If the raison d'être of documentaries is to stimulate debate, then I think Jeff Gibbs's Planet of the Humans is a platinum award-winning standard. Brandishing his so-called life-long green credentials early in the piece, he then cynically essentially gives the international green movement both barrels, whilst stridently asserting that renewable energy is just as bad as fossil fuels, high-profile environmentalist proponents and leaders are corrupted by corporate/financial interests and population growth is the great unspoken enemy.
At a foundation level I found one of the greatest weaknesses of Gibbs's argument is that he appears to be using pretty much out of date footage to prop up a lot of his claims and criticisms. It should be noted that by my reckoning only twice during the film are talking head pieces ever given a date stamp and they related to a couple of welcome vintage film warnings about climate change and pollution, 1958 and 1963 respectively.
So then what we find is Gibbs using 2011 footage of a wind farm protest to begin a critique of wind turbines and renewable sources of power in general. To cite another pretty obvious example; a 2010 Michigan launch of the electrically powered Chevy Volt. He criticises it (and vicariously electric cars in general) because it's recharged from a power grid in Michigan dominated by coal and meanwhile overtly seeks to gather some "gotcha moments" from unwary Chevy reps. Solar power and solar arrays in general get the Gibbs treatment too. He tours a very large solar installation in Lansing, Michigan to have an energy rep rather comically report to camera that the panels have an efficiency of a "little less than 8%" and that the array could power only about 10 city homes a year."
What the film doesn't say is that the footage is from 2008.
I'm not a science/tech expert, but I would respectfully suggest that throwing the spotlight on such relatively old, out of date, renewable technology examples is an absolute eternity in terms of renewables research and development over the past decade. So on a personal level, while Gibbs is claiming in the film, solar panels are frightfully expensive, have a life of only 10 years and are only rated at 8% efficient. I contrast this with the relatively inexpensive array of 18 panels on my own roof, that have a guaranteed life of 30 years, operate without a booster and are saving me on average about 60 - 65% of my previous power bills. Go figure!
Similarly Gibbs doesn't hold back from picking up the stones to throw at environmental leaders such as Al Gore and Bill McKibben, using edited grabs to push the line that these environmental ikons have sold out to capital interests for pecuniary gain. Again though, the use of footage over a decade old is predominant and to my way of thinking, creates doubt of the validity and authenticity of the questions Gibbs raises.
Ultimately Planet of the Humans is far better at pointing fingers and listing problems, than it is at offering much in the way of solutions. Executive producer Michael Moore confirmed this when being almost brutally honest in suggesting the film sought to "ignite a discussion" on the planet's future more than anything else.
