Under the Sea: Chasing Coral
The Great Barrier Reef, famous for housing the largest collection of coral in the world, is dying. Climate change is swiftly killing the world’s coral reef populations due to ocean acidification. In the documentary Chasing Coral, filmmaker Jeff Orlowski-Yang teams up with coral expert Zackery Rago to design special underwater, time-lapse cameras that can capture coral bleaching on film. The vibrant cinematography and the jarring timelapses are absolutely stunning, making Chasing Coral a definite must-watch to further understand how climate change impacts the underwater world that we cannot easily see.
On thin ice: Chasing Ice
How do sea levels rise? The answer lies with glaciers. Glaciers store 68.7% of the Earth’s freshwater. As temperatures continue to increase with global warming, all of the frozen, glacial freshwater pours into the ocean’s saltwater supply. In the documentary Chasing Ice, Jeff Orlowski-Yang works alongside photographer James Balog to capture the effects of glacial melt. Capturing glaciers on camera is no easy feat (think sitting in tundra conditions for hours waiting for something to happen and having camera batteries explode from the cold), and yet, Balog and Orlowski-Yang showcase a masterpiece of a film that will no doubt humble anyone who watches it into wanting to act on climate change.
On food waste: Just Eat It
Did you know that 33.7% of edible produce is left to rot in the fields once it’s fully grown? This isn’t because an animal got to it first, or because the food is overly ripe, but because it doesn't meet the standards of perfection to go into the supermarket. If the produce is not round enough, if it’s too long, or even too short, too thick or thin, the food gets left to rot. In Just Eat It, directed and produced by Grant Baldwin and Jen Rustemeyer, the duo sets out on a six-month journey of only eating food waste. Though this sounds gross, a lot of what they end up eating is perfectly safe, healthy, and delicious, straight from the grocery store. (Confused? Well you’ll have to just watch it to get what I mean.) The imagery of this film is mindblowing, and I have no doubt that your understanding of food systems will be changed forever after watching this film.
On climate change: An Inconvenient Truth
Have you ever been in a conversation with someone who wants to know more about climate change, but you don’t even know where to begin? Point them to An Inconvenient Truth. Vice President Al Gore put the film together back in 2006 to showcase the many ways that we contribute to global warming and how climate change impacts the planet. The film touches on topics like increasingly powerful natural disasters, sea levels rising, climate migration, and urban heat waves. An Inconvenient Truth does an excellent job of conveniently presenting climate information in a nutshell.
Also: Know that the 2006 trailer below is a cheesy, but it is a really good film!
On conscious consumption: Down to Earth with Zac Efron
Okay, now before you say anything, I admit that this last one might throw you off. I know it’s not actually a film, but rather a series on Netflix, and also you might be questioning whether this only made the list because of my eight-year-old crush on Troy Bolton (played by Zac Efron). BUT, before you shut it down, please give it a shot!
In this series, Zac Efron teams up with “Superlife” author Darin Olien, to travel the world and learn how other countries are approaching sustainability. The first season touches on everything from eating vegan in London, to potato cryopreservation (the act of preserving seeds in a vault) in Peru, geothermal heat in Iceland, to the clean water systems in Paris. What I love most about Down to Earth is that Zac and Darin learn about these environmental concepts in the same light that a typical audience member would – so you don’t need to have an extensive background in sustainability to get excited about the innovative environmental practices happening all across the world!
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