2023 Earth Month

Laura Torenbeek was working for a film school when she noticed a problem. While overseeing student projects, she discovered the volume of waste that the young film workers produced, and felt that something had to be done.

On Feb 25, 2020, Anders Hofman completed the first long-distance triathlon in Antarctica, the Iceman. His goal was to show that limitations are mere perceptions.

Italian-born Susanna della Sala is a director, author and visual artist. Last Stop Before Chocolate Mountain is her latest project – a documentary born from personal life experience that both tells the story and captures the spirit of Bombay Beach, a once abandoned town in the harsh California desert, situated on the shores of a toxic lake, that is now home to a small eclectic community where art heals people in the most unexpected ways.

If, as psychiatrist Viktor Frankl opined, the meaning of life is to give life meaning, then what of the objects, both big and small, that power our lives but leave behind no small amount of waste? What meaning can be derived in how we treat this material? And what separate meaning, if any, exists in these items themselves? Those are among the questions pondered by Stacey Tenenbaum’s Scrap, an utterly singular and highly ruminative documentary, from First Run Features, now available on DVD and streaming on Amazon and Apple TV. In imaginative fashion, Scrap runs an end-around on more typical environmental nonfiction film posturing.

Amidst all the film events around the world, there was a special one that caught my attention. First, it had been mentioned to me by a friend in tech.

April 22nd is Earth Day, a momentous occasion to celebrate and raise awareness about environmental issues. So many great movies and documentaries can educate and inspire people to take action toward a more sustainable future.

Extrapolations, a limited series of eight interconnected episodes streaming on Apple TV, explores the effects of the climate crisis that already threaten life on Earth today and will likely worsen in the near future leading to catastrophic consequences unless more decisive action is taken to reduce global warming. The series creator, Scott Z.

Maria Victoria Mejia loves to create. She designs sustainable bags made from premium shells and mother of pearl, handmade home décor, and furniture made from natural materials in the Philippines for her company, Victoria’s Craft.

In 1976, when Brazil was torn and bitterly divided politically, I picked up my old knapsack and joined a group of young journalists who decided to see the magnificent universe born from the Amazon River, its affluents, and forests within forests. The most important source of clean water, rich soil, never-ending waves of trees and grass, and masses of birds, snakes, butterflies, jaguars, and monkeys.

Elemental: Reimagine Wildfire takes viewers on a journey with the top experts from across the nation to better understand wildfire. The film begins with the harrowing escape from Paradise, California on November 8, 2018, after the town ignited from wind-driven embers and burned within a few hours of the fire’s start- and continues on to revisit more recent record-shattering fires.