The new Michael Moore documentary has sparked quite a bit of media outrage over the past week. People are outraged that the film seemingly pointed towards population control as the solution to climate change. Additionally, people have pointed out that the documentary uses outdated methods of renewable energy to falsely claim that renewable energy will not fix the climate problem. I find that whenever content strikes this much controversy and makes this many people angry, they probably have some interesting points. More often than not, the content that enrages people the most is the content that forces us to examine hard truths that we were not ready to face. 

Upon listening to media coverage about the documentary I was under the impression that the documentary was about climate change and the fact that renewable energies are not going to save us. I believe this is a pessimistic media narrative painted by neo-liberals who are outraged over the idea that to make real change happen, we may have to change our lifestyles. 

In order to truly save the planet, as pointed out in the film, we need to radically consume less on a global scale.  This is perfectly displayed early on in the film when General Motors releases a new line of electric vehicles. But what charges the vehicles? How green is it? The source of power is from a Lansing power plant that uses 95% coal. Many people do not want to make radical changes in their lifestyle. They want to feel as though they’re making a difference, earning a pat on the back, while they continue to maintain the same lifestyle. 

In reality, the film is about the harsh truth that like many things in life, corporate greed has taken over our mission for renewable energy for their own personal profits. The film touches on the fact that our mission for renewable energy is a hopeless attempt to save our lifestyles, not our Earth.

While watching the film, I learned more about how deep the corporate greed runs. Often times these solar and wind plants are being funded by the same companies responsible for the fossil fuel industry. It was another reminder that billionaires will follow the money, and that morality plays no part in their decisions. Even the Koch brothers have their own line of solar products, profiting from supposedly making the world a better place.

How can men destroy what is left of nature to enrich themselves? Well, that’s why they’re billionaires and you’re not.

– Planet of the Humans

In 2011, forests were destroyed to make room for “green” wind turbines. In this one instance, 134 acres of forest were destroyed, and then, in 10 to 20 years when the wind turbines stopped working, they’re sent to landfills. This is just one of the examples highlighted that shows how renewable energy is not as green as we think it is, especially when the motive is money.

Who am I to judge you for being outraged? Maybe you’re a white upper-middle-class citizen trying your best to stay in touch while not really being able to relate to struggles of the marginalized community. Your options are to either move out of your comfort zone to try and actually make a difference or maintain the status quo while making marginal changes that don’t really have a lasting impact but make you feel very good inside.  I would imagine that if you’re comfortable with your life, economically and socially speaking, it would be extremely disconcerting for someone to tell you that the only way to continue to survive is to completely change the way we consume, the way we live. 

It is for this reason, I believe, that so many are outraged by this documentary. Not because the film mentions population control, not because the film points out the problems with renewable energy, but because the film forces you to confront the cold reality that the only option is a comprehensive change to everyone’s lifestyle on a global scale. 

I highly recommend watching the full documentary if you have the time. You can watch the full documentary here: Planet of the Humans

All facts can be fact-checked on Planet of the Humans website.

As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, in recent months we have seen a massive reduction in energy usage. We’re seeing the greatest decrease is fossil fuel usage since fossil fuels became widely used in the mid 20th century. Coal demand is expected to fall more than it did after WW2. Energy demand is expected to drop by an unprecedented 6% this year, this is around the equivalent of the entire energy demand of India.

While fossil fuel demand decreases, renewable energy is expected to grow this year. The pandemic has shown how poor the fossil fuel industry functions. The cost of storage and the cost of the supply chain to move fossil fuel is extremely expensive, and without the demand for fossil fuels, the industry is collapsing.

Birol and the IEA are confident that the growth in renewables should signal a shift from fossil fuel companies toward generating clean energy.

Green Energy Surges as Demand for Fossil Fuel Collapses — and It Could Be Here to Stay -The Mind Unleashed

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Some experts have pointed out that if the 2008 recession is anything to go off of we may likely see a large spike in energy usage after the pandemic is over. Others have talked about the importance of using this pandemic as an opportunity to make the transition to renewable energy and not go back to our old ways.

We want to see emissions drop because of a stronger and bigger renewable industry, lower fuel bills and the creation of hundreds of thousands of new green jobs. And that’s what must be at the heart of our recovery from this crisis. 

