Earth Day shouldn’t be the only day we think about preserving our planet, but it comes as a helpful reminder of how precious and finite our resources are. While it has already been seven years since the United Nations came together in Paris for the COP21 — the 21st Conference of the Parties to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), in which many countries forged, signed and ratified an agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions and hold global warming below 2 degrees Celsius total, many of the films released right before the onset of COVID or during the pandemic itself hint at the continued importance of maintaining a healthy environment, most suggesting that humanity hasn’t made much progress since 2015.
Earth and nature mean many things to many people, whether it be a break from technology, a chance to practice spirituality or a mental health booster. Some people seek extreme encounters with nature, like Marc-André Leclerc in “The Aplinist” (2020), while others dive or dig deep into human practices that have put the planet in decline, like in Netflix’s “Seaspiracy” (2021).
Regardless of the type of engagement with the environment, the future of healthy interaction with the Earth is, like Earth’s resources, finite, if we continue to treat them the way that we do. Even one of the following films can enlighten the consequences of failing to take care of our planet.
So below, we’ve assembled a list of the best Earth Day movies to watch in 2022.
“Erin Brockovich” (2000)
We could do an entire list of movies that derive from the “lawyer stumbles upon ecological malfeasance” subgenre – we’re talking “Dark Waters,” “A Civil Action,” and more. Most of those movies have a main character who is a morally compromised lawyer, who through discovering some grand environmental misdeed, redeems himself (however slightly). “Erin Brockovich” is unique in that the main character isn’t a lawyer, but a down-on-her-luck single mom (Julia Roberts, who rightfully won the Oscar), working for a law firm to make ends meet. What makes the story even more incredible is that it’s true! And shows that no matter who you are, you have the tools and the ability to uncover the gravest scenario – and to do something about it.
This film is available to watch via Spectrum and DirecTV and streaming on the Roku channel.
“Bee Movie” (2007)
While some might consider this a meme of a movie, it hints at the importance of conservation, even at the level of insects, because pollination is crucial to our planet’s health. Barry B. Benson (Jerry Seinfeld), who has just graduated college, does not want to be stuck in the same routine working with honey for the rest of his life. So he ventures outside the hive and discovers just how small his community really is. When he gets stuck in a house, Vanessa Bloome (Renée Zellweger) saves his life instead of killing him like her boyfriend Ken (Patrick Warburton) says she should. A sort of romance blossoms between the New York florist and her bee friend, but once Barry realizes that humans eat honey and take it at will from hardworking hives like his, he decides to sue them, but the success of the suit in bees’ favor soon shows the world what would happen without them pollinating. The voices of Oprah Winfrey, Ray Liotta, Sting, John Goodman, Chris Rock, Barry Levinson, Kathy Bates and Larry King also make this movie a joy to watch.
You can stream the “Bee Movie” on HBO Max.
“Wall-E” (2008)
In a post-apocalyptic future where humans have been forced to leave Earth by the overwhelming accumulation of waste across the planet’s surface, one of the only trash-collecting robots still operating, Wall-E, continues to fulfill his duties by shaping garbage into cubes and piling them up into skyscraper-like structures in order to clear the ground. When Eve, a more modern and sleek robot arrives on Earth to search for signs of life, Wall-E falls head over heels in love with her, but when he shows her the sapling plant he found in a refrigerator, Eve immediately takes the plant, stores it in her central compartment and closes up like a clam. The rocket ship that first delivered Eve to earth returns to take her back to the ship that now houses all of humanity. The success of Eve’s search means that Earth is still a viable place for the human race to live, but the ship’s evil autopilot tries to stop the captain from returning home. It is up to Wall-E, Eve and their misfit robot friends to turn the ship around so that humans can attempt to reclaim their home on Earth.
You can watch “Wall-E” on Disney+.
“Avatar” (2009)
James Cameron’s “Avatar” is largely remembered as the highest grossing movie of all time and a technological feat that finally brought the promise and potential of 3D to life. But “Avatar” is, by and large, a movie that stresses important ecological ideas, in the most gussied-up, kick-ass way possible. Everything from sustainability to the interconnectedness of man and nature is explored in “Avatar,” alongside all of the aerial combat sequences and techno babble. (If you ride the Flight of Passage attraction at Walt Disney World, you’ll also learn about keystone species and how every strata of creature is important.) If you haven’t watched “Avatar” in a while, it’s a perfect Earth Day experience, preaching conservationism and the importance of men in giant robot suits fighting dragons. You know, something for everybody.
