April 29, 2020 - 7:00am
A new documentary produced by Michael Moore has caused quite a stir in liberal circles. Directed and presented by Jeff Green, an environmentalist, ‘Planet of the Humans’ takes aim at one of the Left’s moved beloved elements: the green movement. The documentary attacks the renewables industry for selling the illusion that the world’s environmental problems can be solved with wind farms and battery-powered cars.
Reaching over 3 million views on YouTube in the past week alone, the film aims to challenge some of the conventional wisdom surrounding the green movement. It claims that:
- Seeking technological fixes will not solve the climate crisis.
- Renewables do not replace fossil fuels. Nations that add non-fossil fuels energy sources do not significantly reduce fossil fuel usage.
- Wind and solar energy sources are not clean.
- Solar cells, for example, aren’t made of sand. They are made of mined quartz and coal which is melted in a large furnace (which requires more coal).
- Koch-owned factories are producing many of the secondary materials required for renewable energy.
- One interviewee says he cannot name a single entity anywhere in the world that’s running on solar and wind alone.
- The planet has already reached its maximum capacity: peak marine and fish production was 25 years ago, current acres of actively farmed land peaked 20 years ago, rivers are irrigated to their maximum limit, and ground water will run out in a decade or two.
Essentially, the film comes down to one question: can a single species dominating an entire planet be smart enough to voluntarily limit its own presence? The answer is a resounding no. But the film was made before Covid-19. Jeff Green’s conclusion is that the world needs nothing short of an overhaul of the whole capitalism system… which may be just what this disease is leading to.
Though the documentary has faced criticism for reheating “lazy, old myths” about decarbonisation technology, it is still strange to see Michael Moore — one of America’s most renowned Left-wing filmmakers — put his name to a film that could undermine a core Democratic plank in the 2020 presidential election.
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SubscribeYes, I saw interviews with Moore and the other makers of this film yesterday, on the Jimmy Dore show, I think. It’s nice to see a bit of common sense come into the debate, especially as it is coming from the left, which is normally batshit-loonie, as we all know.
I watched this film last night and I thought that it appeared to provide evidence to back up the claims that it made. Now, it may be that I just think this because it appears to confirm my own concerns about the green energy movement, so yes, it could just be confirmation bias. However, I have been astonished at the calls for it to be banned. I have yet to see any counter -evidence by those calling for it to be banned to dispute the claims made in it. More concerning, is the attack on free speech that this would entail. Not only are we expected to just accept the climate catastrophe claims unquestionably but we are not to be allowed to question the proposed solutions and the motives of those proposing these solutions. A very scary world indeed.
Meh, this is just more “current situation proves my politics are correct.
There used to be an organisation called “population count down” that advertised on the Guardian’s front page in the 70s. What happened to them? Fewer people is the only possible solution. Fair play to China, they seem to be trying to achieve that.
NZ is “the last bus stop before Antarctica”; “if you draw a circle out 200 km “all you get is seagulls”. Unfortunately no one wants to hear limits to growth arguments. I think they think “may be true; but surely not”. The PM has committed us to being carbon free in 30 years. Property development and progressivism have been predominant forces. We are now stuck with a gigantic tourism industry shared between New Zealanders, Chinese and (to a lesser extent) Koreans. Buses sit idle and motels and hotels are empty. Real wages in that sector had been falling since the 1980’s.
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I have now watched the film. It provides some very valuable facts and ammunition for those of us who saw through the whole green energy scam some years ago. That said, even I was shocked by some of these people and some of the scams.
Whatever – I have never bought a car, I walk or cycle everywhere, and I almost never buy new consumer or computer or electrical goods etc. (One CD player in 36 years). I’m doing what I can.
Is there a concise written version of the arguments and evidence?
A slow speaking commentry, gimmicky interviews repeating the same answer and pictures from the ISS do not offer any much to think about.
The ‘elephant in the room’ is that there are far to many people in the world’.
Bovine doctrines such as “every sperm is sacred”, and untrammelled advances In medicine, have led us to the brink of a very real catastrophe.
Moore is to be applauded for exposing the fraudulent tosh that has enveloped the so called Green world.
It is indeed surprising that he managed to penetrate the miasma, despite his rabidly leftist credentials.
However do not despair, perhaps the forthcoming Third Opium War will rectify the situation for all our benefit?
I’ve watched large parts of the doco, it’s overt attempts to influence “thinking” via emotion stopped me watching more.
Some very good points though, especially concerning the bio fuels travesty but poisoned with an overriding anti-humanism.
THE GREEN REICH “Ban everything we can, eco-tax the rest: this could be the motto of the environmentalists in politics. If human CO2 is the problem, then Man must be restrained, controlled, suppressed in every one of his CO2-emitting activities: that is to say, in the totality of his actions. Researching environmentalism from the root of its anti-humanist ethic to the staggering heights of its actual demands ” banning cars, aircraft, meat, nuclear energy, rural life, the market economy, modern agriculture, in short, post-Industrial-Revolution modernity ” Drieu Godefridi shows that environmentalism defines a more radical ideology in its liberticidal, anti-economic and ultimately humanicidal claims than any totalitarian ideology yet seen. “Dividing humanity by a factor of ten” is the environmentalist ideal.”
The film’s own poster, illustrating this story, spells the director’s name Jeff Gibbs. You spell it – twice – Jeff Green. One of you is wrong. Disappointing to see such a basic error.