Johnathan Bartley, co-leader of the Green Party

Sources:

• Green Energy Surges as Demand for Fossil Fuel Collapses — and It Could Be Here to Stay -The Mind Unleashed
• Climate crisis: Coronavirus causing collapse in demand for fossil fuels while renewables make major gains, according to major global report -Independent

Age and preexisting health conditions are the two of the biggest factors that determine how susceptible you are to COVID-19. Auto-immune diseases reduce immunity. Diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and high blood pressure are all preexisting conditions that make you more susceptible to COVID-19.

Unfortunately, in today’s environment, more and more young people are susceptible to these diseases than ever before. This can be credited to a number of factors, one of which is a large increase in endocrine-disrupting chemicals.

A huge body of research into a family of chemicals that alter hormone action, called endocrine-disrupting chemicals, has increasingly established them as significant contributors to the risk of these very diseases: diabetes, obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, reduced immunity, and more.

Confronting the Chemicals That Are Worsening COVID-19 – Organic Consumers Association

Related: Holistic Guide to Healing the Endocrine System and Balancing Our Hormones

A report was released in 2012 by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Environmental program showed that endocrine-disrupting chemicals are a global health threat. Studies have been published over the last 20 years linking these chemicals to the same health problems that exacerbate COVID-19. BPA’s, PFOA’s, and many different pesticides are among some of the chemicals that are pointed out in this research.

This will not be our last pandemic. Due to the environmental implications of our lifestyle, the Earth will continue to release viruses as a biological defense. So how do we take better care of ourselves for the next pandemic, and for the future? An article by Organic Consumers talks about the importance of the FDA and the EPA regulating chemicals and better establishing what is safe and what isn’t. Additionally, they point out the importance of producing materials that are safe in the next generation of materials produced for consumers.

First, regulatory agencies like the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency need to use modern science to establish what is safe and what is not.  

Second, we need the next generation of materials used in consumer products to be inherently safer than what we have today, because many of those products contain, and emit, endocrine-disrupting chemicals. 

Confronting the Chemicals That Are Worsening COVID-19 – Organic Consumers Association

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On an individual level, the best thing you can do to protect yourself is to have a healthy gut through a healthy diet and lifestyle.

Source:

• Confronting the Chemicals That Are Worsening COVID-19 -Organic Consumers

Deforestation can contribute to pandemics more than you may realize. When we wipe out forest space, forcing animals to live in smaller more densely populated environments, humans are more likely to come into contact with the infectious microbes these animals can carry. Animals themselves are also more likely to exchange infectious microbes, creating novel viruses, when they live in close quarters.

Yet despite years of global outcry, deforestation still runs rampant. An average of 28 million hectares of forest have been cut down annually since 2016, and there is no sign of a slowdown.

Stopping Deforestation Can Prevent Pandemics

Some of the most infectious viruses of the past two decades like Ebola, SARS, and SARS-CoV-2, have come from animals in dense tropical forests. Not only does deforestation increase the risks for novel viruses like this but it increases the spread of other viruses that originated in rain forests. A study released in 2019 showed that raising deforestation by 10% would result in a 3.3% rise in malaria cases or 7.4 million people around the world.

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To decrease deforestation we as a society should eat less meat, eat less processed foods, and waste less food, lessening the demand for pastures and crops for biofuels and palm oils. Additionally, slowing population growth can slow deforestation. Providing women in developing countries with better education and access to contraceptives can slow population growth.

As we implement these solutions, we can also find new outbreaks earlier. Epidemiologists want to tiptoe into wild habitats and test mammals known to carry coronaviruses—bats, rodents, badgers, civets, pangolins and monkeys—to map how the germs are moving. 

Stopping Deforestation Can Prevent Pandemics

A federal judge in Montana has vacated oil and gas leases on 145,000 acres of land issued by the Trump administration. Judge Brian Morris found that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) failed to consider the environmental implications of the 287 leases they sold to energy companies in December 2017 and March 2018.

BLM provided no catalogue here and little analysis to show the combined environmental impacts…if BLM ever hopes to determine the true impact of its projects on climate change, it can do so only by looking at projects in combination with each other, not simply in the context of state and nation-wide emissions.”

