7 Movies and Shows that Help us Help the Planet

With solutions, new data, and news about ways to help the environment always being discovered, there’s a lot to keep up with. And that’s even if we are all caught up on most things!

📚Books are great, we’ve talked about those. But how about movies and TV shows?!

What a great way to absorb new information. We can hear and see stories from real people, all while being able to relax and unwind.

Grab some popcorn, some zero waste snacks, drinks, and let’s get this show on the road!🍿

Minimalism

Josh and Ryan from The Minimalists have been helping millions of people live more meaningful lives through simplifying their stuff, and focusing on the more important things. Which as we know, aren’t really things at all. 

This movie introduces them, their past, and what brought them to minimalism. 🎥The movie highlights the problems society is facing with over-consumption and keeping up with the joneses, which Josh and Ryan then present a beautiful alternative.  

Kiss the Ground 

One of the most recent environmental films out there, Kiss the Ground has a simple solution to solving climate change: soil.

One of the points the film makes is that we already have a fancy invention worth trillions of dollars that works perfectly and effortlessly at sequestering carbon out of the atmosphere: plants and healthy soil.🌱

🚜The problem is the way we are farming and treating the land disrupts this process by degrading soil.

Narrated by Woody Harrelson, the movie can get a little bit overwhelming at times with a lot of information and dreariness. But we can always count on Woody to simplify things and bring them back to the ground floor.

All in all, this movie leaves its watchers inspired and excited to contribute to such a simple (although difficult) solution to the environmental crisis.

Damnation

A Patagonia film, there are thousands of dams which are still in place that no longer contribute anything to society except for environmental degradation.

And some dams, while operational, still do more harm than good.

🏞Damnation aims to shine a light on the problem with dams across much of the United States which are still sitting there restricting fish from spawning, impacting wildlife, and the natural flow of the river.

With a mixture of public hearings, civil disobedience, dynamite, and a call to action, this movie is as exciting as it is gut wrenching to see the impact these dams are having.

Happily, we have seen hundreds of dams demolitioned in the years following the release of this film, and hundreds more that are in line on the chopping block.  

Down to earth 

Let’s face it, science can feel overwhelming to us non science-y people. Which is why a lot of us shut down when they are faced with complicated and multi-layered data.📈

Down to Earth aims to present an easily absorbable TV show that mixes the joys and wonders of travel and seeing the world with learning about environmental issues as well as solutions.

Plus! In episode 7 of the show (about 23 minutes in) one of the sustainability leaders for the city of London, during a trash cleanup, picked up a cotton bud and said it was the most common piece of trash he picks up on a day to day basis. Woah! 

Blue Heart

Another Patagonia film, 💙Blue Heart is the European version of Damnation, specifically focusing on the Balkans. The last truly wild rivers of Europe are under threat of being dammed up for a multitude of unnecessary reasons. One of them being the pressure being placed on countries to adhere to renewable energy production. 

Gasland

Possibly recognized as the movie on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. Josh Fox highlights areas of the United States that are being severely degraded due to natural gas plants, as well as the process of extracting that natural gas.

It’s an eye opening film that shines a light on a bridge fuel that is viewed as a “cleaner” option than other forms of fossil fuels.

Before the Flood

Leonardo Dicaprio narrates this film which takes a broader approach to climate change, but done in a very moving way. Climate denial, as promoted by corporate interests, is highlighted quite a bit. As are the voices from some very special individuals such as a NASA astronaut.👨🏼‍🚀

Before the Flood strikes a balance between sounding the alarm, and providing solutions to the problems we are facing.

Get ready to feel, because this one gets deep!

Well there you have it folks, this post could go on and on with all of the environmental films, including ones more for entertainment like The Day After Tomorrow, Ferngully, Avatar, or more science based ones like An Inconvenient Truth and so forth.

There’s so much information out there, and so many ways that it’s delivered. And those different ways gives us the option to absorb things in the way that’s best for us. Maybe we need more uplifting and action based movies, or maybe we need more cold hard facts. Either way, we get to choose!🤔

We hope you enjoy some of these films! 🎞