 5:20 pm
I coined the term “ecoterrorism” in a 1982 Reason magazine article. Denson borrowed it late in the game after many other uses. I want the credit and you want to get it right. When you write about me, call me at 425-454-9470. It’s a common journalistic courtesy, I answer most questions, and I don’t bite. My 1997 book “EcoTerror: The Violent Agenda to Save Nature” was voted into the Random House Reader Survey of the 100 Most Important Books of the 20th Century. I left this message at your website contact email. Please let your readers know about the REAL birth of the buzzword. I’ll tell you the whole story if you’re interested.
Ron Arnold85The Birth of a Buzz Word: Eco-Terrorism”, The Indypendant, September 17, 2007. Archived October 26, 2007. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/gFjGH

1981

Arnold co-authored At the Eye of the Storm, a biography of the new Reagan Secretary of the Interior, James Watt which Watt himself helped to edit. The Christian Science Monitor notes that the book was underwritten by the conservative Free Congress Research and Education Foundation.86Peter Grier. “A challenge to the environmentalists; At the Eye of the Storm: James Watt and the Environmentalists, by Ron Arnold. Chicago: Regnery Gateway. 260 pp. $14.95.” The Christian Science Monitor, March 11, 1983. Archived July 27, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/YwC51

Affiliations

Social Media

Publications

Arnold’s publications included a series on “EcoTerrorism” for Reason magazine and the book At the Eye of the Storm: James Watt and the Environmentalists, about the former Secretary of the Interior. Titles include:102Ron Arnold: Portrait of an Anti-Environmental Propagandist,” Retrieved from Pollutewatch documents.

  • At The Eye of the Storm: James Watt and the Environmentalists (1982)
  • Ecology Wars: Environmentalism As If People Mattered (1987)
  • The Wise Use Agenda (1989)
  • Trashing the Economy, with Alan Gottlieb (1993)
  • Getting Rich: The Environmental Movement’s Income, Salary, Contributions, and Investment Patterns (1994)
  • Feeding At the Trough: The Environmental Movement’s Government Grants, Tax Subsidies, Leveraged Incomes, and Controversial Expenditures (1995)
  • Eco terror: The Violent Agenda to Save Nature; The World of the Unabomber (1997)

Many of Arnold’s books are published by CDFE‘s publishing arm, The Free Enterprise Press, which works in conjunction with Gottlieb’s for-profit Merril Press. The Free Enterprise Press was founded by Arnold in 1987 ‘to create an outlet for important free enterprise authors’. Such authors have included Paul Driessen and Roy Innis. According to the archived CDFE website:

“The Center’s book publishing division is The Free Enterprise Press (425-455-5038). The Center’s books are released by Merril Press, a division of Merril Mail Marketing, Inc. (425-454-7009), and distributed to retail bookstores nationwide by Midpoint Trade Books in New York City.”103Welcome to the Center’s Free Enterprise Book Store!” Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise. Archived May 9, 2008. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/wbUEk

The Free Enterprise Press published Driessen’sEco-Imperialism: Green Power, Black Death, a book that CDFE adjunct scholar Paul Caruba said helps readers “to understand why the environmental movement is engaged in the most appalling example of genocide the world has ever known!”104Alan Caruba. “Killing Millions to ‘Save’ the Earth,” Eco-Imperialism, November 2003. Archived July 28, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/B89D8

CanadaFreePress

Below are some of Arnold’s recent articles at Canadafreepress:105Ron Arnold,” Canada Free Press. Accessed July 28, 2017. 

Washington Examiner

Arnold has published prolificly at Washington Examiner. See samples below:106Ron Arnold: Columnist,” Washington Examiner.  Accessed July 28, 2017. 

