To the Editor:
We all want a clean, healthy environment. We all want the inexpensive and reliable energy, from whatever source, that enables us to prosper, have a healthy environment, and live healthy lives. And, we want these for ourselves and for future generations.
Energy sources like solar, wind, and biomass have been promoted as solutions to the alleged Man-Made Climate Change problem that I, and some others, believe is overstated, if not enormously inflated. This has, perhaps, not enabled an adequate independent consideration of solar, wind, and biomass (green) energy production, without being influenced by considerations of climate change.
Michael Moore is very concerned about our planet and our climate. I disagree with him on almost everything. So, in an effort to hear the other side’s arguments, I watched his documentary, “The Planet of the Humans.” This documentary opened my eyes to things I hadn’t known about these energy sources.
Everyone should watch this documentary. While I disagree with some of the opinions expressed, I can’t dispute the facts presented in the film. Whether you believe or are a skeptic of Man-Made Climate Change, watch this film. Whether or not you believe that solar, wind, and biomass energy production provide earth saving “Green Energy;” watch this film.
I could try to present some of the documentary’s main points, but I probably wouldn’t do them justice. I think it’s fair to say that the film addresses the questions about how well these “green” energy sources meet our objectives of providing inexpensive and reliable energy that enable humans to prosper, have a healthy environment, and live healthy lives.
The “Planet of the Humans” can be seen for free on YouTube. It’s also available free to Amazon Prime members. It’s probably available from your local library; the Meredith Library has a copy.
Everyone who wants future generations to inherit a healthy planet that allows humans to prosper and live healthy lives should see “Planet of the Humans.”
Don Ewing
Meredith, N.H.
Don:
For a minute, there, you really had us going—“Ewing is talking up a clean, healthy environment, and wants us to watch a Michael Moore movie? What else? Are the damned ice skating in Hell?”
Then we realized what movie he’s touting. Moore has done some good work. “Roger and Me,” and “Where to Invade Next” come to mind.
“Humans” is…well, not having seen it, we’ll let others judge it:
Leah Stokes, Assistant professor of Political Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara, interviewed May 13, 2020 by Renewable Energy Magazine:
“I think that Jeff Gibbs was working on this film for a really long time. I certainly noticed that it is really out of date. So I think he was starting a film in around 2010 or 2012, a while ago, and he just collected footage, and when Michael Moore went on as co-producer to promote it on Earth Day, he mentioned that they just edited together during the coronavirus pandemic because they were at home and so thought ‘Let’s just get this movie done’ and just put it out into the world. I think it was just a rush-job. They just wanted to…take on the idea that certain renewables are bad and that the climate movement is somehow corrupt.
“A lot of people will say Michael Moore is narcissistic, so I think they were just moving in a bubble with themselves saying ‘Let’s put this together and we’ll get a lot of attention’ and ‘climate change is a hot topic right now so we’ll do our take on it and tell everybody that they’re wrong’, which is a very Michael Moore thing to do.”
Stokes went on to say something that you, Don, may find particularly relevant:
“I think it’s a very nihilistic film. When you think about it, these are two people, probably in their 60s, white men, who have an enormous amount of privilege, near the end of their lives, and so they can just sit around and say we’re screwed and there’s nothing to be done about it and that’s perfectly fine for them. But there are lots of young people, including women, including diverse people, who have to live in the world that’s coming and have to solve the problems we’ve been handed from people in Michael Moore’s and Jeff Gibb’s generation.”
Michael Mann, Director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University:
“What I can tell you is that it’s a great way for an increasingly irrelevant filmmaker to try to jump-start his career at the expense of our planet.”
We’ll give you an “A” for effort, though, Don.
The Editor