5 Best Environmental Docos on Netflix to Watch in the Dark This Weekend

The team at sustainability and social purpose focused agency The Bravery have pulled together a line up of the best five Netflix docos to watch this Saturday night for Earth Hour.

While we might usually opt for a trashy series on a Saturday night Netflix binge, this weekend we’re suggesting something a tad more educational. Why? Because on March 30 at 8:30 pm local time, millions of people around the globe will be switching off their lights for Earth Hour – the world’s biggest (and home-grown!) grassroots movement to protect our planet. The impact of climate change on Australia’s unique biodiversity is in the spotlight this year, and whether you’ve been involved before or this year is a first, we think it’s the perfect excuse to get cosy and spend the hour of dark giving your brain a workout with one of our top doco picks.

Earth Hour 2018, seen from Luna Park, Sydney. Photography by Quentin Jones.

1. A Plastic Ocean

When journalist and documentary filmmaker Craig Leeson discovered the world’s oceans were brimming with plastic, he set off on a mission to investigate what this meant for the future of our planet. Alongside a team of scientists, researchers and free diver Tanya Streeter, Leeson determinedly worked for four years, across twenty locations, to uncover the depth of the issue, and to find solutions to help save our oceans. The result? The popular environmental documentary, A Plastic Ocean. It’s the home truth we all need to hear to help change our plastic habits, and a reminder to always say no to a straw – because frankly, they suck.

2.Planet Earth II

There’s something universally resonant about David Attenborough’s voice, and we are all about his sequel to the Emmy award-winning “Planet Earth” series. From an exploration into Pygmy sloths and Komodo dragons navigating the challenges of island life, to the documentation of resilience in creatures like the Saiga antelope and African buffalo, Planet Earth II offers an objective look into the reality of life for animals across the globe. As always, the series is delivered with unparalleled cinematography, making you feel as close to the real thing as if on safari.

3. Chasing Coral

We know a changing climate is causing the world’s coral to disappear at an unprecedented rate, but do many of us really know much about the demise of our precious reefs? Chasing Coral is an epic underwater campaign documenting our changing planet – a complete deep dive into the ecological crisis facing our oceans. Having homed the largest coral reef system in the world for aeons, we should all be trying to learn more about this issue, and how we can help to make a change.

Related Post: Film Review: Chasing Coral

4. Before The Flood

We didn’t need much more of a reason to get starry-eyed over Leonardo DiCaprio, however, his passion for the environment makes him even more loveable. In Before The Flood, Leo crisscrosses the globe from the melting glaciers of The Arctic Circle to the Tar Sands in Alberta Canada to investigate the consequences of manmade global warming and the measures we can take to prevent the demise of endangered species, ecosystems and native communities across the planet.

5. The True Cost

As many of us continue to question who made our clothes, and think about how our consumption habits are affecting the environment, Andrew Morgan‘s The True Cost is the documentary we all need to watch. In a revealing exposé of the global demand for low cost, fast fashion and its unimaginable impact on garment workers around the world, it connects the dots on why our small, everyday choices can make lasting change.