Lil List of Environmental TV & Films

TV docs & films can be a quick and easy way to get some understanding of issues and impacts of human actions on the earth and its other inhabitants and stories of amazing activity to find ways to solve problems. These are a few of my favs and must watch films but there are loads out there. Great for a rainy afternoon and calling vegging in front of the TV ‘education’!

Minimalism: a documentary about the important things (2016) explores minimalism as a lifestyle, not an aesthetic. The latter I have no hope of achieving! This is good one for those of you striving to live a meaningful life with less. Cutting our ties with material things, finding true value in the really precious things in life, treasuring what we need over what we want are good aspirations, after all, if enough is not enough, then more is not better. I’m working on it.

For the love of our own biodiversity on our doorstep watch The Tigers of Scotland (2017 Netflix) about the endangered (and downright gorgeous/lethal) Scottish Wildcat.

Two recent watches that I have loved are Kiss the Ground and Inhabit, both on similar topics of regenerative agriculture – i.e. farming practices that restore soils and biodiversity and produce wholesome food. Soil scientists estimate that at the rate we are depleting our farmland, we could have fewer than 60 years of soil left on Earth.

Kiss the Ground (2020, Netflix), narrated by Woody Harrelson focuses on the role of soils to lock in carbon and their restoration is part of the solution to the climate crisis. It is a positive look at what could be done, with good explanation of the science if a bit lacking in the political mechanisms (especially stateside) that could bring it to fruition!

Inhabit: A Permaculture Perspective (2013) is a beaut of a film, sharing the stories of people who have embraced permaculture design in the protection of soils, food production, animal husbandry waste management and more. It’s a great intro to permaculture and inspirational for those wanting to make practical changes. You’ll just want to run out and redesign your life after this!   

For a great UK based example of regenerative land management can be found at the Knepp Castle Estate. It’s a 3,500 acre estate just south of Horsham, West Sussex. Since 2001, the land – once intensively farmed - has been devoted to a pioneering rewilding project using grazing animals as the drivers of habitat creation. It’s the focus of Isabella Tree’s book Wilding, a beautiful and positive exploration of life in a rewilding project.

We couldn’t put together a list of must watch films and documentaries without Sir David in there. Like many of us I have been watching David Attenborough’s programmes since I can remember. I highly recommend them all. His most recent A Life on Our Planet (Netflix) reduced me to tears! It’s a must watch; honest, revealing and urgent. It is a moving first-hand account of humanity's impact on nature over his lifetime and a message of hope for future generations.

Blue Planet 1 & 2 (BBC IPlayer) are just beautiful to watch and were a game changer in waking people up to the issues facing our oceans. The first is mainly an education in the awesome biodiversity of the world’s seas and the second, aired in 2017, expands on that theme and the problems they face. The BBC has a wealth of associated resources that go with the series too including podcasts, posters and extras.

Our Planet (2019, Netflix) is another beautiful exploration of nature and examines how climate change impacts all living creatures, not just us. Great to watch with the family.

An oldie but an education all the same is Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Issue (2014, available on Netflix) is a shocking, yet humorous documentary that reveals the devastating environmental impact that large-scale factory farming has on the planet. Factory farming is claimed to be the leading cause of deforestation, water consumption and pollution (the list goes on)... It offers a path to global sustainability for a growing population. Not for the easily shocked.

I loved My Octopus Teacher (2020, Netflix). It’s a beautiful story of how a man's reconnection with nature and his natural place in the world, as part of nature not separate from it, helped him find himself and his connection with others. Just a beautiful, gentle film. Kid friendly too.

A Plastic Ocean (2016, Netflix) is now a classic in the war on single use plastics - eye-opening documentary about, unsurprisingly, the impact of plastic on our oceans. Recently The Story of Stuff has produced The Story of Plastic (2020) which is available to rent on Amazon (meh!) or we could host a community screening for free if you’re interested? The Story of Stuff describes the film as ‘a sweeping look at the man-made crisis of plastic pollution and the worldwide effect it has on the health of our planet and the people who inhabit it. Spanning three continents, the film illustrates the ongoing catastrophe: fields full of garbage, veritable mountains of trash, rivers and seas clogged with waste, and skies choked with the poisonous emissions from plastic production and processing.’  Let us know if you’re interested in a community screening in the comments.

Netflix documentary Down to Earth with Zac Efron (2020) is an accessible roam around a diverse range of issues affecting planet and people. It is a travel show meets the Zac Efron Show with a skim over some issues thrown in but it introduces lots of themes of energy, diet, food production and broader sustainability plus it was something my kids would watch! (P.S. a bit sweary in parts!).

Before the Flood (2016) features Leonardo DiCaprio on a journey as a United Nations Messenger of Peace, traveling to five continents and the Arctic to witness climate change firsthand. He goes on expeditions with scientists uncovering the reality of climate change and meets with political leaders fighting against inaction. 4 years on and has much changed?

2040: Join the Regeneration – Award-winning Australian director Damon Gameau, embarks on journey to explore what the future would look like by the year 2040 if we simply embraced the best solutions already available to us to improve our planet, tackle climate change and other issues, and shifted them into the mainstream. A really positive watch and plenty of real ideas to get working on.

We would love to know what you have watched, read or listened to and what you thought. Send us your short reviews and we’ll add them to the list to grow a library for everyone to dip into. You never know, if we ever get a space Lil can call home we might actually have an eco-library!