Extract from The Guardian
From Ted Danson on the oceans to Greta Thunberg on everything else – get armed with the facts and inspired to make a difference.
Last modified on Wed 27 Oct 2021 04.57 AEDT
Want to do more for the planet but can’t even motivate yourself to rinse tin cans before recycling? Maybe some great culture can help. Here are inspirational films to get you excited about changing the way you eat, stirring podcasts full of fabulous ideas and, for those of you who need a stark warning, a David Attenborough documentary.
Podcasts
To a Lesser Degree
Is
it feasible to suck carbon out of the air? How effective is giving up
eating meat? Is lab-grown beef a solution? This eight-part series
debates these topics and more, taking an informed, journalistic
approach.
Outrage and Optimism
Hosted by two of the UN team who helped forge the Paris agreement,
this is an accessible, upbeat wrestle with topics from decarbonising
shipping to dealing with the grief of climate change. It has big-name
guests, too: John Kerry on criminalising inaction on climate science,
Ted Danson on his fight for our oceans and Greta Thunberg on, well,
basically everything.
So Hot Right Now
An engaging podcast from environmental journalist Lucy Siegle and wildlife film-maker Tom Mustill,
which seeks out ways to get better at communicating the climate crisis,
with assistance from David Attenborough. Some episodes feature
activists such as Hugo Tagholm, CEO of Surfers Against Sewage,
who talks about how the organisation moved from waving inflatable turds
around to becoming a slick campaigning body that has changed laws on
pollution.
Celebrating individuals who are making a difference, this BBC series features a golf course greenskeeper who sows wildflowers across the course and an Indian schoolgirl who invented a solar-powered version of the country’s popular mobile ironing businesses. Other episodes tackle cat ownership and purchasing an air conditioner.
Film
Kiss the Ground
This
cinematically shot documentary is a hope-filled, 84-minute dismissal of
decades of assumptions, introducing viewers to the radical US farmers
who are demonstrating that the more intensively we farm, the less food
we produce. Woody Harrelson’s narration has a lovely sparkle, and it’s
hard not to be uplifted by the claim that it isn’t just better for the
climate but also economically more sensible to adopt regenerative
farming systems. Netflix
Naomi Klein’s take on the climate crisis – that it’s not humanity to blame but capitalism – is all about forcing a rethink. We hear about villagers in northern Greece repelling an ecologically ruinous mining project, while an Indian community’s resistance to a coal power plant sparks a national uprising. Amazon Prime Video
2040
It’s
a simple idea: “What would the world look like in 2040, if we just
embraced the best that already exists?” Film-maker Damon Gameau adopts
the perspective of a concerned parent trying to see a positive future
for his four-year-old daughter, and manages to create a film full of
hope (and occasional daftness). It’s jam-packed with world-improving
initiatives from solar-powered community micro-grids of electricity to
agro-forestry. Amazon Prime Video
Embracing the best of what already exists … a representation of a community-powered electricity grid in the documentary film 2040. Photograph: Madman Entertainment
Seaspiracy
In
the seven months since the release of this documentary by British
film-maker Ali Tabrizi about the devastation caused by the fishing
industry, it has caused no end of outrage and fact-querying. But it
remains an important and terrifying look at how the fishing industry may
be driving marine ecosystems to the point of collapse. Lauded by George Monbiot, it’s an emotive and at times difficult watch, which asks questions few others have had the courage to. Netflix
Paris to Pittsburgh
Anyone already disillusioned by Cop26
may find solace in this documentary. Filmed in the period after Donald
Trump withdrew the US from the Paris climate accord, it charts a rise in
US citizens’ efforts to make the changes their leaders fail to, from
people turning front gardens into farmyards to authorities turning ponds
into solar power generators. It also charts how Trump’s claim to
“represent the citizens of Pittsburgh not Paris” was the spark. “I
started tweeting back,” says the city’s former mayor. “Pittsburgh was
going to stay IN the Paris agreement.” Disney+
Devastating … industrial fishing in Seaspiracy. Photograph: Netflix
TV
Climate Change: The Facts
David
Attenborough presents an hour of statistics-packed testimony from
scientists on the existential threat we face. It’s a concise, rousing
explanation of the global situation, which also sees scientists ignite
some of the pockets of methane that lie beneath arctic permafrost,
explaining that these gases could end up in our skies. Attenborough also
presents a list of steps you can take to help. BBC iPlayer
This insightful documentary on meat production, made by Guardian columnist George Monbiot, is full of eye-opening facts. We meet fishers who have seen the life choked from their rivers by poultry waste, hear how sheep grazing has deforested the Lake District, and learn that 51% of UK land is given over to meat production. Tonally, it’s a gentle, educational look at the topic, shying away from diatribes in favour of visiting projects with hope for the future – such as lab-grown meat, protein created by electricity and vegetables farmed without fertiliser. All 4
Greta Thunberg: A Year to Change the World
Part
eco-travelogue, part likable profile, this three-part BBC series
follows Thunberg around the world for a year. There are trips to
glaciers melting faster than feared, investigations of pilot carbon
capture projects and attempts to engage with Polish miners who see
environmentalism as a threat to their livelihoods. It’s packed with
inspirational speeches and to-camera appeals to take action. BBC iPlayer
Seat at the Table
“Whole
areas of the world where people now live will become uninhabitable,”
says David Attenborough at the start of this programme about rising sea
levels by YouTuber Jack Harries. “Where do they go?” Harries meets young
climate activists and interviews people living in the nations most
severely affected. The stories – from the Isles of Scilly activist who
galvanised her local council to declare a climate emergency to the
Maldives resident whose homeland may soon be reclaimed by the sea – will
be presented at Cop26. YouTube
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