Stephan: At least a dozen of you have written to recommend to me Michael Moore's Planet of the Humans documentary. So two days ago I watched it. I have been a supporter of Moore's work for years, have featured it on SR. But this film is appalling. It is essentially a propaganda product against the Green Movement.
Like all such efforts it is superficially plausible but, in fact, profoundly factually inaccurate beneath the bumper sticker level. Today, a mathematician friend for whose intellect I have great respect, not knowing my reaction, wrote me with his, and it matched mine.
Michael Moore is a very smart person, and he did not do this casually. I have no idea what his motive is, but his product is abominable. It completely fails to recognize that we are in a transition out of the carbon/nuclear era, and like all transitions, it doesn't happen all at once. This is not acknowledged.
I'll give one example of what I mean about this "documentary." At one point the video segues into a sequence showing a lump of coal and a solar panel. We are told this polluting coal is used to make the panel, so solar is an illusion to make us feel good. So what's wrong with that? It's factually true, but only at a superficial level, and the deeper levels are never mentioned.
First, the coal is a one time pollution hit. The solar panel has a life span of 20 years and there is no further use for that coal, on a one-to-one basis.
Second, we are in a transition. Transitions are always messy with false starts because they are explorations into the unknown. Dozens of people tried to fly before two bicycle mechanics from Ohio built a tiny little plane took it to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina and flew it to 852 feet and were airborne for 59 seconds. The world changed but it was only the beginning. The solar panels of 2040 will bear little resemblance to those of 2020, just as flight in 1918 did not technically resemble the Spitfire aircraft of World War II that became operational in 1938.
Third, children realize that we must change the way we obtain and use energy so that it does not degrade the biosphere. That's why there are so many young people are in the environmental movement. They realize there is no option about this. Why doesn't Michael Moore realize that?
PALM SPRINGS, CA – Giant wind turbines are powered by strong winds in front of solar panels in Palm Springs, California. According to reports, California continues to lead the nation in green technology and has the lowest greenhouse gas emissions per capita, even with a growing economy and population. Credit: Kevork Djansezian/Getty
A new Michael Moore-produced documentary that takes aim at the supposed hypocrisy of the green movement is “dangerous, misleading and destructive” and should be removed from public viewing, according to an assortment of climate scientists and environmental campaigners.
The film, Planet of the Humans, was released on the eve of Earth Day last week by its producer, Michael Moore, the baseball cap-wearing documentarian known for Fahrenheit 9/11 and Bowling for Columbine. Describing itself as a “full-frontal assault on our sacred cows”, the film argues that electric cars and solar energy are unreliable and rely upon fossil fuels to function. It also attacks figures including Al Gore for bolstering corporations that push flawed technologies over real solutions to the climate crisis.
Planet of the Humans has provoked a furious reaction […]
The one and significant point that I took away was the burning of trees for electricity and further destruction of forests worldwide. Here in eastern NC there has been a pelletizing process going on for sometime utilizing trees unfit for other economic purposes. The wood is shipped to Europe for “green” electricity generation. I will never understand how burning trees of any sort that have grown absorbing CO2 now release same back to the atmosphere is a good idea. Having been a tree hugger for sometime I see this falling under the category of any thing can be rationalized. A modicum of research tells the story of vast destruction of forests, wildlife and ways of life that are not easily replaced all because our overlords have convinced us that green=life when in their world green=$.
So your highly intelligent friend can run all the numbers he wants and still be morally and spiritually WRONG! We as a species are where we are because some amazingly smart people have misused this gift to create a human civilization mostly disconnected from the natural world except to control and extract maximum short-term benefit. The same lot that have given us nuclear weapons, the LHC, 5G and complex cancer treatments for cancers that arise from eating polluted GMO foods.
sam crespi
on Wednesday, April 29, 2020 at 7:30 am
I had 3 people who actually know Michael Moore post on my FB page yesterday saying he is not who many think he is. And he’s not respected or liked in his hometown.
