Environmental Documentaries Worth Watching

August 1, 2026 · Film & Events · Berkeley Earth Day editors

Environmental film has a long history of changing minds. A good documentary can do in ninety minutes what years of reports cannot: make a distant problem feel close. Here is a starter list, grouped by theme, plus tips for turning a screening into a community event.

Climate

• An Inconvenient Truth (2006): Al Gore's lecture-turned-film brought climate science to a mass audience and won an Academy Award.
• Chasing Ice (2012): photographer James Balog's time-lapse cameras record glaciers retreating at startling speed.
• Before the Flood (2016): Leonardo DiCaprio travels the world talking to scientists and leaders about climate change.
• 2040 (2019): a hopeful look at solutions that already exist, framed as a letter to the director's daughter.

Oceans and wildlife

• Chasing Coral (2017): divers and scientists document mass coral bleaching.
• My Octopus Teacher (2020): a filmmaker's year-long bond with an octopus in a South African kelp forest; winner of the Academy Award for documentary feature.
• Our Planet (2019): a nature series that weaves conservation messages into stunning wildlife footage.

Food and farming

• Food, Inc. (2008): an investigation into industrial food production in the United States.
• Kiss the Ground (2020): makes the case for soil health and regenerative agriculture. Some scientists think its claims are optimistic, which makes it a good film for discussion.
• Cowspiracy (2014) and Seaspiracy (2021): campaigning films on animal agriculture and fishing, popular with vegan audiences and criticised by some experts for overstating figures. Watch with a critical eye and compare with research summaries such as our plant-based food and climate article.

Consumption and activism

• The True Cost (2015): the human and environmental price of fast fashion.
• Short films from Wild & Scenic: the festival's mix of activism and adventure shorts is ideal for groups. See our guide to Wild & Scenic.

Host a film night

1. Check the licence. Public screenings usually need public performance rights, even if entry is free. Many documentaries offer community screening licences.
2. Pick a short and a feature. A five-minute short as an opener warms up the room.
3. Add a speaker from a local group for a Q&A, and have a sign-up sheet ready.
4. Make it accessible: turn on captions, choose a step-free venue and say so in your invitation. Our accessible events checklist covers the details.
5. Feed people: vegan snacks, real cups, water refills.
6. Raise funds: a donation jar, a raffle of local products or a games night all work. Check the rules first; California regulates nonprofit raffles.