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DOCUMENTARY: PLANET OF THE HUMANS (worth watching)

  • 1.  DOCUMENTARY: PLANET OF THE HUMANS (worth watching)

    Posted 04-28-2020 09:28 AM

    DOCUMENTARY

    An educational and thought-provoking documentary, challenging environmental politics and practices.  Are we trying to save the planet by destroying it?  Also, the end credits contain interesting notes about actions resulting from the film.  Worth watching.  Best, Howard Wong, AIA  

    REAL CLEAR POLITICS:  Michael Moore Presents "Planet of the Humans" Documentary: We Are Losing The Battle To Stop Climate Change  (1:40)  https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2020/04/21/michael_moore_presents_planet_of_the_humans_documentary_we_are_losing_the_battle_to_stop_climate_change.html  

    Michael Moore presents Planet of the Humans, a documentary that dares to say what no one else will this Earth Day - that we are losing the battle to stop climate change on planet earth because we are following leaders who have taken us down the wrong road - selling out the green movement to wealthy interests and corporate America. This film is the wake-up call to the reality we are afraid to face: that in the midst of a human-caused extinction event, the environmental movement's answer is to push for techno-fixes and band-aids. It's too little, too late. 



    ------------------------------
    Howard Wong AIA
    San Francisco CA
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: DOCUMENTARY: PLANET OF THE HUMANS (worth watching)

    Posted 04-30-2020 09:13 AM
    I watched the whole film with great interest and agree that it is well worth watching.  However, it is also important to watch with a questioning mind.  Is every allegation true?  The movie does a great job of making them seem true, but are they really?  By the end of the movie, you may become really depressed thinking that not only are we doomed but the technologies we are relying on for future energy use, especially wind and solar, are not worth the fossil fuels or habitat destruction to build.  I don't think the movie shows the whole story or gets to the nuance, but I do think it is a wake-up call and requires us to do more thoughtful research, and for that reason, it is worth watching.  It points to hypocrisy of some environmental organizations (but without nuance).  I can forgive the Nature Conservancy for trading land if their goal is to build a larger area of contiguous protected lands that will protect even more habitat.  It's harder to forgive the Sierra Club for creating a "green" fund that includes habitat destroying companies.  The film also points to the elephant in the room - population - and this is important, especially since it is so unusual.  We humans and our growing numbers (as well as our obsession with growth) are the biggest destroyers of our environment, and it seems that will continue until some or all of us are "destroyed."  The movie doesn't give any hope or a way out and while I wouldn't be looking for false hope, it would be helpful to provide well-reasoned options.

    ------------------------------
    Helen Kessler FAIA
    President
    HJ Kessler Associates, Inc.
    Chicago IL
    ------------------------------



  • 3.  RE: DOCUMENTARY: PLANET OF THE HUMANS (worth watching)

    Posted 05-05-2020 10:06 AM
    This so called documentary is blasphemous for our sacred planet. It is riddled with half truths, one quarter truths, 1/16 truths and lies. Take for example the statement that solar panels only last ten years. If that sounds suspicious to you it should. Typically solar panels are warranted for 25 yeas at at least 80% efficiency. So ten years is a bold faced lie. The only thing approaching a concern of merit was the possible abuses of biofuels..a valid point of concern.

    And the blatant attempt to smear some of the green movement leaders like Bill McKibbon and Al Gore makes one wonder who sponsored this “free” film. There didn’t seem to be any credits from sponsors and supporters. It obviously cost quite a bit to produce. Anyone know who is behind this? (But doesn’t want us to know).

    We need to look back to our roots, back when we lived in a balance with nature and the sun. When our energy came from the sun, wind and tides, when we used mostly renewable materials like wood, stone for our buildings and we recycled building components from older building. And we need to redensify into walkable communities where walking, bikes or transit take us to most of our short term needs..school, work, shopping and everyone has a garden. The Living Building Challenge is a good goal to follow.

    And we need to pressure our government to get very serious about a national energy plan which—remarkably—doesn’t exist which looks at a balance with nature and the sun with wind, solar, appropriate electric storage, a new super grid and transitioning the 61% of our energy uses that are not currently on electricity, to electricity.

    There’ s plenty of blame to go around. The Democrats want a Green New Deal which is more of a “New Deal” than a serious energy bill and is politically a dead horse. And the Republican seem to be the only organized group of people in the world that don’t believe in climate change. And the most of rest of us are still driving big gasoline* SUVs and having a carbon foot print double that in Europe and five times the world average.

    How can we design sustainable zero energy buildings when we walk out of the office and burn five times the world average of fossil fuel energy? Michael Moore would be proud of us?

