Debate with a Technoptimist

Posted byJohn HalsteadPosted inUncategorizedTags:, ,

After viewing Michael Moore’s latest film, Planet of the Humans, I got into some intense discussions with progressive friends who really disliked the movie as well as my promoting it online. The outcome was my essay, “Damn Dirty Humans!: Planet of the Humans and Progressive Denial”.

One progressive friend, Mark Green, wrote a response, and there followed a back-and-forth series of posts between us, which I think was very illuminating. You can read the whole exchange here:

  1. “Damn Dirty Humans!: ‘Planet of the Humans’ and Progressive Denial” by John Halstead
  2. “Why The Doomsters are Completely Wrong” by Mark Green
  3. “Beyond Doom: A Response to Mark Green” by John Halstead
  4. “The Doomsaying Simply Isn’t Helping: More on My Exchange with John Halstead” by Mark Green
  5. “Part 5 of the Halstead-Green debate” by John Halstead
  6. “In Which Straw Men Get Punched—More on Halstead/Green” by Mark Green

I also turned #3 above into an essay geared for a more general audience entitled, “Why I Am Not A ‘Doomer’ “.

I think we exhausted the topic for now. I appreciate Mark. He’s a thoughtful critic and provided an worthy foil for me to develop my ideas.

Published by John Halstead

John Halstead is the author of *Another End of the World is Possible*, in which he explores what it would really mean for our relationship with the natural world if we were to admit that we are doomed. John is a native of the southern Laurentian bioregion and lives in Northwest Indiana, near Chicago. He is a co-founder of 350 Indiana-Calumet, which worked to organize resistance to the fossil fuel industry in the Region. John was the principal facilitator of “A Pagan Community Statement on the Environment.” He strives to live up to the challenge posed by the Statement through his writing and activism. John has written for numerous online platforms, including Patheos, Huffington Post, PrayWithYourFeet.org, and Gods & Radicals. He is Editor-at-Large of HumanisticPaganism.com. John also facilitates climate grief support groups climate grief support groups affiliated with the Good Grief Network.

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