Gibbs relies upon anecdotal evidence and virtually zero empirical data to create a documentary full of misinformation and false equivalencies, handing a victory to the fossil fuel industry and the opponents of environmentalism on Earth Day, no less. First, the film criticizes solar, wind, and electric cars, with no mention of their dramatically lower total lifecycle emissions than the fossil fuel technologies they displace, per IPCC, UCS, NREL and other bodies of accredited scientists (which Gibbs is not). The film mentions a solar panel lasting ten years, rather than the industry standard 80% capacity after 25 years; windmills that use rare earths, when over 95% of US wind turbines contain zero rare earths; and electric cars that use cobalt, which is approximately 2% of a modern EV battery. It argues that because renewable energy feeds into a grid that is shared with nonrenewable sources, it somehow makes no difference, and that because oil companies have diversified their capital by investing in environmental causes, the environmental movement is as dirty and ethically compromised as the oil companies themselves. These arguments fall flat upon scrutiny, but the film jumps so quickly from assertion to unsupported assertion that the viewer is easily duped. Gibbs does make some fair criticisms of biomass energy (still without including any empirical lifecycle analysis vs. The fossil fuels they replaced). As a final coup de grace, Gibbs cynically presents footage of a dying ape to hammer in its crippling pathos of doom, and concludes that overpopulation is the core problem that environmentalists have to solve (no mention of supporting women's education or reproductive rights in that regard, however). It is one of the saddest moments in the history of the environmental movement when purported environmentalists release a documentary on the 40th Earth Day that is so thoroughly misleading and debilitating to that movement.
Review of Planet of the Humans
