Top Ten things you need to watch on climate change

Keen to know more on climate change? We’ve got you covered with a selection of ten must-see movies, video clips, and documentaries discussing climate change and what we can do about it.

Sometimes climate change is hard to explain, but a video can tell a thousand words.

If you’re struggling to make sense of our most pressing environmental issues, there is a wide range of video content across the web that can educate, inspire or re-motivate you to take meaningful action, and to help spread the message about climate change and what we can do to reduce its impact.

We’ve rounded up ten movies, video clips, and documentaries take a close look at what climate change is, the causes of climate change and more importantly what we can do to stop it.

We’ve provided the links to the full videos where we can, or the trailers where we can’t. You may need to look to your streaming service of choice for the full versions.

An Inconvenient Truth

Now 13 years old,  this Oscar-winning documentary broke new ground by taking messages around climate change and its impact to a mass audience. Former Vice President of the United States of America, Al Gore, explains how humans have changed the earth’s atmosphere and what we must do to save it.

An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power

A decade after An Inconvenient Truth brought climate change into the heart of popular culture, comes a follow-up that shows Al Gore’s continuous fight against climate change as he travels around the world to convince individuals to take action. Al Gore also reflects on the current progress we are making to combat the effects of climate change and urges world leaders to take more action such as investing in renewable energy.

Years of Living Dangerously

Years of Living Dangerously showcases Hollywood’s biggest celebrities such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Harrison Ford, and various other actors and respected journalists, as they travel around the globe to explore the issues of climate change  and cover intimate stories of human triumph and tragedy.

Chasing Ice

This 2012 film follows photographer James Balog as he travels to Greenland, Iceland and Alaska to capture footage that demonstrates the impact of climate change on our most inhospitable landscapes. Overcoming personal injury and numerous technical challenges, Balog’s use of time-lapse photography shows how drastically Alaska’s ancient glaciers are melting.

Chasing Coral

We are familiar with the impacts of climate change on land, but what about underneath our oceans? Based on more than 500 hours of underwater video footage from 30 countries, Chasing Coral follows team of divers, photographers and scientists determined to demonstrate the dramatic impact of ocean acidification on coral reefs.

Before the Flood

This film takes you on a journey where Oscar-winning actor and environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio explores the issue of climate change first-hand and tries to find solutions to combat the issue before it is too late.  During his journey, he gets insights from influential figures such as Former President Barack Obama of the United States of America, Pope Francis and Elon Musk and makes a speech before the United Nations on how the catastrophic impact on our  planet can be averted.

Dear Future Generations: Sorry

This video got over 29 million views in its first 48 hours, and its not hard to see why. Spoken word artist and activist Prince Ea gives a heart-felt apology to future generations for the harm we have caused to our planet. The purpose of this video is to raise awareness about  the alarming rates of deforestation and the destruction of our environment and most importantly how we can take immediate action.

The most important thing you can do to fight climate change: talk about it

How do you talk to someone who doesn't believe in climate change? Climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe argues that the key to breaking through resistance is to connect over shared values like family, community and religion, and to prompt people to realise that they already care about our changing climate and shared future.

School strike for climate - save the world by changing the rules

Greta Thunberg is a phenomenon, with a gift for cutting through the platitudes and delivering simple, powerful calls to action on climate change.  The Swedish teenager came to prominence first in a student strike outside her national parliament, and here discusses her passion for a greener economy in a TEDx talk, sharing a strong message about taking action and changing the rules to save our  planet, she suggests ‘that rich countries need to get to zero emissions within 6 to 12 years, with today’s emission speed, so that developing countries have a chance to heighten their standard of living’.

Climate Change- The Facts

David Attenborough explores the science of climate change and gives viewers an insight of the potential threats we face if we exceed 1.5 degrees warming. The documentary features world leading scientists and activists as they discuss the drastic measures, we need to take to reduce our impact.

Overall the key take-away of these movies, video clips, and documentaries is to educate us about the negative impact we are having on our planet. This is not to discourage us, but rather it should inspire us to do better.

Hopefully these videos have inspired you to take action and reduce your own personal footprint. Use our calculator to figure out what it is first, so you can work on ways to reduce it. There are plenty of tips and tricks inside to help you make a difference.

Seen any climate change videos that really hit home for you? We’d love to hear about them – get in touch!