Documentary Films On Climate Change
For educational usage, ordered by year released (last updated October 2nd, 2019)
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- DirectorSerena DaviesStarsDavid AttenboroughGreta ThunbergJames HansenDavid Attenborough takes a stark look at the facts surrounding climate change in today's world, detailing the dangers we are already having to deal with and future threats, but also the possibilities for prevention and radical political, social and cultural change.
- DirectorDamon GameauStarsDamon GameauEva LazzaroZoë GameauPractical solutions to environmental concerns are addressed with the hope that the filmmaker's daughter, 21 years old in the year 2040, will face a hopeful future.
- DirectorLeila ConnersStarsRaymond BaltarLeonardo DiCaprioOttmar EdenhoferCan we reverse climate change? Ice on Fire explores the many ways we reduce carbon inputs to the atmosphere and, more important, how to "draw" carbon down, bringing CO2 out of the atmosphere and thus paving the way for global temperatures to go down. Reversing climate change is urgent, given that the world passed 400 parts per million CO2 in the atmosphere resulting in climate instability across the globe. We have heard the predictions but now climate related events are a daily reality - summer 2018 was the hottest on record, storms are stronger, droughts are longer, the arctic ice is thin or non-existent and antarctica is melting faster than predicted. Through visiting visionaries and scientists young and old, the film explores the deep hope that we can turn away from the brink. And, just as we figure out drawdown, we face an added complexity, the release of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas in the arctic, that is now entering the atmsphere. As the film says: "Is it game over? Or is it game on? As we have at hand, the ability, the capacity, and solutions that can reverse global warming...not mitigate, not reduce, not stabilize, but reverse.'
- DirectorKurt NortonNousheen ZoarderStarsJonathan ParfreyJess F. AtkinsShamir ShehabA young Bangladeshi woman takes her uncertain future into her own hands to change the fate of her family, her country and the planet.
- DirectorMatt LemayClimate change is like bankruptcy: it happens slowly, and then all at once. Our new documentary film, "I Have Seen the Change - The Flood,' focuses on flooding around Lake Ontario, and how homeowners and government officials are struggling to cope with the growing challenge of rising water levels. The causes of this flooding are multi-factorial, and likely include changes to infrastructure, wetlands, as well as climate factors. The film showcases the emotional and economic impacts of flooding in Canada and emphasizes the fact that future infrastructure/planning decisions must consider the new reality of our changing climate.
- DirectorDave DavisMary GrandelisStarsEd Begley Jr.Mike FarrellRob GreenfieldComplementing the book Being the Change: Live Well and Spark a Climate Revolution, this feature documentary film delves into the life of atmospheric scientist Peter Kalmus, who cut his fossil fuel use to 1/10th of the average American.
- DirectorMatthew TestaStarsDavid SchulteDuring his four-decade career as a photographer and explorer, James Balog has focused his lens on the complex relationship between humans and nature. Human activity has now surpassed all other forces shaping our world. Balog's work has challenged us to contemplate our place in, and responsibility to, the natural world. Balog investigates how altering the elements is in turn affecting everyday Americans right now. The Human Element features subjects who are often overlooked victims of climate change. Balog visits Tangier Island, a fishing community facing the imminent reality of sea level rise threatening their future. We meet Yadira Sanchez and her three children in Denver, Colorado, all of whom suffer from asthma, and attend a special school for children struggling with air. Balog embeds with a Cal Fire strike team on the frontlines of the most expensive wildfire in California history. And he ventures deep into Kentucky coal country, meeting unemployed miners finding hope from a new source. Balog argues that humans are part of the whole system of nature and not apart from it. Knowing this, he finds great hope that the fifth element, the human element, can bring the whole system back into balance.
- DirectorBonni CohenJon ShenkStarsAl GoreCory BookerGeorge W. BushA decade after An Inconvenient Truth (2006) brought climate change to the heart of popular culture, the follow-up shows just how close we are to a real energy revolution.
- DirectorJeff Orlowski-YangStarsAndrew AckermanPim BongaertsNeal CantinCoral reefs around the world are vanishing at an unprecedented rate. A team of divers, photographers and scientists set out on a thrilling ocean adventure to discover why and to reveal the underwater mystery to the world.
- 20162h 7mTV-147.1 (380)50MetascoreDirectorJosh FoxStarsLester BrownElla ChouTim DeChristopherDocumentarian Josh Fox ("Gasland") travels the globe to meet with global climate change "warriors" who are committed to reversing the tide of global warming. Funny and tragic, inspiring and enlightening, the film examines the intricately woven forces that threaten the stability of the planet and the lives of its inhabitants.
- DirectorFisher StevensStarsLeonardo DiCaprioBan Ki-moonAlejandro G. IñárrituA look at how climate change affects our environment and what society can do to prevent the demise of endangered species, ecosystems and native communities across the planet.
