Environmental and Climate Justice Films

Hi everyone! We hope you are doing well during these times. This week’s post will be a follow up to a past article we wrote promoting Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth. We hope you continue educating yourselves with some of the works on this short list. Enjoy!

1. Blue Gold: World Water Wars

This documentary directed by Samuel Varteck explains the stark reality about the limitations to our Earth's natural water supply. The film explores the fact that both private and public sectors will soon vie for water sources, and countries may even go to war over water in the near future.

1. Coal Country

This film, released March 2020, explores the grand problems America faces due to using coal, a nonrenewable energy source, to power our lives for the past century. It is truly captivating in that 95% of the dialogue in the film comes from interviews while singer/song-writer Steve Earl is on stage enriching the viewer’s experience as well.

1. Flow

This award winning documentary was released over 12 years ago, but the issues presented are still extremely relevant to today’s world. The film provides both scientists and activists alike with a voice to present growing concern over the World Water Crisis. Flow gives us the premise that the water crisis is the “most important and political and environmental issue of the 21st century.”

1. GASLAND

This film is truly great if you love watching shows such as Criminal Minds or Unsolved Mysteries. GASLAND documents the filmmaker Josh Fox on his journey to question issues of contamination in American neighborhoods. One of the most peculiar cases is when a town in Pennsylvania claims the town water source is flammable. This show is riveting in the crime/detective genre while also exposing many environmental injustices.

1. Sisters on the Planet

This film is a personal favorite of mine, in that it also discusses gender and political issues, as well as environmental issues. This documentary explores the lives of four different women from different countries, Martina from Uganda, Muriel from Brazil, Sharon from Mississippi, and Sahena from Bangladesh, and their respective struggles brought on by climate change. The film is a bit older, but definitely still worth a watch!

1. The Story of Cap and Trade

This environmental justice film discusses the political aspects of the growing threat of climate change. It explores the capitalistic ventures of Wall Street tycoons and reveals the “devils in the details” of current cap and trade proposals. This film was even discussed at the 2009 Copenhagen United Nations Climate Change Conference.

1. The Story of Stuff

This is another personal favorite. The Story of Stuff is an animated documentary that explores the life cycle of common material goods. It preaches the need for sustainable practices, and is definitely eye opening.