I have been waiting to see this documentary, and it is now available on Youtube. You can watch it here.
The main points are important: we humans are the most deadly virus the world has ever known. We are too many and consume too much to be sustainable in our current course, and there is much room for fraud in many of the proposed solutions. In many cases, old thinking and profit-maximizing models are operating under the banner of ‘green’ and ‘sustainable’, when they are everything but. The film makes this point particularly well about biomass.
I have long noted that the most important of the three ‘Rs’ is Reduce and Reuse, but we have pinned feel-better hopes on Recycle. In reality, most materials are not recycled.
My problem with the film is that it is long on criticism (which is the easy part) and short on solutions (the hard bit). It also paints all environmental efforts, technology and advocates with the same negative brush, which is lazy and dishonest. If heavy metal batteries are toxic, it throws out the viability of energy storage even though there are many types of non-toxic storage which are already in use and development. If we do not have one perfect energy source for every application today, then we should give up on developing alternatives or using the replacements and improvements we do have? If Al Gore is a hypocrite then everyone who is trying to lower their carbon and waste footprint is too? Give me a break.
We do not have perfect solutions for every area that we need to change, yet. Yet, is the critical word. That doesn’t mean we throw up our hands in defeat and insist that change is impossible. That’s an easy cop-out.
Most people dislike change and do not like to be told that they need to do things differently. I get it. Many attack and reject new ideas and behaviours in the hopes of continuing their old ways and habits. Our present fossil fuel use and natural world degradation are not sustainable. So, we can’t stay with the status quo, we have to go forward. We humans are the problem and we will either find smarter choices or we will become extinct. It’s that simple.
For my part, I will keep making efforts to consume less, waste little, eat plants, minimize garbage, walk and ride my bike, take public transport, drive my EV where needed, and maintain an open mind and heart for the rest of my days. To hell with darkness.
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