By Amelia Tiemann, published at 4th Generation on May 12, 2020


I am an advocate of nuclear power. I also think that the Michael Moore-backed documentary Planet of the Humans is very important. Apparently, these two are oxymoronic.

The film, released for free to the public on YouTube, lays bare the drastic environmental impacts of renewable energy sources. From removing mountaintops to obtain rare elements for solar panels, to carbon-intensive production of corn ethanol, the film exposed the true scale of misrepresentation of “green” energies as “environmentally benign.” Not to mention wind and solar are not reliable enough to replace fossil fuels at any scale. The film also revealed the complicity of environmental activists in promoting the natural gas and biofuel-heavy financial agendas of billionaires.

The film garnered mixed responses from climate and energy experts, many of whom criticized its endorsement of outdated Malthusian ideas. Namely, that we will one day run out of energy and that massive population die-offs are the only solution to our endless fossil fuel burning. These ideas irritate many energy experts, as it’s been proven we actually have enough fossil fuels to sustain us for thousands of years. Also, nuclear power was completely left out of the picture as the second-largest source of non-fossil electricity in the world (behind hydropower).

Nuclear energy contains massive untapped potential to allow us to continue our way of life without wrecking the climate. Billions of people will not have to die in order for the rest of us to survive, because we actually have a clean energy source dense enough to serve the globe. Prosperity can continue to expand even as we rein back our reliance on carbon emitters. This camp rightly argues that the film acts as though nuclear power doesn’t exist, and can’t provide any relief from destructive cycles of extraction.

But as I watched, from the safety of my living room, the destruction of ancient desert life to make way for Ivanpah solar station, I felt something I haven’t in a long time: like I got smacked in the face. I think about clean energy and climate change all the time; this film reminded me how much I often forget, or choose not to think about, the actual environment.

So I feel stuck. My personal beliefs in human ingenuity and technological solutions pull me toward dismissing the film as anachronistic. On the other hand, I simply can’t discredit the monumentally important message about how much we’ve done wrong. To me, at least, the fact that I’m faced with that dilemma makes the film effective.

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