Planet of the Humans

Name: Planet of the Humans
Genre: Documentary
Released: April 21, 2020
Duration: 100 min
Rating: 56
Cast: Catherine Andrews, David Gard, Jeff Gibbs, Michael Bloomberg, Michael Carr

2020

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Mixed or average reviews based on 5 Critic Reviews

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Mixed or average reviews based on 15 Ratings

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Planet of the Humans

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Movie Details & Credits

Rumble Media | Release Date (Streaming): April 21, 2020 | Not Rated

Starring: Catherine Andrews, David Gard, Jeff Gibbs, Michael Bloomberg, Michael Carr, Mike Brune, Pat Egan, Rachel L. Carson, Richard Branson, Suzanne Goldenberg

Summary: Planet of the Humans takes a harsh look at how the environmental movement has lost the battle through well-meaning but disastrous choices.

Director: Jeff Gibbs

Genre(s): Documentary

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 100 min

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Critic Reviews

Liam Lacey

Apr 23, 2020

Credit goes to Gibbs for the courage to question the comfortable consensus. But to present a crisis with no resolution feels like a job half-done. Read full review

Movie Nation Roger Moore

Apr 23, 2020

Population control, consumption control, treading more lightly? Yeah, we know that. We just don’t want to hear it. Yet. Will Planet of the Humans open our ears? Read full review

Dennis Harvey

Apr 23, 2020

There’s nothing particularly elegant about the way Planet of the Humans arrives at that downbeat thesis. Though well-shot and edited, the material here is simply too sprawling to avoid feeling crammed into one ungainly package even narrator Gibbs admits “might seem overwhelming.” Read full review

Steve Pond

Apr 23, 2020

While the film sometimes seems to be stretching to find problems in every corner of the environmental movement (apparently, no company that claims to be green can also plug into the power grid), it does a brutally effective job of suggesting that a dream of endless renewable energy may be unattainable. Read full review

Frank Scheck

Apr 23, 2020

The loosely structured assemblage of damning information eventually proves more numbing than illuminating. Read full review

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User Reviews

TixyLix

May 7, 2020

This Documentary is the first from the “left” to acknowledge what the “right” has been saying for years. I’ve been accused of being a right winged Nazi for not wanting big Wind Farms ruining our local countryside. The realities is energy is not endless, it’s never renewable, it all comes atThis Documentary is the first from the “left” to acknowledge what the “right” has been saying for years. I’ve been accused of being a right winged Nazi for not wanting big Wind Farms ruining our local countryside. The realities is energy is not endless, it’s never renewable, it all comes at a cost from somewhere. The left have been telling everyone you need to consume your way out of climate change. Why are people buying this nonsense? Population is the real problem, but if you mention that you’re a right winged racist Nazi :/ I don’t see how anyone could rate this documentary badly, seems like the left just want to pedal their idiotic ideology. If you really cared about the environment you’d be a supporter of Nuclear technology. It turns out even a leak like Chernobyl is better for the environment than Humans. Chernobyl is packed full of wildlife now.... solar farms end up doing more damage.… Expand

1 of 3 users found this helpful12

Thespice

May 3, 2020

I think others who have rated this, done so after watching the first 20mins only. This doesn't support the oil or coal industry as our future energy producers. It simply makes you see through the **** of what we are being offered now as a "greener" alternative . Smoke and mirrors (watch itI think others who have rated this, done so after watching the first 20mins only. This doesn't support the oil or coal industry as our future energy producers. It simply makes you see through the **** of what we are being offered now as a "greener" alternative . Smoke and mirrors (watch it and you will get it).… Expand

2 of 3 users found this helpful21

Trailesque

May 15, 2023

Gibbs's documentary makes the point that green, renewable energy is actually not so renewable, and that much of it depends on using fossil fuels and burning trees. It touches on the danger of uncontrolled population growth, something that most environmental organizations do not want toGibbs's documentary makes the point that green, renewable energy is actually not so renewable, and that much of it depends on using fossil fuels and burning trees. It touches on the danger of uncontrolled population growth, something that most environmental organizations do not want to discuss. The opinions that rich capitalists have taken over the environmental movement, and that environmental leaders like Bill McKibben and the Sierra Club have sold out is put forward. There is some effective use of TV interviews and stock footage, but overall this paints a bleak picture and offers very little in the way of solutions.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

LadyFire

May 14, 2020

The movie, which came out in 2019 is a litany of complaints against renewable energy industry and environmental movement from a decade before, without admitting that they used out-of-date videos and factoids. Some of the information is simply false, and a simple phone call to an expert wouldThe movie, which came out in 2019 is a litany of complaints against renewable energy industry and environmental movement from a decade before, without admitting that they used out-of-date videos and factoids. Some of the information is simply false, and a simple phone call to an expert would have avoided those mistakes. Examples of outdated info/mistakes: the energy cost of renewable energy, the efficiency of solar panels, claiming that Germany has a LNG terminal (showing a terminal in Turkey instead), the life time of solar and wind technology and way more.. It is a shame to see such a big audience for fact-free doomerist 'documentary' coming from the left.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Custodian

May 9, 2020

Michael Moore always going for controversy no matter the cost to the truth. Another example of him picking a goal making cherry picked cut outs to compile his goal.
Gets people talking and he gets attention.