    We CAN do it, folks and have beautiful, sustainable, eternal buildings that live in a balance with nature and the sun.

    David C Ashley, AIA
    Emertise Partner Ashley McGraw Architects
    davidcashley@gmail.com

    * A gallon of gasoline requires 90 tons of ancient, prehistoric organic material to produce.




  • 4.  RE: DOCUMENTARY: PLANET OF THE HUMANS (worth watching)

    Posted 05-07-2020 10:19 AM

    For a science based and logical examination of our society's energy situation, may I suggest Amory Lovins "Reinventing Fire" book and TED talk (www.ted.com/talks/amory_lovins_a_40_year_plan_for_energy?language=en#t-2429).


    Although the material was published in 2012, and the numbers have changed during the intervening years, his message and logic is no less diminished.  The Reinventing Fire talk presents years of research and (at the time) state-of-the-art technology and thinking that have been integrating into industry and business practice for years (although not as quickly as we might want).  His analysis illustrates that with evolving science and engineering, smart policies, and a unified focus on the outcome (as opposed to motives), the US could be free from our dependency on fossil fuels by 2050.


    The only problem with the presented logic is that we as a society need to reevaluate our priorities and act, something that appears unfeasible given the current global political climate

    Cheers





  • 5.  RE: DOCUMENTARY: PLANET OF THE HUMANS (worth watching)

    Posted 05-05-2020 10:06 AM
    I watched the entire film and listened to Michael Moore's podcast Rumble on April 21st and 22nd. He interviewed the director and producer, Ozzie Zenner for over 2 hours. They explain this is documentary NOT trying to say we should not pursue renewable energy technologies in the form of solar panels and wind turbines, electric cars, etc.... Instead they are saying we cannot assume that we can continue to consume energy and resources on Earth as we have in the past.

    We cannot continue with the pattern of capitalist/neo-liberal approach of growth at all costs - we as humans must become stewards of the ecosystems, and look at all the effects of our way of living has on the other species, plants, water, air, extraction of resources, etc.  We can't be naive and think that we can go on living like we have and magically replace fossil fuel with renewable sources of energy and everything will be fine.  Here is a great review of the film - well worth reading:

    Instead, we must re-evaluate our lifestyles and figure out ways to stop CO2 emissions AND, stop the 6th mass extinction, AND, figure out a way to live in harmony with our environment.  Below is just one way we can start thinking differently. We can use this and other means as a "point of departure" to rethink our built environment and our cohabitation with other animals and  protect our ecosystems.

    "Nature-based communities don't have a voice because [modern] governance structures do not have a place for their voices," Watson says. "These ways of living with the land can disappear so quickly when they're seen as primitive, not innovative."

    Today, humans have an adversarial relationship with our planet; we live out of balance with nature and employ technology and modern methods to increase agricultural yields, we build in zones that are susceptible to fire, flooding, etc..., this is unsustainable, "as the impacts of anthropogenic climate change-extreme heat, catastrophic flooding, sea level rise, and mass extinctions-show."

    Instead of a one-size-fits-all colonial and industrial attitude-an imposition over traditional knowledge of sustainability in varied climates and environments-Watson suggests that indigenous design technologies may represent a starting point for future innovations that could "shrink the ecological footprint of humankind and mitigate the forecast collapse." 

    Gregory Sandoval








  • 6.  RE: DOCUMENTARY: PLANET OF THE HUMANS (worth watching)

    Posted 05-05-2020 10:07 AM
    All:

    As an old solar practitioner whose buildings have saved our atmosphere thousands of
    tons of carbon, and one who has long worried about our planet's ability to withstand our
    abuse, I agree with any statement or presentation that will "flatten the Co2 curve".

    I would observe, however, that the fear of humans covering every square foot of Planet
    Earth is likely overdrawn. Rather, one of the only good trends is the shrinkage of human
    population growth as societies modernize.  The more modern a society, the lower its birth
    rate. So our (I hope) natural inclination to lift up all peoples to better housing, food, health
    freedom and future prospects, will result in fewer humans with a resulting lowering of their
    demands upon our limited resources.

    Population lowering must be helped by lowering the demands upon scarce resources of each
    human being, and I hope it is not too optimistic to feel that we as architects will lead in lowering
    those per-person demands.

