Climate Films

Hosting a film viewing is a great way to generate interest in potential members. Here are some tips on planning your event and a list of film suggestions. 

Planning your Event

1. Find a Venue: A screening may be held in any private home or venue — see the specific film or show guidelines. All you need is an area that will hold your expected attendees and a way to watch the film or show.

2. Invite guests: Make sure all the members of your chapters know about the screening and ask them to commit to inviting a few people they think might be interested. Send email invitations early — at least three weeks before the event. Create a Facebook event or EventBrite. Include details about when the event will start, whether food and drinks will be provided, what time the screening will begin, and when you expect to wrap things up.

3. Schedule some social time: When you gather is up to you. One possibility would be to begin half an hour early and socialize with snacks and drinks until it’s time for the screening and end by taking one of a few simple actions. Whenever you choose to start, please make a priority of having all your guests — especially newcomers — sign in with their names and email addresses. This is a great opportunity for recruitment, so be sure to collect names and emails for all those in attendance.

4: Include an action: After the episode, if they wish, your guests can contribute to our work in several ways:

Recommended Films

Youth v Gov (2022)

“YOUTH v GOV” is a groundbreaking, award-winning independent documentary now streaming globally on Netflix. This is an independent film by Director Christi Cooper, Barrelmaker Productions, and Vulcan Productions about the children’s climate lawsuit, Juliana v. United States. The film tells the story of the 21 Juliana youth plaintiffs who are suing the U.S. government for actions causing the climate crisis and violating their constitutional rights.Victory in the Juliana v. United States case would be one of the most far-reaching and durable solutions to the climate crisis ever. The youth plaintiffs are currently awaiting a ruling that, if favorable, could put them back on the path to trial. 

The Letter: Laudato si (2022)

In 2015, Pope Francis wrote Laudato Si (The Letter); an encyclical letter about the environmental crisis to every single person in the world.  A few years later, four voices that have gone unheard in global conversations have been invited to an unprecedented dialogue with the Pope. Hailing from Senegal, the Amazon, India, and Hawai’i, they bring perspective and solutions from the poor, the indigenous, the youth, and wildlife into a conversation with Pope Francis himself.

Burning: Black summer and the politics of climate change (2021)

The Amazon Studios documentary film Burning explores the sociopolitical, historical, and scientific causes of the harrowing Australian bushfires of 2019 and 2020, in what has become known as “Black Summer.” Directed by Academy and Emmy-award winner Eva Orner, the film opens with clips of climate change protests, smoke, fire, and a grim overview of the delicate state of the Australian bush. As the word “Burning” comes on screen, the audience is told that “the greatest tragedy of the Australian brushfire season is that we saw it coming”…

— Geoff Watkinson

Don’t Look Up (2021)

Two astronomers discover a massive comet heading towards Earth that will wipe out humankind in six months' time if nothing is done about it. They go on a giant media tour to warn humankind, but everyone, including the U.S President, seems to have other priorities. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, and Meryl Streep, Don’t Look Up uses satire to call for real-life climate action in the face of collective climate change denial. This movie is available to stream on Netflix. Use this guide for thoughtful group discussion.

I am Greta (2020)

The story of teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg is told through compelling, never-before-seen footage in this intimate documentary from Swedish director Nathan Grossman. Starting with her one-person school strike for climate action outside the Swedish Parliament, Grossman follows Greta - a shy schoolgirl with Asperger’s – in her rise to prominence, and her galvanizing global impact as she sparks school strikes around the world. The film culminates with her astonishing wind-powered voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to speak at the UN Climate Action Summit in New York City.

Purple Mountains (2020)

Purple Mountains is a 2020 film following professional snowboarder Jeremy Jones navigating climate change and our nation’s shared values. Motivated by an urge to protect the places he loves, Jeremy sets out on a physical and philosophical journey to find common ground with fellow outdoor people across diverse political backgrounds. He learns their hopes and fears while walking a mile in their shoes on the mountain and in the snow. With intimacy and emotion set against breathtaking backdrops, Purple Mountains navigates America’s divide with a refreshing perspective: even though we may disagree about climate policy, our shared values can unite us.