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

rsmith02

Apr 26, 2020

I was really looking forward to a new Michael Moore documentary to shed light on our failure to do more on global warming. Unfortunately this depressing manipulative movie had more howlers than a jungle, with glaring factual errors and misrepresentations in almost every scene.

Moore andI was really looking forward to a new Michael Moore documentary to shed light on our failure to do more on global warming. Unfortunately this depressing manipulative movie had more howlers than a jungle, with glaring factual errors and misrepresentations in almost every scene.

Moore and Gibbs had an important point to make about the urgent need to reduce our consumption and live differently, and why we can't simply switch to clean technology and do everything else the same way. Sadly, they didn't know enough to make that case poignantly and Gibbs got stuck trying to make his case for big changes by claiming that no technology can actually reduce emissions with blatant lies about solar, wind, batteries, and electric vehicles. They then smear various environmental leaders and show nothing positive of how ordinary people can band together and build a movement to fight back. In their worldview we are doomed. But are we?

The film suggests renewable energy is just as bad as coal given how much energy is used to make solar panels and wind turbines. The US National Renewable Energy Lab (Dept. of Energy) reviewed many independent studies done to date of the total emissions from these technologies and paints a very different picture:
https://www.nrel.gov/analysis/assets/images/lca_harm_ng_fig_2.jpg
“life cycle greenhouse gas emissions from solar, wind, and nuclear technologies are considerably lower and less variable than emissions from technologies powered by combustion-based natural gas and coal.”

I don’t know why the film spent even one minute on solar thermal- that technology died a decade ago as solar PV ate its lunch. Deserts and high water use don’t match, either, making it very challenging to site even if it were affordable.

Despite a misleading slide with lots of pinpoints, biomass power generation is small (~2%) and on the decline in the US. It has been for years- it’s not competitive against wind, solar, natural gas or efficiency. Despite another misleading slide, Germany actually relies on wind more than biomass, though does burn wood for heat (not power). That said, the discussion of biomass is maybe the best part of the film and he’s right this issue falls between the cracks for many environmental groups who are focused on fighting coal and gas or promoting cleaner renewables. I have seen NRDC and Dogwood Alliance quite aggressively oppose industrial forest biomass despite the narration’s insinuations otherwise. Many other groups like Rainforest Action Network, Friends of the Earth, Mighty Earth, and more are fighting palm oil, working to change government policies and pressure corporations to stop using it for fuel or power, with recent successes in Europe.

The electric vehicle part is confused, as if the filmmakers never heard of using a lifecycle analysis to compare apples to apples with production and operation emissions vs conventional vehicles. Multiple analyses show EVs pay off their carbon debt from manufacturing quite quickly and then reduce carbon for the rest of their useful lives. Electric motors are so efficient than even in coal-heavy regions they reduce pollution compared to similar gasoline vehicles (which waste most of their useful energy as heat).

Much of the footage from this film appears to have been shot around 2012 (also the publication year for the related "Green Illusion" book), leading me to wonder if no distributor wanted to touch such a flawed film leaving it to languish until Moore released it on his own YouTube channel.

As to what we can actually do, sadly the film has no time to show this but we can organize, build power and fight to change the systems that are destroying our environment and hurting our fellow humans. No technology will save us. It’s fine to focus efforts locally to build community and power for the long-haul. Gibbs’ narration sounds lifeless and depressed, and if he believes the bleak message of his film, I can see why.… Expand

3 of 5 users found this helpful32

JackONeill69

May 7, 2020

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Unfortunately, this "documentation" is full of misinformation, it is, so to speak, propaganda by climate change deniers. For example, it is claimed that Germany obtains 60% of its energy from biomass, but in reality, according to data, biomass only makes up 5.19% of the electricity mix in Germany. In addition, it is claimed that Germany has an LNG terminal and imports gas there to generate electricity, you can even see an LNG terminal in this scene, but Germany has no such terminal at all.

Furthermore, it teaches that renewable energies such as wind and solar energy are not suitable for the supply of a country and that one should rely on "conventional" energy production, i.e. on coal and gas. in the third quarter of 2019, more energy was generated in the UK from renewable energy sources than from gas and coal combined, so why is this "documentation" claiming that renewable energy is useless?
It is a film full of half-truths and misinformation.

It is a fictional film that is marketed as a documentary.… Expand

2 of 4 users found this helpful22

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