- DirectorJared P. ScottStarsMichael BreenSharon BurkeStephen CheneyThis Emmy® nominated investigation unpacks how climate change interacts with migration, unrest and conflict through the lens of US national security.
- DirectorIan MauroBritish Columbia is on the front lines of climate change and efforts to solve this global problem. From burning forests, melting glaciers and acidic oceans, citizens across Canada's Pacific coast are living with the realities of climate change, and show what's at stake if we fail to get BEYOND CLIMATE. Shot throughout the province, the collective wisdom of Indigenous leaders, local communities, scientists and policymakers is featured along with imagery of the region's beautifully rugged landscape. Addressing many of the pressing issues facing BC - from pipelines, LNG, salmon and Indigenous rights - the film is a timely contribution to the province and the country as we grapple with climate change, the paramount issue of our time. Completing Dr. Ian Mauro's trilogy of climate documentaries in Canada, the film challenges us to think beyond the climate crisis, and encourages a transition to a vibrant, resilient and low carbon society.
- DirectorSeth KramerDaniel A. MillerJeremy NewbergerStarsMary Catherine BatesonSusan CrateMargaret MeadTHE ANTHROPOLOGIST considers the fate of the planet from the perspective of an American teenager. Over five years, she travels alongside her mother, an anthropologist studying the impact of climate change on indigenous communities.
- DirectorRobert AlsteadStarsMario CansecoIda ChongChristy ClarkClimate change is driving not just the weather, but scientists to extremes. Some are getting arrested. Renowned climate scientist Dr Andrew Weaver is running for a political party that has never won a seat in its 30 year history.
- DirectorAvi LewisStarsNaomi KleinStacey Arwen RaabA look at seven communities around the world with the proposition that we can seize the crisis of climate change to transform our failed economic system into something radically better.
- DirectorShalini KantayyaAn unemployed American worker, a Tea Party activist, and a Chinese solar entrepreneur race to lead the clean energy future. But who wins and who loses the battle for power in the 21st century?
- DirectorLouie PsihoyosStarsElon MuskJoel SartoreLouie PsihoyosA documentary that follows undercover activists trying to stave off a man-made mass extinction.
- DirectorJohn ReismanStarsJohn ReismanThe National Academy of Sciences and the National Research Council is pleased to present this video that provides a 'basic' overview of how scientists have arrived at the state of knowledge about current climate change and its causes.A series of 7 short videos
- DirectorJeff Orlowski-YangStarsJames BalogSvavar JónatanssonLouie PsihoyosFollow National Geographic photographer James Balog across the Arctic as he deploys time-lapse cameras designed for one purpose: to capture a multi-year record of the world's changing glaciers.
- DirectorJon ShenkStarsMohamed NasheedAfter bringing democracy to his country, President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives, the lowest-lying country in the world, takes up the fight to keep his homeland from disappearing under the sea.
- DirectorOndi TimonerStarsBjørn LomborgHashem AkbariJoe BartonA documentary that takes an alternative approach to dealing with the global warming crisis.
- DirectorPeter ByckStarsRohit T. AggarwalaJerry M. AllumsLela AllumsAn optimistic (and witty) discovery of what people are already doing, what we as a nation could be doing and what the world needs to do to prevent (or at least slow down) the impending climate crisis.
- DirectorMichael P. NashStarsLester BrownMariano Florentino 'Tino' CuéllarYvo de BoerFilmmaker Michael Nash investigates mass migration caused by our changing climate.
- DirectorJosh FoxStarsJosh FoxDick CheneyPete SeegerAn exploration of the fracking petroleum extraction industry and the serious environmental consequences involved.
- DirectorFranny ArmstrongStarsPete PostlethwaiteJehangir WadiaAlvin DuVernayA future archivist looks at old footage from the year 2008 to understand why humankind failed to address climate change.
- DirectorRudy BednarStarsJameel AhmadJanine BenyusMalcolm BowmanFollows the account of Lucy, who is born into a society where people are desperate for natural resources, while the global temperature and population are highly increasing.
- DirectorLeila ConnersNadia ConnersStarsLeonardo DiCaprioKenny AusubelThom HartmannA look at the state of the global environment including visionary and practical solutions for restoring the planet's ecosystems.
- DirectorNicolas BrownStarsTom BrokawJames HansenMichael OppenheimerA visit to tipping points across the globe, as experts examine the latest evidence to determine the facts about global warming.
- DirectorDavis GuggenheimStarsAl GoreBilly WestGeorge BushFilmmaker Davis Guggenheim follows Al Gore on the lecture circuit, as the former presidential candidate campaigns to raise public awareness of the dangers of global warming and calls for immediate action to curb its destructive effects on the environment.