Resources

  1. Ron Arnold,” LinkedIn. Accessed July 25, 2017.
  2. The Birth of a Buzz Word: Eco-Terrorism”, The Indypendant, September 17, 2007. Archived October 26, 2007. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/gFjGH
  3. Terrorist Tree Huggers,” Truthout, June 25, 2004. Archived July 28, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/dhwEd
  4. Ron Arnold,” ScienceCorruption.com. Archived July 27, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/VhVJp
  5. f”DRAFT: Remarks of Sen. Tim Wirth, On the floor of the Senate.” Retrieved from Polluterwatch documents.
  6. Timothy Egan. “Fund-Raisers Tap Anti-Environmentalism,” The New York Times, December 19, 1991. Archived July 26, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/3A1Ax
  7. ALLAN GOTTLIEB AND RON ARNOLD,” May 8, 1995. Retrieved from Polluterwatch.
  8. Unification Church Ron Arnold and the Moonies,” Retrieved from Documentcloud.
  9. Bill Berkowitz. “Terrorist Tree Huggers: Ron Arnold, Father of the ‘Wise Use’ Movement, sets his Sights on ‘Eco-Terrorists’,” Common Dreams, July 7, 2004. Archived June 15, 2006. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/fSTrJ
  10. CDFE: the wise use agenda 00089,Polluterwatch. Retrieved from DocumentCloud. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
  11. SHARE GROUPS IN BRITISH COLUMBIA,” Claude Emery, Political and Social Affairs Division, December 10, 1991. Retrieved from Polluterwatch documents.
  12. Wise Use: What Do We Believe?” CDFE.org. Archived April 8, 2001. Archive.is URLhttps://archive.is/2oFHI
  13. William Kevin Burke. “The Wise Use Movement: Right-Wing Anti-Environmentalism,” Political Research Associates., Vol 7, No. 2. (June, 1993). Archive.is URLhttps://archive.is/WyE1e
  14. Common Ground of Puget Sound, Fall 1992. Retrieved from Greenpeace/Polluterwatch research doocuments.
  15. Hume, Steven. “We Have Met the Enviro-Terrorists and They Are Us.” The Vancouver Sun, April 22, 1991.
  16. Howard Goldenthal, “Polarizing the Public Debate to Subvert Ecology Activism,” Now, July 13-19, 1989.
  17. Jon Krakauer, “Brown Fellas,” Outside, Vol. XVI, No. 12, December 1991.
  18. Robert Grant. “Taking Exception,” Washington Post, October 29, 1989.
  19. Overview of Ron Arnold and Alan Gottlieb: Authors of Trashing the Economy,Clearinghouse on Environmental Advocacy and Research. Retrieved from Polluterwatch Research Documents.
  20. Walter Hatch, “Big Names Lend Luster to Group’s Causes: Church Leader Gains Legitimacy Among U.S. Conservatives,” The Seattle Times, February 13, 1989.
  21. Moonies are more active and gaining influence,” Group Research, Vol. 28. No. 2 (Summer, 1989). Retrieved from Polluterwatch research documents.
  22. Walter Hatch. “Mainstream Moon,” Seattle Times, February 13, 1989.
  23. PROFILE OF RON ARNOLD: PROPHET FOR PROFITS,” Greenpeace research, December 5, 1993. Retrieved from Polluterwatch.
  24. Noel McNaughton, “Propaganda,” CBC Radio, Noon, July 21, 1989.
  25. Carol Latter and Juaneta Haddad, “Sharing with the Share Groups,” The Leaflet, Vol. 26, No. 1, January 1989, p. 1.
  26. The real climate threat to our national security,” Canada Free Press, May 28, 2015. Archived July 27, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/QDlVs
  27. Katherine Long, “A grinch who loathes green groups: our goal is to destroy the environmental movement’ says affable Ron Arnold, champion of Wise Use‘,” Toronto Star, December 21, 1991.
  28. Ron Arnold,” SourceWatch profile. Archived July 25, 2017. Archive.is URLhttps://archive.is/snxh5
  29. Ron Arnold, an enemy of nature,” Playboy Magazine, May 2004. Republished by Portland Independent Media Center, April 18, 2004. Archived January 4, 2005. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/Scc5n
  30. CLEAR PROFILE: RON ARNOLD,” Clearproject.org. Archived June 20, 2002. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/bE30C
