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HUMAN_FINISH

                                                 May 19, 2020
Jeff Gibbs, in the closing remarks of            June 2, 2020
"Planet of the Humans", comments that
he truly believe change begins with
awarness, and continues:                  HUMAN_PLANET

"There is a way out of this.  We humans       (1:29:00)
must accept that infinite growth on a
finite planet is suicide.  We must accept
that our human presence is already far
beyond sustainability and all that that
implies.  We must take control of *our*            No one expects infinite
environmental movement and our future from         population growth (expected
billionaires and their permanent war on            peak is 10 billion).
planet earth.  They are not our friends.
Less must be the new more. And instead of          Neither does anyone expect
climate change, we must at long last accept        infinite energy growth---
that it's not the carbon dioxide molecule
destroying the planet-- It's us.  It's not
one thing, but *everything* we humans are
doing.  A human-caused apocalypse.  If we          "our human presence is
get ourselves under control. All things are        already far beyond
possible.  And if we don't..."                     sustainability" Jeff Gibbs
                                                   has not gotten anywhere
  We cut to a scene backed with                    near establishing this
  ominous music where tree                         point-- e.g.  he takes it
  dwelling apes/chimps are                         as a given that nuclear
  displaced by brown-skinned                       power is bad.
  guys running chain saws.
  There's somber vocal wailing:                    "It's .. *everything* we
  a habitat destroyed; a muddy                     humans are doing--"
  chimp sick or dying.                             Everything?  (The anti-
                                                   human slant always leaks
  (This could use a jewish                         through from people like
  guy dressed as a Native                          this...)
  American shedding a tear.)
                                                   "If we get ourselves under
                                                   control--" So: What human
    Intepreting murky generalities                 agency is going to be
    like this can be tricky, and                   controlling humanity?
    there's a tendency to read more                (A mere detail, no doubt.)
    into this than was intended...


       It's pretty common to listen to all this
       and conclude that the film-makers are
       praying for a big human die-back-- or
       perhaps they're volunteering to create
       one.  Or do they think fertility should
       be forcibly constrained and if so, whose?
       
    When challenged like this, the     
    film-makers respond that this isn't
    where they were going.  This leaves         "No where in this film does the
    me wondering if they really hadn't          phrase 'population control'    
    thought through the implications of         appear".                       
    what they were saying.                                                     
                                                So they're not advocates of    
                                                limiting human population?     
                                                But they *repeatedly*            
                                                complain about population        
                                                being too high.                  
                                                                                
   From the Josh Wolf piece in "The
   Nation", "Meet the New Flack for
   Oil and Gas: Michael Moore":

   [link]

      "We see old white male after old
      white male declaring there is no
      solution to climate change except
      reducing the population. (With this
      many white guys, we can only guess
      which groups of people are supposed
      to stop reproducing.)"                                       
                                                                                 
   That strikes me as more of a cheap shot          
   than an astute inference, but it's a point                                
   the filmmakers might've thought to clarify,                               
   instead of effectively going with the "just      (I think it was literally
   asking questions!" maneuver                      "opening a dialog" or    
                                                    something like that).    
                                                    
                                                    
                                                    

                                                    

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