Ernie
on Wednesday, April 29, 2020 at 12:27 pm
I’m no fan of Michael Moore but I detest censorship totally. If we continue down the road of censorship we are creating a new dark ages. Remember from history blasphemy laws, the earth is flat, the earth is the center of the universe and other ideas that were consensus thought by many of the best minds of the era but later proven wrong. We are very fortunate to have escaped those persecution-protected ideologies.
Instead of allowing yourself to be triggered and inflamed, why not try humble curiosity? I know that is out of fashion but it’s the only way you can question conventional “wisdom”.
I haven’t seen his documentary and I have liked nothing else he’s done but maybe his call for cautionary thinking should be given serious consideration? I don’t trust the objectivity of most of the prevailing thought leaders and we must retain our right to question and disagree without persecution.
Rev. Dean
on Wednesday, April 29, 2020 at 3:37 pm
I applaud Moore for bringing this to our attention. If a person sees the entire movie, especially the ending, they will see that all of the Green Activists have disavowed them- selves from the “biomass” which industry which had tricked them. That is his point and if you do not wait until the end, you will not see this. He is perfectly right in his perception that the Green Movement has been fooled by these “biomass” industries and they admit it and they also have taken their support and endorsement away from them. He made his point very well if you take the time to see the ending credits. Good job Michael!
Rev. Dean
on Wednesday, April 29, 2020 at 3:44 pm
P.S. We do need to find better ways to eliminate climate crisis and that is Michael’s point which I believe he got across very well.
Will
on Thursday, April 30, 2020 at 7:10 am
I agree Rev. Dean that we need to focus like never before on the changes necessary to restore the natural world. While some have questioned Moore’s motives/competence I saw the movie as a reasonably accurate presentation of how things work in this capitalist profit driven world. The overlords decide that instead of trying to destroy the opposition they gradually insert themselves through funding and media “education” in order to stay in control and profit while continuing extraction and business as usual with a green patina.
Beaustrodamus
on Wednesday, April 29, 2020 at 11:29 pm
I haven’t seen the film yet, but I must say, I’m as worried about those who unquestioningly defer to the billionaire hedge fund managers behind the green movement (like Tom Steyer, who has been repeatedly outed for profiting from fossil fuels while pushing himself into a leadership position in the movement) as am fearful of actual climate change. If the green movement isn’t given as much oversight and accountability as humanly possible, then I see no logical way for it to be anything more than a slush fund for oppression, which does nothing to curb the impending doom of climate disaster.
Bruce West
on Thursday, April 30, 2020 at 12:50 pm
I watched the documentary on Earth Day’s eve. It did not seem to me to be propaganda. This is one perception of what is happening in the fight to subdue the looming specter of climate/environmental disaster. As Stephan himself has said, something to the effect of, “it’s coming at us faster and with more intensity than has been projected.” I took it as an warning. Maybe this film is meant to wake us up to the realization that all these people and organizations have shortcomings and their efforts may/will not provide the miracle(s) to save us. Time is short, Dr. James Hansen, in his book, Storms of My Grandchildren, warned that to maintain a livable planet we must cease the burning of coal by 2015 and end all fossil fuel use by 2030. Bill McKibbon, based on Dr Hansen’s work, ran with the 350 ppm of atmospheric concentration co2 number as the high end – after that who knows? We are now at 415 plus.
Greta has been warning us. As she says, “This can’t be a crisis. If it were we would be talking about nothing else.” But so it goes, Al Gore pats her on the head and then goes on doing the same thing. How do we get to a cleaner, more just and livable world?. The techno wizards will not be our saviors. We as a people must have a change in consciousness and live within nature’s means.
The one and significant point that I took away was the burning of trees for electricity and further destruction of forests worldwide. Here in eastern NC there has been a pelletizing process going on for sometime utilizing trees unfit for other economic purposes. The wood is shipped to Europe for “green” electricity generation. I will never understand how burning trees of any sort that have grown absorbing CO2 now release same back to the atmosphere is a good idea. Having been a tree hugger for sometime I see this falling under the category of any thing can be rationalized. A modicum of research tells the story of vast destruction of forests, wildlife and ways of life that are not easily replaced all because our overlords have convinced us that green=life when in their world green=$.