    John F. Corkill, Jr., AIA

    ------------------------------
    John Corkill AIA
    Principal
    Corkill Cush Reeves Architects
    Bowie MD
    ------------------------------



  • 7.  RE: DOCUMENTARY: PLANET OF THE HUMANS (worth watching)

    Posted 05-05-2020 10:08 AM
    Good read:
    https://insideclimatenews.org/news/29042020/inside-clean-energy-michael-moore-planet-of-the-humans-review

    --
    Edward Mazria, FAIA FRAIC
    Architecture 2030
    p  505|988|5309
    architecture2030.org





  • 8.  RE: DOCUMENTARY: PLANET OF THE HUMANS (worth watching)

    Posted 04-30-2020 09:13 AM
    That documentary has been widely discredited by many credible climate scientists and others. Here is a snippet from one recent piece that summarizes some of the reaction:

    letter written by Josh Fox, who made the documentary Gasland, and signed by various scientists and activists, has urged the removal of "shockingly misleading and absurd" film for making false claims about renewable energy. Planet of the Humans "trades in debunked fossil fuel industry talking points" that question the affordability and reliability of solar and wind energy, the letter states, pointing out that these alternatives are now cheaper to run than fossil fuels such as coal.

    Michael Mann, a climate scientist and signatory to Fox's letter, said the film includes "various distortions, half-truths and lies" and that the filmmakers "have done a grave disservice to us and the planet by promoting climate change inactivist tropes and talking points." 

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/28/climate-dangerous-documentary-planet-of-the-humans-michael-moore-taken-down  


    --





  • 9.  RE: DOCUMENTARY: PLANET OF THE HUMANS (worth watching)

    Posted 04-30-2020 09:14 AM
    I haven't watched the documentary, but it sounds like there are some serious issues with the "facts" presented. 

    Even the original publisher of the film (filmsforaction.org) has acknowledged that "the the film is full of misinformation 1, 2, 3, 4)

    Personally, I don't have time or desire to watch a film like this, or participate in the meticulous fact-checking that's apparently required. Or even to read about all the controversy, really. 

    For those of you who are interested in knowing more, I think this link provides some thoughtful information: 
    https://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/michael-moore-presents-planet-of-the-humans/


    ------------------------------
    Sarah Gudeman
    Mechanical Engineer
    Morrissey Engineering
    Omaha NE
    ------------------------------



  • 10.  RE: DOCUMENTARY: PLANET OF THE HUMANS (worth watching)

    Posted 05-01-2020 09:48 AM
    I did have the nagging feeling the film was inadvertently providing talking points for critics of renewable energy-and undermining the hard work of honest people behind the movement away from fossil fuels-and have read a few sharp criticisms of it, but at the very least it might help Biomass lose its momentum. 

    The ending scene is worth seeing it for though regardless.

    Julian King AIA LEED AP 
    Sent from my iPhone





  • 11.  RE: DOCUMENTARY: PLANET OF THE HUMANS (worth watching)

    Posted 04-30-2020 09:14 AM
    Great recommendation. I just saw this film. As a father of a five year old, I'm not sure I'll ever recover from it-so depressing!

    I have long been disappointed with our profession's response to the climate crisis- mainly jumping on this new "green" industry, and it's certifications, fees, and cynical competitions (such as "rising tides" that invited architects to gleefully redesign the waterfront of manhattan island into inviting landscapes for an unavoidable future presumably beyond our control), as well the equally cynical embracing of the "micro movement" especially in housing, which for me (born and raised in nyc) merely caters to developer's desire to squeeze more overpriced studios into a lot- because hey, 8 billion people gotta live somewhere right?

    This film addresses both issues without blinking, and makes the obvious point that unlimited (especially inorganic) growth of market capitalism and population on a finite planet is clearly unsustainable. 
    Definitely worth seeing this film.

    The ending scene will tear your heart out, for all those that still have one.

    Julian King AIA LEED AP
    Sent from my iPhone





  • 12.  RE: DOCUMENTARY: PLANET OF THE HUMANS (worth watching)

    Posted 05-05-2020 10:07 AM
    For anyone who wants to read an extremely well written novel about how the effects of dramatic climate change on a major coastal American city might play out 120 years from now, I highly recommend Kim Stanley Robinson's "New York 2140".

    Anyone familiar with Robinson's work knows the level of preparation and research that go into all of his books. This one touches not just on architecture, but on the global financial markets that will emerge & evolve to accommodate the new reality of the earth's current coastline disappearing in a shockingly short geologic time frame. In this novel, he postulates a 50 foot rise in sea level after two large "pulses" occur as massive glaciers & ice sheets break off in sudden, dramatic fashion. New York, like all coastal cities, will need to quickly adapt. Some will make it; some won't. But the consequences of such upheavals can scarcely be imagined. 

    Given the fact that we are probably now in an inexorable feedback look with regard to global warming, as scientists have been warning for decades, such catastrophic events are not merely possible but likely. The architectural profession, like most others, will need to quickly adapt to a rapidly changing world.

