I never thought I would say this,
but I have something in common
with Michael Moore. Yes, we’ve
both made documentary films on
energy. No shocker there, but
get this... We’ve come to the
same conclusions! Oil, natural
gas and coal are essential to
our lives and wind and solar
technologies and electric cars
aren’t going to keep the world
humming along, not by a long shot.
Let’s let that sink in. Michael
Moore, the hard-left filmmaker,
sees today’s energy reality the
same way we do. Whoa. Am I dreaming?
Are you? Moore’s new film is called
“Planet of the Humans”. Moore and
his producer, Jeff Gibbs, figured
out that it takes a lot of oil,
natural gas, and coal to create wind
turbines, solar power, and electric cars.
They also discovered that solar
panels and wind turbines require
the mining and processing of enormous
amounts of metals and rare earth
minerals. Yeah. Like up to 800 pounds
of copper and one to two tons of
rare earth minerals in a SINGLE
wind turbine! Moore and Gibbs were
stunned to find out that electric cars
don’t just magically operate with
a little high-tech wizardry. Huh.
Who knew? The EV batteries require
a lot of rare earth minerals as well,
and they are hazardous waste when
they go kaput. Of course, EV’s are
mostly made of petroleum products.
Lots of fossil fuels are used in
manufacturing and in the end, all
you are doing is moving the tailpipe
from the car to a power plant.
Gibbs told one reporter, "Building
out an electric car and solar and
wind infrastructure and the biomass,
biofuel infrastructure, is going
to run us off the cliff faster
because it's an additional round
of mining and destruction that
does not replace the one thing
that's already destroying the
planet!" The best part of Michael
Moore’s epiphany is his discovery
that eco-activist groups have been
lying to us all along. Again…
are we dreaming? Moore’s conclusion
about WHY we’ve been lied to is
way off the mark, but at least now
he understands the activist
movement is itself a multi-billion
dollar industry pursing its own
political and financial interests.
It was amusing reading about all
the obvious realities Moore and
Gibbs uncovered in making their
film. They could have easily saved
themselves the trouble by simply
spending an afternoon watching Clear
Energy Alliance videos. Or they
could have eaten popcorn and drank
beer while watching my films, spOILed
and Fractured. Here’s where Moore and
I really part ways. He and Gibbs
are convinced that resource extraction
and climate change are leading us
to a total human apocalypse. We’ll
agree to disagree. Nonetheless,
what are their answers? Gibbs wants
to redesign ground transportation
around rail travel and busses, both
of which are highly inefficient,
expensive, impractical and would
require even more mining—the mining
he hates. He also favors giant ships
that would replace airplanes.
A quick internet search would have
shown Gibbs that transportation
produces only 14 percent of global
CO2 emissions, so his big ideas
would only accelerate the problem
he fears. In the film, Moore
explains his great disappointment
with the lies told by environmental
activist groups. But, he told one
reporter, “I refuse to let this
planet die.” And that explains
the difference between Clear Energy
Alliance and Michael Moore. We have
great faith in human ingenuity
and adaptability. Moore has
great faith in himself.
For the Clear Energy Alliance,
I’m Mark Mathis.
Power On.