So your highly intelligent friend can run all the numbers he wants and still be morally and spiritually WRONG! We as a species are where we are because some amazingly smart people have misused this gift to create a human civilization mostly disconnected from the natural world except to control and extract maximum short-term benefit. The same lot that have given us nuclear weapons, the LHC, 5G and complex cancer treatments for cancers that arise from eating polluted GMO foods.
I had 3 people who actually know Michael Moore post on my FB page yesterday saying he is not who many think he is. And he’s not respected or liked in his hometown.
I’m no fan of Michael Moore but I detest censorship totally. If we continue down the road of censorship we are creating a new dark ages. Remember from history blasphemy laws, the earth is flat, the earth is the center of the universe and other ideas that were consensus thought by many of the best minds of the era but later proven wrong. We are very fortunate to have escaped those persecution-protected ideologies.
Instead of allowing yourself to be triggered and inflamed, why not try humble curiosity? I know that is out of fashion but it’s the only way you can question conventional “wisdom”.
I haven’t seen his documentary and I have liked nothing else he’s done but maybe his call for cautionary thinking should be given serious consideration? I don’t trust the objectivity of most of the prevailing thought leaders and we must retain our right to question and disagree without persecution.
I applaud Moore for bringing this to our attention. If a person sees the entire movie, especially the ending, they will see that all of the Green Activists have disavowed them- selves from the “biomass” which industry which had tricked them. That is his point and if you do not wait until the end, you will not see this. He is perfectly right in his perception that the Green Movement has been fooled by these “biomass” industries and they admit it and they also have taken their support and endorsement away from them. He made his point very well if you take the time to see the ending credits. Good job Michael!
P.S. We do need to find better ways to eliminate climate crisis and that is Michael’s point which I believe he got across very well.
I agree Rev. Dean that we need to focus like never before on the changes necessary to restore the natural world. While some have questioned Moore’s motives/competence I saw the movie as a reasonably accurate presentation of how things work in this capitalist profit driven world. The overlords decide that instead of trying to destroy the opposition they gradually insert themselves through funding and media “education” in order to stay in control and profit while continuing extraction and business as usual with a green patina.
I haven’t seen the film yet, but I must say, I’m as worried about those who unquestioningly defer to the billionaire hedge fund managers behind the green movement (like Tom Steyer, who has been repeatedly outed for profiting from fossil fuels while pushing himself into a leadership position in the movement) as am fearful of actual climate change. If the green movement isn’t given as much oversight and accountability as humanly possible, then I see no logical way for it to be anything more than a slush fund for oppression, which does nothing to curb the impending doom of climate disaster.
I watched the documentary on Earth Day’s eve. It did not seem to me to be propaganda. This is one perception of what is happening in the fight to subdue the looming specter of climate/environmental disaster. As Stephan himself has said, something to the effect of, “it’s coming at us faster and with more intensity than has been projected.” I took it as an warning. Maybe this film is meant to wake us up to the realization that all these people and organizations have shortcomings and their efforts may/will not provide the miracle(s) to save us. Time is short, Dr. James Hansen, in his book, Storms of My Grandchildren, warned that to maintain a livable planet we must cease the burning of coal by 2015 and end all fossil fuel use by 2030. Bill McKibbon, based on Dr Hansen’s work, ran with the 350 ppm of atmospheric concentration co2 number as the high end – after that who knows? We are now at 415 plus.
Greta has been warning us. As she says, “This can’t be a crisis. If it were we would be talking about nothing else.” But so it goes, Al Gore pats her on the head and then goes on doing the same thing. How do we get to a cleaner, more just and livable world?. The techno wizards will not be our saviors. We as a people must have a change in consciousness and live within nature’s means.