Movie recommendations 2021

Photo by GR Stocks on Unsplash

How about using December as a month of opportunity to learn about environmental issues?  Here are some great movies that can help you learn about the environment and sustainability.  Great for kids and adults!

[FASHION]

The True Cost (2015)

Fashion Revolution Day takes place on  April 24th, the anniversary of the 2013 Rana Plaza building collapse. This has been documented in the movie, “The True Cost”, which is a must-see.

Rana Plaza, a building in Bangladesh, housed a number of garment factories, employing around 5,000 people.The people in this building were manufacturing clothing for many of the biggest global fashion brands. Over 1,100 people died in the collapse and another 2,500 were injured.

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Slowing down fast fashion (2016)

Alex James, Blur bassist turned cheese maker, presents this critical look at our disposable approach to clothing and it's enormous human and environmental cost. This documentary highlights the social issues that fast fashion can cause.

A very easy-to-understand, fun and easy-to-listen documentary. You may know already that fast fashion isn't good for the planet, but why exactly isn't it good? What can we do? How should we consume to lead to a better future? 

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[PLASTIC]

A Plastic Ocean (2016)

A Plastic Ocean is a new award-winning feature length documentary brought to you by a group of dedicated scientists, film-makers, social entrepreneurs, scholars, environmentalists and journalists, that explores the fragile state of our oceans and uncovers alarming truths about the consequences of our disposable lifestyle. 

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[PLANET]

Our Planet (2019)

Our Planet is a British nature documentary series made for Netflix. The series addresses issues of conservation while featuring these disparate animals in their respective home regions, and has been noted for its greater focus on humans' impact on the environment than traditional nature documentaries, centering around how climate change impacts all living creatures.

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Kiss the Ground (2020)

Narrated and featuring Woody Harrelson, Kiss the Ground is an inspiring and groundbreaking film that reveals the first viable solution to our climate crisis.

There were so much bad and negative news in the world in 2020. We’ve said goodbye to 2020 and started a whole new year but 2021 isn’t looking too bright either. However, this documentary was definitely something that made me feel more positive. Not using earths underground resources (ie: plastic)、or advocating for a more circular economy (reuse, upcycle, zerowaste) etc are all important aspect to fight climate crisis but it is mostly about stopping the “degeneration”. At the same time, “regeneration” is important and the documentary shows that by regenerating the world’s soils, we can completely and rapidly stabilize Earth’s climate, restore lost ecosystems and create abundant food supplies.

Some of the words that stuck with me after watching the film was “regeneration economy” and “restoration”. It’s true that even if we try to stop the degeneration of the planet, without regeneration, there will be no true degeneration. 

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[FOOD]

Mottainai Kitchen (2020) 

"One-third of the food produced in the world is discarded without being eaten."