SYNOPSIS OF PLANET OF THE HUMANS:

The movie Planet of the Humans, co-produced by Michael Moore and

environmentalist/filmmaker Jeff Gibbs sends a blurred message which is somewhat splitting the
climate movement, in many ways for the worse, but, in a few others, for the better. Nonetheless,
the documentary highlights and brings key aspects to our attention.

As a core ideology, Planet of the Humans questions the solutions proposed through
supposed renewable technologies. Gibbs claims such resolutions, are to a certain extent, a well-
fashioned disguise of similar conceptual concerns generated from our technological society. For
instance, the 2 concepts for energy production being that wind towers and solar panels either rely
on fuel consumption or otherwise utilize plentiful quantities of minerals and rare metals is a
worrying situation. The documentary showcases creating such panels and towers, followed by
biofuel & biomass burning as problematic despite being a better alternative to fossil fuel
consumption. Further, Gibbs implies that this narrow solution to green tech does not bode well
with economic growth since a greater proportion of the populace are left with underlying societal
issues whereas a smaller few keep feeding their pockets. Hence, Gibbs quotes whether it is
possible for “machines made by industrial civilization to save us from industrial civilization?”.

The documentary shows an anonymous man at a solar trade show who says, "Some solar
panels are built to last only 10 years, so it's not as if you get this magic free energy." However,
the environmental pioneer, Bill McKibben refutes by saying engineers have helped to largely
improve this tech, making solar the cheapest way of generating energy today. According to
McKibben, a solar panel nowadays can last a maximum of three decades inclusive of the four-
year energy recovery consumed in building time. On the other hand, he states that 90 percent of
its power producing capacity is carbon-emissions-free which is a widely debated argument
nowadays.

However, the video proves a mess of deceptive and outdated narratives, coupled with a
set of ridiculous arguments. The film’s previewing of renewable energies is outdated and was
deemed a more fitting argument a few years back where renewables were more expensive, less
accessible and less efficient. Thus, we have to focus our approach to fit today’s energy transition
rather than focus on the film which provides a more primitive renewable age ideology.