Unbreathable: The Fight for Healthy Air (2020)

Directed by Maggie Stogner of AU's Center for Environmental Filmmaking, Unbreathable: The Fight for Healthy Air could not be a more timely film. Half of all Americans are impacted by unhealthy levels of air pollution; emerging research suggests a link between air pollution and higher death rates from COVID-19; communities of color are disproportionately impacted. Unbreathable highlights the inspiring people on the ground who fight for the health of their communities.

After the Fire (2019)

In October of 2017, the most destructive fires in U.S history engulfed cities and towns across northern California. While national coverage emphasized the scale and devastation of the disaster, AFTER THE FIRE examines the less-heralded experiences of those who lived through it, following three residents of one of the Sonoma Valley as they struggle to find their places in a community reshaped overnight. Winner of the Tribeca Film Institute’s If/Then Shorts award.

Blowout: Inside America's Energy Gamble (2019)

Blowout: Inside America's Energy Gamble takes a deep dive into American energy's global impacts on profits, public health, and climate change. From the oil fields of West Texas to tanker traffic busting the Panama Canal to an energy revolution in Asia.

Last Call For The Bayou (2019)

Last Call For The Bayou is a 5 part digital mini-series that looks at what it is like to confront the reality of climate change today. The Mississippi Delta is the fastest disappearing land on the planet, presently. It is losing a football field an hour of land either through subsidence, traumatic loss via storms, wetland erosion, or sea-level rise. There are many factors that contribute to the loss almost all of which are the result of societal decisions. Whether it is the oil and gas extraction, the over-engineering of our greatest river, or our total carbon output — Louisiana’s wetlands are the canary in a coal mine for the land loss that will be experienced in coastal communities worldwide.

Lowland Kids (2019)

As climate change erases the Louisiana coast, the last two teenagers on Isle de Jean Charles fight to stay on an island that's been their family home for generations.

Mossville: When Great Trees Fall (2019)

As a centuries-old black community, contaminated and uprooted by petrochemical plants, comes to terms with the loss of its ancestral home, one man standing in the way of a plant's expansion refuses to give up.

The Story of Plastic (2019)

When people think about plastic as a problem, they often think just about its end state: as waste is carelessly strewn into the ocean, killing off seabirds and other creatures tragically having mistaken the inedible trash for food. But The Story of Plastic makes a strong case for rethinking that narrative. With global reporting, archival footage, and simple storyboard animation, this Yuby-winning film presents plastic as a primary contributor to climate change throughout its lifecycle, as a carefully orchestrated byproduct industry of oil and gas production. To layout the global impact of plastic production, the film carries viewers across the U.S. South to Belgium, Indonesia, India, and China, exposing in each place the human and climate impacts of rapidly escalating plastic production and use.

Anote’s Ark (2018)

The Pacific Island nation of Kiribati (population: 100,000) is one of the most remote places on the planet, seemingly far-removed from the pressures of modern life. Yet it is one of the first countries that must confront the main existential dilemma of our time: imminent annihilation from sea-level rise. While Kiribati’s President Anote Tong races to find a way to protect his nation’s people and maintain their dignity, many Kiribati are already seeking safe harbour overseas. Set against the backdrop of international climate and human rights negotiations, Anote’s struggle to save his nation is intertwined with the extraordinary fate of Tiemeri, a young mother of six, who fights to migrate her family to New Zealand. At stake is the survival of Tiemeri’s family, the Kiribati people, and 4,000 years of Kiribati culture.

Hillbilly (2018)

Hillbilly is a 2018 film directed by Michael Apted confronting depictions of Appalachians and other rural people on a broad, national level. It introduces audiences to a nuanced, authentic Appalachia that is quite conscious of how it has been portrayed and the impacts of those portrayals. The documentary deconstructs mainstream representations while asking crucial questions: Where did the hillbilly archetype come from and why has it endured on-screen for more than a hundred years? How does it relate to the exploitation of the land and people who live there? How do Appalachian and rural people view themselves as a result of these negative portrayals, and what is the impact on the rest of America?