“Avatar” is streaming on Disney+
“The Lorax” (2012)
Ted (Zac Efron) lives in Thneedville, a city walled in from the outside world, whose inhabitants pay for fresh air since there are no longer any trees around to produce it for them for free. To impress his crush Audrey (Taylor Swift), Ted sets out to find a legendary Truffula tree. According to history, Truffula trees used to populate the land on which Thneedville was built, until the greedy Once-ler (Ed Helms) came along and chose profit over preservation when he made thneeds out of the soft Truffula fronds. Ted’s grandmother (Betty White) advises him to pay a visit to The Once-ler, who lives outside Thneedville in a boarded up house, all alone. Once prompted a few times to tell his story, The Once-ler fills Ted in on everything from his arrival in what would become Thneedville to making his first thneed to The Lorax (Danny DeVito), the orange mustacioed nature guardian, floating down out of the sky to scold him for chopping down that first Truffula tree. After completing his story, The Once-ler gives Ted a Truffula seed, which Ted must conceal from Mr. O’Hare (Rob Riggle) who profits off of selling clean air to the people of Thneedville.
“The Lorax” is available to stream on Netflix.
“Okja” (2017)
The Netflix movie Bong Joon-ho made before he became everybody’s favorite filmmaker with “Parasite,” “Okja” is an insightful eco-parable about a genetically modified pig named Okja and the swine who try to exploit her. “Okja” is as much about industrial farming, exploitation of resources and animal rights as it is about the somewhat cuddly relationship between a young South Korean girl named Mija (Ahn Seo-hyun) and her genetically modified pig named Okja. When the evil corporation (run by Tilda Swinton’s cartoonish baddie) that created Okja come to reclaim her, Mija goes on an international odyssey, teams up with a bunch of eco-terrorist freedom fighters (including Paul Dano and Lily Collins) and battles a disgraced nature show host (Jake Gyllenhaal). Thanks to Bong’s ability to playfully hopscotch across genres and tones, from the idyllic to the horrific, and some very committed performances by pretty much everyone involved, “Okja” is a big popcorn movie that makes you think about where your bacon came from (if you can stand to eat it again).
“Okja” is streaming on Netflix.
“The Biggest Little Farm” (2019)
This documentary follows the birth and growth of Apricot Lane Farms, a plot of land purchased by John and Molly Chester to fulfill their dreams of creating a farm based on an unconventional method of diversity and interdependence. The Chesters first lived in a small apartment in Santa Monica, and when they received complaints — and eventually and eviction notice — about their rescue dog Todd, they had to find a new home. Enter Apricot Lane Farms in Moorpark, California, about an hour north of Los Angeles. With the help of gardening guru Alan, the Chesters abandon the typical separate and clinical methods of farming by separating the crops from the livestock, and set up their crops together with animals, so that the soil that feeds the crops can be healthier than most isolated soil plots used to grow only one type of produce. The transformation of the farm took place slowly but steadily, but not without major challenges that demand creative problem solving. Other hardships like Alan’s unexpected death from an aggressive form of cancer, and all kinds of pests from coyotes to snails to birds to gophers, kept the Chesters on their toes. With illustrations and animation by Jason Carpenter, this film is a much watch for nature lovers and agriculture enthusiasts alike. A follow-up documentary sequel called “The Biggest Little Farm: The Return” is also available to stream on Disney+, with the original film available for rent via Applt TV+, Amazon and more.
“Dark Waters” (2019)
Similar to “Erin Brockovich,” “Dark Waters” follows a corporate lawyer (Mark Ruffalo) who slowly unravels a corrupted chemical company that has played a large role in pollution and the decline of lifestyle of those that live near their treatment plants. Ruffalo plays Rob Bilott, who uncovered the connection between the DuPont chemical company and the alarming number of unexplained deaths in a rural West Virginia town, which DuPont knowingly poisioned with unregulated chemicals. The film also stars Anne Hathaway as Bolitt’s wife, Harry Dietzler, Victor Garber and more.
You can rent “Dark Waters” from Apple, Amazon and other retailers for $3.99.
“The Alpinist” (2020)
In the vein of extreme encounters with nature, the documentary “The Alpinist” soars. The film follows lowkey but talented free-solo climber Marc-André Leclerc, who lives for climbing sheer rock and mountain faces without ropes, harnesses or equipment to anchor him to the surfaces if he falls. Leclerc even climbs sheets of ice, some barely fully formed, with ice picks and cleated shoes, switchin back and forth between ice coating rock and rock itself. Leclerc’s engagement with nature through free solo climbing serves as a great reminder of the experiences that the great outdoors holds for those willing to explore.
You can stream “The Alpinist” on Netflix.
