Sustainability & Media

Sustainability & Media Environmental Shows Take Center Stage

By Destiny Nolan

We’ve noticed a sharp increase in documentaries concerning sustainability in recent months. It reflects the growing concern among people and businesses about the planet, sustainable practices, and climate change. Regardless of who we are, where we live, and what we do, we all have a moral obligation to each other, our future generations, and other species to sustain the planet.

The best news: the documentaries are running across all platforms. We took a look at some of the documentaries available today, and found quite a few enticing shows:

Chasing Coral (Netflix)

In this documentary, divers, scientists and photographers around the world go on an epic underwater adventure to document the disappearance of coral reefs. The film took more than three years to shoot and is the result of 500+ hours of underwater footage, coral bleaching submissions from volunteers in 30 countries, as well as support from more than 500 people in various locations around the world. They started in the Florida Keys, where, 30 years ago, the Florida Straits were filled with living reefs. Now they’re all gone. We’ve lost 80 to 90% of corals in Florida and in the last 30 years, we have lost 50% of the world’s corals.

A Plastic Ocean (YouTube)

In 2011, journalist Craig Leeson set out on an expedition to film a documentary about blue whales. He started off in Sri Lanka with Dr. Lindsey Porter and Ben Fogle looking for the whales. They were in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Sri Lanka, where the beaches have been closed for up to 30 years and there isn’t any commercial fishing, which they thought would be a very pristine environment. Turned out to be full of oil, nets, etc. That came from the river.

Hostile Planet (Disney+/NatGeo)

In this documentary, extreme adventure superstar Bear Grylls travels to six different regions of the globe to watch as the wildlife struggles to survive on a daily basis in many different harsh conditions. From shorter winters, harsher summers, erratic weather patterns, and competition for food. It’s like a wildlife warzone. Bear spends the better part of each hour exploring one particular region, the challenges facing wildlife there, and how the Earth’s changing climate isn’t making things any easier.

Kiss the Ground (Netflix):

Narrated by Woody Harrelson, Kiss The Ground sheds light on regenerative agriculture, which has the potential to balance our climate, replenish our water supplies, and feed the world. Filmmakers follow a group of activists, politicians, farmers, and scientists exploring how the regeneration of our soil might hold the key to a more sustainable future. Also, Ray Archuleta, a conservation agronomist, travels from state to state talking with people about the importance of soil.

The Ivory Game (Netflix):

The film opens in Tanzania, where Elisifa Ngowi, the head of intelligence for the Task Force, along with his officers, are conducting a nighttime sting operation in an attempt to arrest Shetani, one of the most notorious poachers in the region. Shetani is responsible for the deaths of 10,000 elephants alone.

Over the past five years, more than 150,000 elephants have been killed for their ivory. Directors Kief Davidson and Richard Ladkani, their crew and various subjects went undercover for 16 months putting their lives on the line to infiltrate and document the deep-rooted corruption at the heart of the global ivory trafficking crisis. In hopes to stop the poachers and to keep the elephants safe.

Look for our preview of the top 2022 documentaries coming up, as well as a complete breakdown of the finest sustainability docs available, in the Spring 2022 issue of Sustainability Today. ■