Judge Brian Morris

The Bureau of Land Management lease process requires the organization to conduct an environmental review before placing lands up for sale. In the case of these leases, Judge Morris found the environmental review process lacking, as it failed to consider the effects of drilling on local water supplies and climate change.

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With all due respect, we disagree with the Court’s conclusion, and the B.L.M. stands by its analysis in following the letter of the law to issue oil and gas leases in Montana. Regardless of the ultimate outcome of this dispute and despite the attempts of radical, special interest groups, the Department and the B.L.M. will continue to work toward ensuring America’s energy independence while preserving a healthy environment.”

Derrick Henry, Bureau of Land Management

The Trump administration is currently under fire for its systematic dismantling of many of the environmental protections put in place by the previous administration. Montana, in particular, has been a hotspot for legal cases between environmental groups and big oil and gas. This decision comes after a key government permit for the Keystone XL pipeline was revoked in April of this year.

The Trump administration’s lust for energy dominance at the expense of people and the environment has, fortunately, hit another brick wall. This is another major win for our climate, while protecting almost 150,000 acres of public lands from industry exploitation.”

Kyle Tisdel, attorney with the Western Environmental Law Center

Judge Morris has a record of environmentally friendly decisions. In addition to being the judge who recently revoked the Keystone XL permit, he also halted construction of the pipeline in 2018. In each case, he has ruled that further environmental study is necessary.

Sources:

• U.S. judge halts oil leases due to lack of federal study of water impacts – Reuters
• In A Setback For Trump, Judge Blocks Keystone XL Pipeline Construction – NPR

A Spanish municipal official has apologized for spraying a local beach with bleach in an effort to combat COVID-19. Government officials in Zahara de los Atunes in southern Spain sent tractors to spray beach at local beaches. The country has been under lockdown since the middle of March, and this week marks the first time children under the age of 14 will be able to go outside (albeit only for an hour).

Related: Sunlight and Alcohol Showed Effective at Killing Coronavirus, Alcohol More Effective Than Bleach

The decision to spray the beach has come under fire from environmental groups in the country. In addition to the ecosystem disruption caused by the bleach, the use of tractors could crush eggs from birds using the beach as a nesting ground. In a twitter post, Greenpeace Spain said,

Fumigating beaches with bleach in the middle of bird-breeding season or during the development of the invertebrate network that will support coastal fishing … is not one of [Donald] Trump’s ideas. It is happening in Zahara de los Atunes,”

Translated from Greenpeace Spain

Related: Coronavirus Cleaning Leads to Increased Calls to Poison Centers

Sources:

• Spanish official apologizes for spraying beach with bleach – The Guardian

People in the U.S. have another reason to stay in the house, as the highly aggressive Giant Asian Hornet has invaded Washington State. The Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) confirmed the first sightings of the venomous hornets in the United States in December 2019. Giant hornet populations have been decimating beehives, as a few hornets can destroy a beehive in hours. The WSDA has issued an advisory.

Use extreme caution near Asian giant hornets. The stinger of the Asian giant hornet is longer than that of a honeybee and the venom is more toxic than any local bee or wasp. Typical beekeeping protective clothing is not sufficient to protect you from stings. If you find a colony, do not attempt to remove or eradicate it. Report it to WSDA immediately. Anyone who is allergic to bee or wasp stings should never approach an Asian giant hornet.”

WSDA

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Giant Asian Hornet stings are extremely painful and cause 30-50 deaths in Japan every year. Hornet venom contains mandaratoxin, a neurotoxin, and stings have caused kidney failure, anaphylactic shock, and multiple organ failure in extreme cases. Those who have been stung by the hornet say it “feels like having a hot nail punched into you.”

These “murder hornets” are 2 inches long, and will be extremely detrimental to honeybee populations in the U.S. Japanese bee populations have developed defense mechanisms to limit damage from Giant Asian Hornets, but it is unlikely honeybees will be able to evolve coping mechanisms in time.

Related: Is Your Honey Actually Honey?

Sources

• Great, Now Invasive ‘Murder Hornets’ Are a Thing to Worry About – Earther
• ‘Murder Hornet’, Invasive Insect From Asia, Spotted in U.S. for the First Time – Interesting Engineering