“The elephant in the room” and “The frog in the pan.” The metaphorical expressions in the environmental documentary films Planet of the Humans (USA, 2019) and Punto de No Retorno (Argentina, 2021)

Abstract

Jeff Gibbs in Planet of the Humans (2019) and Sergio Federovisky in Punto de No Retorno (2021)
interview scientists, politicians and environmental activists to expose the human impact in our planet
reveals climate change is generated by global warming due to overpopulation, excessive consumerism
and economic growth based on fossil fuels. Both documentarists argue that even though the
environment and sustainable development are part of the world political agenda and of the ecologist
NGO’s, greenhouse gasses emissions grow as a consequence of the production model imposed by
central countries. Gibbs considers “the elephant in the room”, the issue we do not talk about, are
bankers, industrialists, politicians and environmental activists focusing on green technology who
because of economic benefit manipulate the population and create the green energy, the renewable
energy sources and the biofuels illusion even though they are neither renewable nor sustainable.
Federovisky believes we are “the frog in the pan” that does not notice the changes around us, immersed
in some stage of temperature rise on planet earth and that we could perish if we, as citizens, do not
have the necessary information to take the correct decisions. That is to say, become a society with the
capacity to intervene so the 15 countries responsible of the 75 percent of greenhouse gasses emissions
worldwide stop rising the temperature of the planet.