    ------------------------------
    [Rich] [German]
    [Owner]
    [RG3 Architecture PLLC]
    [Lake Wylie] [SC]
    ------------------------------



  • 13.  RE: DOCUMENTARY: PLANET OF THE HUMANS (worth watching)

    Posted 05-01-2020 09:49 AM
    Filmmaker Michael Moore's new documentary purports to expose hypocrisy at the heart of the renewable energy movement. But the video, released on YouTube last week, is a mess of deceptive and outdated anecdotes, and a succession of ridiculous arguments. It will almost certainly do far more harm than good in the struggle to reduce carbon emissions.
    https://insideclimatenews.org/news/29042020/inside-clean-energy-michael-moore-planet-of-the-humans-review

    Gibb's critique of renewables is just wrong, and its proportions are absurd. You would never know that the "gas as a bridge fuel" people are no longer held in esteem. You would never know that the intermittency problem is being solved, and the storage problem too.
    https://www.ecoequity.org/2020/04/why-the-planet-of-the-humans-is-crap

    Just what the world needs, a half baked take on renewable energy demonizing our few deck options. Michael Moore should be ashamed.
    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/28/climate-dangerous-documentary-planet-of-the-humans-michael-moore-taken-down

    It's ironic, too, that Planet of the Humans' primary distributor is a known climate misinformation profiteer. Because the film's core thesis is that environmentalists are spreading misinformation about climate change and renewable energy for the sake of profits.
    https://heated.world/p/really-michael-moore

    ------------------------------
    Laurie Barlow AIA
    Principal/Partner
    L. Barlow & Company
    South Pasadena CA
    ------------------------------



  • 14.  RE: DOCUMENTARY: PLANET OF THE HUMANS (worth watching)

    Posted 05-06-2020 09:03 AM
    The movie says what needed to be said, like with "The Emperors New Clothes". Covering mass amounts of virgin land with solar panels and mirrors (only to be left to rot years later), feeding biomass power plans with trees and environmental leaders in bed with billionaire bankers show how hypocritical much of the "green" movement is. Most of what is being done in the name of "green" is creating new ways to fuel the current human way of life. The movie does provide an answer but most people do not want to hear it, let alone practice it. Consume less. Make what has been made last and only buy, build or manufacture when it is really needed. Of course that would hamper our economy as it functions now much like what COVID19 has done recently, but maybe we have been presented with a learning curve to study and take note of.

    ------------------------------
    Sally Anne Smith AIA
    Smith Architectural Studio
    Carmel Highlands, CA
    ------------------------------



  • 15.  RE: DOCUMENTARY: PLANET OF THE HUMANS (worth watching)

    Posted 05-08-2020 11:17 AM
    Haven't seen the movie, and thanks for the reviews of it to clarify the issues. The impossibilities of "green growth" seems to play a big part in it. Just finished reading Kate Raworth's Doughnut Economics and would definitely recommend it for a really insightful view on how radically societies will have to change their addiction to growth to save ourselves and the planet. A review here: Finally, a breakthrough alternative to growth economics - the doughnut | George Monbiot

    Also interesting that Amsterdam is looking to it for a post Covid economic recovery.

    ------------------------------
    Clare Miflin AIA
    Principal
    ThinkWoven
    Brooklyn NY
    ------------------------------



  • 16.  RE: DOCUMENTARY: PLANET OF THE HUMANS (worth watching)

    Posted 05-11-2020 09:09 AM
    Yes!  On the Media  had an informative interview on these alternative  approaches to 'the economy'  

     

    1. Timothy Mitchell, historian and political theorist at Columbia University, on how our understanding of "the economy" came to be. Listen.

     and on BBC The World: 

    https://nam05.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pri.org%2Ffile%2F2020-05-07%2Famsterdam-embraces-doughnut-economics-its-recovery-planning&data=02%7C01%7Cvirginia.chapman%40yale.edu%7Cc17f2c8ad6204fda7a4308d7f3498972%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C637245369478986229&sdata=Sq9HoWNqpWp9K8dj4zyzZ998mBD5DX60dAgbuneyC3E%3D&reserved=0

     

     

     



    ------------------------------
    Margaret Chapman AIA
    Director, Yale Office of Sustainability
    Yale University, Office of Facilities
    New Haven CT
    ------------------------------



  • 17.  RE: DOCUMENTARY: PLANET OF THE HUMANS (worth watching)

    Posted 05-08-2020 11:17 AM

    another take on the film that one should read 

    https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/political-commentary/bill-mckibben-climate-movement-michael-moore-993073/



    ------------------------------
    Margaret Chapman AIA
    Director, Yale Office of Sustainability
    Yale University, Office of Facilities
    New Haven CT
    ------------------------------