An Open letter to Michael Moore on “Planet of the Humans”

 


Public Radio's Environmental News Magazine

By Nancy Lazar and Michael Coppola

Forward: This latest documentary by Michael Moore has caused quite a stir among the environmental community which took exception to the documentary's claim that environmental groups made an alliance with the fossil fuel corporations enabling the continued uses of fossil fuels. The evidence that green energy did not replace fossil fuels is indisputable in the record. In spite of the increase in green energy sources, the amount of greenhouse gases has continued to increase.

The other criticism of the film that we share is that it does not suggest any solution to the global warming. However, the film makes the valid point that most people will not voluntarily reduce their use of energy. Rather than criticizing his work we would like to suggest a method for reducing greenhouse gases that just may significantly mitigate the future catastrophic changes to the climate.  

Michael,

We recently watched your documentary "Planet of the Humans" where you make the point that we humans will not do the things needed to reduce greenhouse gases unless forced to. We also watched the commentaries showing that people complained that you didn’t offer solutions.

We would like to suggest a plan to put into action aggressive conservation through rationing.

Our suggestion is that the government will have to address the things that need to be done as they did during the years of WWII. We need to set up a system of rationing of resources/consumption by asking every American to do their part in saving the planet.

Our target will be to reduce the greenhouse gases over the next 8 years to the level needed to prevent worsening effects of global warming. The amount of each item rationed would be determined by the amount of reduction needed to slow global warnings to a safe level.

We know that reducing the amount of methane going into the atmosphere will cut back greatly on global warming. It is a short lived gas, but a very potent one. We know that animal agriculture is the largest source of methane gas going into the atmosphere so a concerted effort to drastically reduce animal agriculture would be a big step in the right direction. You may recall Meatless Fridays during the war years. With rationing we can limit the amount of animal foods that can be purchased by consumers in an effort to slow global warming.

To limit the amount of fuel that can be purchased for transportation we can use a household needs system to ration transportation fuels. Or we can do regional rations where gas stations would simply not allow anyone to purchase more than a few gallons. We found ways to get around during the gas shortage in the 1970’s and we would do so again.

Electric suppliers can start to use smart devices to establish limits for electric distribution to homes to control the amount of kilowatts a home gets. The utilities have had this technology available for years. The smart device can also notify the customer when they are approaching their limit, similar to data on a cell phone. As we limit electricity usage we can set a maximum limit of how much can be generated and put on the grid and make clean energy a priority.  To have a real effect the least greenhouse producing providers would be selected first working down to the worst greenhouse producers until the established load is met. By setting a fixed amount of electric production it will be easier to manage the electric load on the grid. Rather than the generating units being slaved to the variability of load, (demand) they can plan the number of stations that need to be on line and operate them at peak efficiency. The only real variable will be the amount of electricity being added to the grid by unmanaged solar panels owned by home owners and maybe some independently owned wind turbines. Solar generation can then become a way to replace high greenhouse gas production.

Speaking of solar generation, the point made in your film that too much new land would have to be used to replace all the generation from fossil fuel plants makes the assumption that it must be new land, land that is not currently developed. There are currently massive amounts of land that have surfaces that solar panels can be installed on. Those millions of rooftops of suburban homes and commercial buildings that at present are just absorbing sunlight and generating long wave radiation that heats up the greenhouse gasses.  

Natural gas can be controlled to the home by the utility and the amount allowed in total, again established based on a reduction in greenhouse gases.

Similar limits and controls can be placed on commercial establishments, i.e. supermarkets, restaurants, clothing stores etc.

It's our contention that Humans can work together for a common goal when given guidance on how it can be done, and by assurances that everyone is making the same sacrifices. We must all do our part to win WWIII, the fight to save our planet.

Michael Moore Presents: Planet of the Humans 




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zk11vI-7czE


 

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