Environmental Storm    
   
   Green practices are doing more harm than good, and many advocates know it, writes Bob Brown in WORLD magazine. 

   A Michael Moore documentary, Planet of the Humans, is written and produced by Jeff Gibbs, who argues billionaires and capitalists have overtaken the movement. Al Gore lobbies Congress for the sugarcane industry that's deforesting the Amazon basin. Biomass power plants strip forests bare, and aren't as efficient as coal plants.  

   Many "environmentally friendly" power plants use back-up fossil-fuel sources. Some viewers of the documentary think it makes the case for oil, gas and coal. 

   Gibbs' solution: conquering out-of-control human presence and consumption. In other words, more abortions. 

Media's Verdict
   Another documentary, Trial by Media, on Netflix, illustrates how tabloid TV influences American journalism and our justice system. 

   "Even in the most serious matters," writes Megan Basham, the documentary "charges we are a deeply unserious, easily manipulated people."  

   "Lobbyists and political movements help portray local crimes for their own ends. The media's rush to frame a story often results in wrong details," she writes. "Pundits simplify complex problems, dividing us into tribes, feeding a desire for conflict and grievance." 

   If there is anything helpful, she says, it is to see the same arguments and national strife play out over the decades. In this respect, there is nothing new under the sun. 

      Jimmy