The Human Element(2018)

In an arresting new documentary from the producers of Racing Extinction, The Cove, and Chasing Ice, environmental photographer James Balog captures the lives of everyday Americans on the front lines of climate change. With rare compassion and heart, The Human Element’s coast-to-coast series of captivating stories inspire us to reevaluate our relationship with the natural world. The film is available for free streaming. Use this form to request a screening and get streaming access.

Paris to Pittsburgh (2018)

From coastal cities to America’s heartland, Paris to Pittsburgh celebrates how Americans are demanding and developing real solutions in the face of climate change. And as the weather grows more deadly and destructive, they aren’t waiting on Washington to act.

True North (2018)

True North consists of 16 11-minute episodes, led by John Iadarola — who co-hosts The Young Turks’ ThinkTank channel and investigative reporter and filmmaker Chavala Madlena — who has worked with The Guardian and BBC. Alongside a retinue of scientists, cartographers, and other associates, Iadarola and Madlena report from the remote Arctic locates in order to ascertain how climate change is affecting local populations and ecosystems.

Chasing Coral (2017)  

From the director of Chasing Ice comes an epic adventure to capture our changing oceans. Coral reefs around the world are vanishing at an unprecedented rate. A team of divers, photographers, and scientists set out on a thrilling ocean adventure to discover why and to reveal the underwater mystery to the world.

Happening: A clean energy revolution (2017)

Happening: A Clean Energy Revolution, by James Redford, takes a personal look at how clean energy is creating jobs, turning profits, and making communities stronger and healthier across the country.

The Age of Consequences (2016) 

The Hurt Locker meets An Inconvenient Truth, The Age of Consequences investigates the impacts of climate change on increased resource scarcity, migration, and conflict through the lens of US national security and global stability.

Before the Flood (2016)

If you could know the truth about the threat of climate change — would you want to know? Before the Flood, presented by National Geographic, features Leonardo DiCaprio on a journey as a United Nations Messenger of Peace, traveling to five continents and the Arctic to witness climate change firsthand. He goes on expeditions with scientists uncovering the reality of climate change and meets with political leaders fighting against inaction. He also discovers a calculated disinformation campaign orchestrated by powerful special interests working to confuse the public about the urgency of the growing climate crisis. With unprecedented access to thought leaders around the world, DiCaprio searches for hope in a rising tide of catastrophic news.

Facing the Surge (2016)

Facing the Surge documents the tangible costs of sea-level rise for the people of Norfolk, VA. Norfolk is home to the largest naval base in the country and to thousands of hard-working Americans struggling to adapt to the rising tides and an uncertain future. But Facing the Surge is not a film about loss and inaction. It tells the stories of citizens from across the United States as they step forward to raise awareness and push their government to solve climate change. This 25:00 documentary includes an inspirational 5:00 section on Citizens’ Climate Lobby.

Time to Choose (2016)

Academy Award®-Winning documentary filmmaker Charles Ferguson (Inside Job, No End in Sight) explores the comprehensive scope of the climate change crisis and examines the power of solutions already available. Through interviews with world-renowned entrepreneurs, innovators thought leaders, and brave individuals living on the front lines of climate change, Ferguson takes an in-depth look at the remarkable people working to save our planet.

Years of Living Dangerously (2016)

The Emmy-winning climate change series returns for a second season to tell the biggest story of our time. Featuring some of Hollywood’s most influential stars, Years of Living Dangerously reveals emotional and hard-hitting accounts of the effects of climate change from across the planet. CCL has an exclusive deal with Years of Living Dangerously to show the two episodes related to carbon pricing to higher ed audiences free of charge. To obtain a link, email Maggie Badore at margaret@theyearsproject.com. Tell them that you are with CCL and that Clara Fang sent you.

