10 documentaries that will make you start thinking sustainably

Documentaries are one of the best ways to learn about environmental issues and educate yourself about the fields sustainability, which you may not yet have knowledge of. We invite you to watch 10 documentaries that will make you start thinking sustainably and with which you will truly understand what can await us in the future if we do not change the way we live!

An Inconvenient Sequel: Time is Running Out (An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power, 2017)

A decade after filming An Inconvenient Truth, former US Vice President and environmental activist Al Gore is back with a sequel that renews his commitment to the fight against climate change.

In the documentary An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power (2017), directed by Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk, Al Gore presents some of the real and current threats he warned us about in the 2017 film 2006, except that this time he uses even stronger arguments. The camera follows the former vice president as he travels the world trying to influence climate policy. In the film, he presents possible solutions for mitigation and adaptation of the human race, saying that we still have time to stop global warming.

Years of Living Dangerously (2017)

The first series of The Dangerous Years in 2014 was hailed as “the most important television series ever made” and won an Emmy for Outstanding Documentary. It is a production of James Cameron, Jerry Weintraub and Arnold Schwarzenegger for National Geographic, which includes Hollywood stars, journalists and producers.

Among them are David Letterman, Ian Somerhalder, Ty Burell, Gisele Bündchen and Jack Black, who raise awareness about the dire consequences of climate change. From India to Kenya, China, the Amazon rainforest in Brazil, to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia - world stars explore problems and solutions in the segment of global warming and environmental protection.

Before the Flood (2016)

Another star who is directing his efforts to combat climate change is actor Leonardo DiCaprio, who in 2016 made a documentary for National Geographic with director Martin Scorsese.

The film, premiered online, analyzes how we can prevent environmental problems such as the disappearance of threatened and endangered natural ecosystems or threatened indigenous communities. Presented consistently and engagingly by Leonardo DiCaprio, the documentary features an impressive cast including Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Ban Ki-moon, Pope Francis, NASA scientists, forest conservationists, community leaders and environmental activists.

The True Cost (2015)

The documentary The Right Price tells the story of the clothes we wear, the people who make them and the impact the textile industry has on this planet. The prices of clothes have been falling for decades and the cost of making them has risen dramatically, but today they are worn by the people who make them and the environment where the textile industry is located.

A documentary that pulls back the curtain on the untold story and invites us to question who is really paying the true price of our clothes.

The Game Changers (2018)

Directed by Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Louie Psihoyos and executive produced by James Cameron, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jackie Chan, Lewis Hamilton, Novak Djokovic and Chris Paul, The Game Changers tells the story of James Wilks, an elite Special Forces trainer and winner of The Ultimate Fighter , who travels the world to discover optimal nutrition for human performance. Together with elite athletes, soldiers, visionary scientists, cultural icons and everyday heroes, he permanently changes your understanding of food and the definition of true strength.

The documentary thus focuses on plant-based nutrition for athletes. It includes several stories of successful athletes on plant-based diets, references scientific studies, and touches on other arguments for a plant-based diet.

Ten Billion (2015)

The film is directed by Peter Weber and combines the findings of a study conducted a decade ago by Microsoft's director of computer science, Stephen Emmott. It was created based on the predictions of a group of scientists about what life on Earth will be like at the end of the 21st century.

The study presents the challenges that the human race of 10 billion might face by then, given the fact that the planet's natural resources are limited. This is an important warning about the danger of overcrowding!

Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret (2014)

In the documentary Cowspiracy, Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn examine the livestock industry and its impact on the environment. As their research progresses, access to reliable data on the environmental consequences of animal husbandry is increasingly difficult, especially at the industrial level.

In interviews with NGOs and politicians, they discover that conservation groups may not really be doing all they can to move animal husbandry towards sustainability. Could there be a vast conspiracy involving secret interests behind it?

Hrana, dd (Food, Inc., 2008)

Directed by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Robert Kenner, the documentary focuses on the state of the American food system and industry and reveals how this aggressive model is spreading around the world. In a real format, it combines interviews with producers and farmers who are being stifled by large multinationals who want to implement their own methods of production, regardless of the consequences.

Transgenic feed, misleading marketing techniques, intensive farming... Some of the multinationals mentioned in the film, such as Monsanto, Tyson Foods or Smithfield Foods, did not want to appear in it. A film that will change your view on food and especially on what you will eat next!

The Cove (2009)

Nearly 23,000 dolphins are slaughtered raw each year at The Cove in Taiji National Park, Japan, to sell the meat for food, despite its high mercury content. Some of them are sold live to dolphinariums all over the world, such as Seaworld, for big bucks. In the Oscar-winning documentary, the most famous dolphin trainer Rick O'Barrey condemns the captivity of dolphins and orcas, as well as their slaughter, which takes place for the purpose of trading these beautiful animals.

The film is a mix of activism and espionage. The disturbing documentary consists of hidden cameras and underwater microphones that reveal the terrifying reality beyond the dolphinariums.

Wasteland (2009)

This is the story of the largest waste dump in Latin America, in Rio de Janeiro. Director Lucy Walker and two Brazilian directors João Jardim and Karen Harley, who also produced the documentary, want to show the audience what the daily life of the people living in this dump is like.

Brazilian artist Vik Muniz goes to the Jardim Gramacho dump with the aim of immortalizing all those garbage collectors in a painting and presenting them as a work of art. A documentary that will make many people uncomfortable precisely because of its raw reality.