“I Am Greta” (2020)
Even before but especially after watching this documentary about the young climate activist, the word that comes to mind is “urgency.” Following Greta Thunberg and the events that led up to her fame for protesting the lack of climate justice, this film captures her highs, lows and everything in between, starting from when she striked solo in front of Sweden’s parliament, when she was supposed to be in school. From that moment on, Greta has gained momentum, and she has used that momentum to build upon all of the opportunities she has gotten to make public appearances and speeches. Greta’s father Svante supports her when he can, driving her to conferences in his Tesla and helping her survive on a steady diet of beans and pasta. The impact of Greta’s passion can be felt in the film, and especially in moments when she becomes emotional about the causes she is fighting for. She even says at the end of the film, that she doesn’t see the world in black and white, just the climate crisis, and she wishes that more people did have Asperger’s (selective mutism) like she does when it comes to climate. Hulu also has three episodes of “Greta Thunberg: A Year to Change the World,” a docuseries following the young champion’s journey more recently.
“David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet” (2020)
Champion of adventure and exploration David Attenborough narrates a tough film that details how exactly we got to the impending doom of climate change today. In between describing natural wonders of the world, Attenborough shares statistics like population growth, expansion of carbon in the atmosphere and loss of biodiversity to track the decline of our planet. He details larger catastrophic events, like the Chernobyl explosion in Ukraine back in 1986, the advent of global air and then space travel, and more while comparing them to the slow but steady deadly daily habits that technology advances allowed humans to develop and outpace our own methods of sustainability.
This film is available for streaming on Netflix.
“Kiss the Ground” (2020)
Narrated by Woody Harrelson, this 2020 documentary digs deep into the idea of soil security and safe carbon sequestration. The film follows Ray Archuleta, conservation agronomist who journeys across the United States to teach farmers better ways to care for their soil when transitioning it to grow different crops. Archuleta feels called to fix what he calls an education gap so that ecologically, we can scale solutions to global warming and save the planet. Other celebrity activists for the environment that join in the film include Ian Somerhalder, Giselle Bündchen and Tom Brady. Suggesting that we learn from France and the COP-21 agreement forged in Paris, the film points to a teamwork approach to saving the Earth. The ultimate emphasis of the documentary is pretty simple: soil and plants are our best bet as technological solutions to reverse climate change and global warming.
“Seaspiracy” (2021)
This Netflix documentary made by Ali Tabrizi dives deep into inner workings of the commercial fishing industry, and how many systems established inside commercial fishing have come to put the Earth’s oceans in major danger. From microplastics to overfishing to targeting creatures for a very specific “delicacy” like shark fin soup and then leaving the dead bloody bodies behind, Tabrizi highlights the urgent need for more sustainable fishing practices if we are not only going to restore but recover from the harm we have already caused. Tabrizi’s sources include advocates for helping the oceans, wary executives for fishing companies and even nonprofits that claim to combat some of the issues he shows, but sometimes become intertwined with the profit made off of them. Though microplastics, oil spills and other man-made substances put seas at risk, “Seaspiracy” points heavily toward accidental fishing, or bycatch, and overfishing as the main cause of biodiversity loss, global warming and the decline of the world’s oceans. Be prepared for some graphic scenes, including a very gory ending.
“Seaspiracy” is streaming on Netflix.
“Don’t Look Up” (2021)
When Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence), two astronomers, discover a comet hurtling toward earth, they immediately realize that they have to warn everyone, because the comet is large enough to wipe out the entire planet. But President Orlean (Meryl Streep), her Chief of Staff Jason Orlean (Jonah Hill) who also happens to be her son, and the news media downplay the impending doom, leading to a satirical series of events that reflect the real world’s reaction to news about impending crises. Mindy and Dibiasky attempt to harness the media news cycle to spread word of the comet, but newscasters like Brie Evantee (Cate Blanchett) and Jack Bremmer (Tyler Perry), try to steer them away from the seriousness of the topic, wanting to keep things light. Indeed, “Don’t Look Up” is a metaphor about the fight against climate change, and the need to act quickly.
Head to Netflix to stream “Don’t Look Up.”
“Polar Bear” (2022)
Disneynature’s feature, which hit screens Earth Day 2022, is easily their most depressing – and maybe their very best. “Polar Bear,” as the title suggests, follows a family of polar bears in the arctic circle. Catherine Keener provides the first-person narration, intellectually and spiritually inhabiting the young polar bear as she grows up and has a cub of her own. It’s deeply insightful and beautifully shot, with filmmakers Jeff Wilson and Alastair Fothergill capturing some remarkable images and moments, including a male polar bear scaling a sheer cliff wall in order to get at bird eggs, a pod of Baluga whales interacting with the bears and a beached sperm whale that becomes the impetus for a polar bear block party. But the most staggering thing about “Polar Bear” is the sobering note it ends on: that if the world keeps heating up like it has been, the polar ice caps will be gone in 18 years. What happens to the polar bears – and to us – is anybody’s guess. But it’s not good.
“Polar Bear” is available for streaming on Disney+.