In addition, Greg Hamra distilled these three segments from the series showing just the carbon pricing parts:

bit.ly/pricelessyears - Shows the activity around promoting carbon pricing on college campuses

bit.ly/savingmiami - Saving Miami

bit.ly/cclnatgeo - About the work of CCL

The Burden (2015) 

The Burden tells the story of fossil fuel dependence as our greatest long-term national security threat, and why the military is leading the transition to clean energy. The film is the centerpiece of a strategic media engagement campaign to inspire a movement that strengthens our energy security and harnesses the power of American innovation to make us leaders in the 21st-century global clean energy economy.

Interstellar (2014)

Director Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar is that rarest of Hollywood anomalies – a wildly complicated, lavishly expensive, wholly original mainstream blockbuster. It doesn’t exist in the Marvel or DC cinematic universes; instead, it occupies a not-so-distant-future version of our very own – and things aren’t exactly going great. While the words “climate change” are never explicitly said in the film, the impacts of the crisis are writ large, driving a plot about an attempt to flee a near-future Earth reeling from drastically changing weather patterns and global food shortages for the safety of a new habitable planet.

Merchants of Doubt (2014)

Inspired by the acclaimed book by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway, Merchants of Doubt takes audiences on a satirically comedic, yet illuminating ride into the heart of conjuring American spin. Filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the curtain on a secretive group of highly charismatic, silver-tongued pundits-for-hire who present themselves in the media as scientific authorities – yet have the contrary aim of spreading maximum confusion about well-studied public threats ranging from toxic chemicals to pharmaceuticals to climate change.

Snowpiercer (2013)

The film is set in a future where a failed geoengineering experiment to counteract climate change plunges the planet into a new ice age, killing all life except for those lucky enough (a phrase we’re using loosely here) to have boarded the titular train. This train now circles the globe on a constant loop and a tyrannical class system has taken hold onboard. It’s an important cautionary tale: while we should investigate any and all scientific developments to stop the climate crisis, dangerous gambles like geo-engineering – or for that matter, fleeing our planet for an imagined oasis somewhere deep in the universe – could come with unintended consequences. So, why risk it when we know for sure that quickly transitioning from fossil fuels to renewables can and will work?

Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)

Living in a Louisiana bayou community called “the Bathtub,” six-year-old Hush Puppy (youngest-ever Best Actress Oscar nominee Quvenzhané Wallis) can’t get the prehistoric aurochs her teacher tells her will be released from melting ice caps off her mind – even as the world in front of her crumbles and cowers, the victim of powerful storms, failing levees, and familial health problems. While the film’s setting is technically fictional, it was inspired by several very real fishing villages in Southern Louisiana's Terrebonne Parish. These small, isolated wetland communities are threatened by climate-driven erosion, extreme weather, and rising sea levels. Most notable among them is the rapidly disappearing Isle de Jean Charles, former home of “the first American climate refugees.”

Chasing Ice (2012)

Chasing Ice is the story of one man’s mission to change the tide of history by gathering undeniable evidence of our changing planet. In the spring of 2005, acclaimed environmental photographer James Balog with a band of young adventurers in tow, Balog began deploying revolutionary time-lapse cameras across the brutal Arctic to capture a multi-year record of the world’s changing glaciers. His hauntingly beautiful videos compress years into seconds and capture ancient mountains of ice in motion as they disappear at a breathtaking rate. Chasing Ice depicts a photographer trying to deliver evidence and hope to our carbon-powered planet.

11th Hour (2007)

“The 11th Hour” is a 2007 documentary film, made, handled, and depicted by Leonardo Dicaprio, on the state of the earth. “The 11th Hour” is the last moment when change is possible. The film explores how we’ve arrived at this moment – how we live, how we impact the earth’s ecosystems, and what we can do to change our course.  Featuring ongoing dialogues of experts from all over the world, including former Soviet Prime Minister Mikhail Gorbachev, renowned scientist Stephen Hawking, former head of the CIA R. James Woolsey, and sustainable design experts William McDonough and Bruce Mau in addition to over 50 leading scientists, thinkers, and leaders who discuss the most important issues that face our planet and people. 

For a full list of recommended films look at this list of CCL Recommended films