Planet Of The Humans Movie: Discussion Thread

Hi folks. Here is the youtube link to this movie that was mentioned by Bruce Fine in another thread.  The first post following this one, from Bruce Fine, is from that thread.  If you have any thoughts to contribute after watching the movie, please do so after reading the few comments below. Thanks.  

ok folks, wanna be nice here but this subject I feel is very important ,--uuummm. not just very important but of monumental importance, and is just a piece of what is going on globally

that video I referenced is not only very interesting but. ITS A MUST SEE VIDEO. please, please, please, I beg of you---- take two hours of your life and educate yourself to the facts presented in it

This movie did some good things bringing to light the extreme complexities of energy and how the transition to greener forms has inherent flaws that should be questioned.  That said, I had very strong feelings about how the information was presented and the sorts of facts that were focussed on while omitting others.

The movie seems to want to pull at our heartstrings about the destructive nature of many renewable energy methods at the same time as demonizing them all.  
Bruce Fine Wrote:

I don't know how many of you are aware of what is going on with biowaste electrical generation. but it looks pretty ugly to me. giant swaths of forest are destroyed to feed the power generation stations  

I beg to differ on many of the movie's points, although Bruce and I and the film all agree strongly on one issue:  That Biowaste Electrical Energy is not a green solution in the least.  The same, in my opinion, could also be said for energy cropping. I agree with the movie that the complexities of human energy consumption are not going to be solved by ignoring the problems associated with the alternatives, and we should be aware of them, however, the transition process needs to take place, and it will take energy and resources to do that.  Using the existing technology to build another one is how progress often happens.  Sometimes the process of that progress is not perfect, but that does not change the fact that it may be necessary to do it that way.      

Here is a pretty serious rebuttal of many of the ideas from this movie, as well as, in the end, referencing a few really good books, one of which (Burn: Using Fire to Cool the Earth) I am currently reading.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmNjLHRAP2U&t=212s

I admit that the movie "Planet of the Humans" seemed to be all about scare-mongering and nothing about simple, positive things we can do to help correct the problem. Although I'm concerned that there are too many humans on the earth, (mainly because our growth rate is climbing rapidly - I'd be less concerned if world-wide, we'd already plateaued) the Rebuttal video concretely states that the "problem" is not with the places with a higher birth rate, but with "techno" society (Europe and North America in particular, but Asia is striving to catch up) and our huge waste of power and resources on frivolous, short-lived products. When I was a child, our single telephone lasted 20 years, until "push button phones" came along. Now a 5 year-old cell phone is considered old and frequently unusable, is just one example.

I've read two of the books presented by the rebuttal video - Burn and Drawdown. At least biochar (which Burn focuses on) is something I can do on my own property. I'd like to do it on a larger scale, but as was validly pointed out, chopping down live trees to solve the "energy crisis" does more harm than good! Thus I'm relying on making more effort to find a way to biochar invasive species in my region - the problem is the solution! Yes, we need some of these solutions on *much* larger scale than our backyards, but that will take far more political will than I'm seeing here in Canada, despite the fact that many "green initiatives" forced on companies initially by either public pressure or governmental orders, were quickly discovered to actually save the companies' money.

I admit that the movie "Planet of the Humans" seemed to be all about scare-mongering and nothing about simple, positive things we can do to help correct the problem.

 There were pretty much zero solutions offered, and population control was alluded to, but there is no direction on how they proposed to achieve that.  I've seen a few Eugenics conspiracy things to know that leaving that wide open is pretty dangerous.  I won't get into that, but I'll leave you with knowing that I am no fan.

Although I'm concerned that there are too many humans on the earth, (mainly because our growth rate is climbing rapidly - I'd be less concerned if world-wide, we'd already plateaued) the Rebuttal video concretely states that the "problem" is not with the places with a higher birth rate, but with "techno" society (Europe and North America in particular, but Asia is striving to catch up)

I don't think we really have a population problem.  A rapidly expanding population is a symptom of an imbalanced and uncertain situation.  That is the problem.  Given stability, populations stabilize.  The unfortunate thing, at this time in history, about that is that most of the areas that have exploding populations are post-colonial messes and are in a cultural phase of third world poverty highlighted by an imminent and pervasive struggle to survive.   Compounding that is that many of these people see the consumer culture of the west as something heavenly that they should dream of attaining, as they see, consciously or unconsciously, that first world economics/lifestyle are a place of security and stability (and relative to their situation, it clearly is, so they are not deluding themselves at all).  So as their lifestyles stabilize, they want more of this 'dream' lifestyle, and end up becoming part of the problem.  If we can get them on the track of permaculture/regenerative ag, then we stop at least some of that in its tracks.  The numbers have been crunched and it seems that we can conceivably feed the entire planet on a 1/4 of the land presently being utilized for agriculture if we turned to regenerative agriculture and permaculture, and brought our global and personal meat consumption down to the very reasonable norms that were present a hundred years ago.  And then if we regenerate all the land that has degraded, then we are really able to sustain a population.  I think, that if our environmental and social situation gets under control then our population will stabilize and even drop (Most first-world economies/nations need immigration to have stable populations0.

our huge waste of power and resources on frivolous, short-lived products. When I was a child, our single telephone lasted 20 years, until "push-button phones" came along. Now a 5-year-old cell phone is considered old and frequently unusable, is just one example.  

 To top it off, our old phone that lasted 20 years or more had hardly any technology in it, and barely any carbon or resource footprint in comparison to a modern 'phone' which is essentially a handheld computer, with lots of rare metals and both a huge carbon and resource footprints.  

I've read two of the books presented by the rebuttal video - Burn and Drawdown.

 I'm nearly finished burn and was considering ordering drawdown and the Citizens Guide to Climate Success from the library.

 we need some of these solutions on *much* larger scale than our backyards, but that will take far more political will than I'm seeing here in Canada, despite the fact that many "green initiatives" forced on companies initially by either public pressure or governmental orders, were quickly discovered to actually save the companies' money.

 I think that a tipping point on that is coming pretty soon.  I'm hopeful that the new political situation South of the border with its probable re-engagement with the Paris Accord, will spur the horse, (so to speak) even North of the border as our economics are so closely tied.

At least biochar (which Burn focuses on) is something I can do on my own property. I'd like to do it on a larger scale, but as was validly pointed out, chopping down live trees to solve the "energy crisis" does more harm than good! Thus I'm relying on making more effort to find a way to biochar invasive species in my region - the problem is the solution!

 Yes, killing forests to create energy is hugely stupid, but regenerating a fraction of a huge area devastated by wildfire with a stand of trees destined to be coppiced for the purpose of making biochar (which also would supply heat or electricity or both) to replace coal in concrete and steel manufacturing would do much more good than harm.  I believe it could be carbon negative to many degrees.  What the wood to biomass to energy thing was doing, was that it was a process of burning the wood, or dried pulverized wood, or wood pellets, to try to substitute for coal, and that was not at all efficient or an equivalent energy supplement. At the same time the biowaste burning was removing forests that were sequestering carbon.  On 8-10 year rotation cycles even in B.C., we could create deciduous coppice groves that would provide all our energy needs, on land that is presently not producing much of any potential for carbon sequestration.  In addition, the (9/10ths)  parts of the coppice system that are annually left to grow would be a biological wonder filled with nesting migratory songbirds which thrive in such forests (and which would aid in the revegetating of the region), particularly if saskatoon and mountain ash (both with flowers and berries) are incorporated in the groves.  The living roots of the harvested trees would still largely hold the sequestered carbon in their soil root system, and this would subsequently expand as new top shoot/leaf growth was established.