  31. “’Wise use’ drive fights environmentalists Grass-roots groups spread across West to defend human, business interests,Washington Times. June 20, 1993.
  32. Ron Arnold: Portrait of an Anti-Environmental Propagandist,” Retrieved from Pollutewatch documents.
  33. “The Environmental Movement’s Latest Enemy” ABC News Nightline show #2792, February 4, 1992.
  34. Marla Williams. “New, militant antienvironmentalists fight to return nature to a back seat,” Boston Globe, January 13, 1992.
  35. Outside magazine, December 1991.
  36. Overview of Ron Arnold and Alan Gottlieb: Authors of Trashing the Economy,Clearinghouse on Environmental Advocacy and Research. Retrieved from Polluterwatch Research Documents.
  37. Timothy Egan. “Look Who’s Hugging Trees Now,” The New York Times, July 7, 1996. Archived July 27, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/j9yJk
  38. Alan Gottlieb: The Merchant of Fear,” Eastsideweek, October 26, 1994. Republished by sweetliberty.org. Archived July 27, 2017. Archive.is URLhttps://archive.is/eXFA6
  39. Ron Arnold. “The mouse that won’t stop roaring,” Washington Examiner, April 10, 2017. Archived July 25, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/rV0B4
  40. ICCC9 Speakers,” International Conferences on Climate Change (The Heartland Institute). Archived July 27, 2015. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmogBlog.
  41. Free ‘Earth Day Interview Locator Service’,” 2001 Earth Day Information Center. Archived July 28, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/DC1wO
  42. THE FUNDING OF ENVIRONMENTAL INITIATIVES AND THEIR IMPACTS ON LOCAL COMMUNITIES,” Undueinfluence.com, February 15, 2000. Archived June 18, 2004. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/vG3SR
  43. Ron Arnold. “Eco-Terrorism,” Reason.com, February 1983. Archived July 27, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/ZHLUl
  44. Peter Grier. “A challenge to the environmentalists; At the Eye of the Storm: James Watt and the Environmentalists, by Ron Arnold. Chicago: Regnery Gateway. 260 pp. $14.95.” The Christian Science Monitor, March 11, 1983. Archived July 27, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/YwC51
  45. Ron Arnold,” The Heartland Institute. Archived July 25, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/DpBxJ
  46. About Us,” Left Tracking Libary/Green Tracking Library. Archived July 21, 2011. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/sPlmk
  47. Staff,” Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise. Archived August 11, 2002. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/8I7sb
  48. Welcome to the Center’s Free Enterprise Book Store!” Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise. Archived May 9, 2008. Archive.is URLhttps://archive.is/wbUEk
  49. Alan Caruba. “Killing Millions to ‘Save’ the Earth,” Eco-Imperialism, November 2003. Archived July 28, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/B89D8
  50. Ron Arnold,” Canada Free Press. Accessed July 28, 2017. 
  51. Ron Arnold: Columnist,” Washington Examiner.  Accessed July 28, 2017. 
  52. “’Green campaign just cover’ says ‘Hit man’,”New Zealand Herald, March 19, 1986.
  53. Katherine Long, “A grinch who loathes green groups: our goal is to destroy the environmental movement’ says affable Ron Arnold, champion of Wise Use‘,” Toronto Star, December 21, 1991.
  54. Carrie Levine. “MEET THE ANTIGOVERNMENT RECLUSE WHO BANKROLLS TRUMP,” Newsweek, October 8, 2016. Archived July 28, 2017. Archive.is URLhttps://archive.is/00MD3
  55. Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise,” Conservative Transparency. Accessed July 28, 2017.
  56. Ron Arnold and Paul Driessen. Cracking Big Green: To Save the World from the Save-The-Earth Money Machine Kindle Edition, Amazon.
  57. Exposing the Green Money Machine,” Canada Free Press, November 4, 2014. Archived April 14, 2018. Archive.is URL: https://archive.li/vq6Ub

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