What is exciting to see is that change is happening – but it’s not coming from up top. It’s coming from us, down here, making noise, making more conscious purchases and raising awareness, which in turn is raising the standards of the brands we love.
And so, just in time for the season when we like to curl up with some tea and hunker down, here are some amazing documentaries that had an impact on my view of the world and the choices I make.
Salt Fat Acid Heat
About: Chef and writer Samin Nosrat travels the world to explore four basic keys to cooking: salt, fat, acid and heat.
What You Will Learn: The important role these simple ingredients play in creating delicious food. Also, you’ll discover that Samin is delightful – a true food enthusiast without the pomp and ego.
Who Should Watch It: Those who love learning new cooking skills, as well as those who appreciate beautifully filmed food and travel.
About: Indigenous communities in the United States that are working to reclaim their land, grow ancestral foods and fight for their food sovereignty.
What You Will Learn: The multitude of ways colonialists have destroyed Indigenous cultural foods and their ability to grow them – and the resilience of Indigenous cultures who are now sharing their knowledge and reclaiming what has been lost.
Who Should Watch It: Everyone.
You’ll Be Inspired To… Support Indigenous resistance and food cultures.
About: A California couple who left city life in Los Angeles to build a biodynamic farm on dead soil and bring an ecosystem back to life.
What You Will Learn: Everything in nature is connected. You’ll also see how hard (yet rewarding) it is to fuel an entire ecosystem where animals, humans, plants and microorganisms all live in relative harmony, as well as the thoughtful process and planning it takes.
Who Should Watch It: Those who have always dreamed of living off the land, or those who live in the country and want to learn more about building or contributing to a biodiverse ecosystem.
You’ll Be Inspired To… Leave city life and start your own farm.
About: A filmmaker’s experience visiting an octopus daily in the waters of South Africa.
What You Will Learn: Some very unexpected and deep life lessons that will change the way you think.
Who Should Watch It: If you’re looking for a happiness-inducing, pick-me-up style of documentary film – and if you love nature documentaries with beautiful underwater images.
You’ll Be Inspired To… Look for the daily lessons in nature in your own life.
About: I am a super-fan of Diana Beresford-Kroeger and will watch or read anything she’s part of. This visually stunning film leads you through forests around the world and shares how we are integrally connected to trees.
What You Will Learn: Why trees are essential to life, how climate change has affected them and why we should do everything possible to protect these gems.
Who Should Watch It: Literally anyone who breathes.
Who Should Watch It: Any kind of gardener, whether you grow in a windowsill or a yard, and those who are interested in regenerative farming. I also like how incredibly hopeful this film is, which isn’t always the case with environment and climate change documentaries.
You’ll Be Inspired To… Take a second look at the ground beneath your feet, and work to improve it.
About: This film tells the story of people who believe their serious health challenges are attributed to the hazardous chemicals that are permitted in everyday home and beauty care products.
What You’ll Learn: More than you want to know about the failure to effectively test and regulate the chemicals that are present in our everyday products, and their proven negative health effects.
Who should watch it: Everyone! Especially parents with small children or who are planning to conceive, anyone with known allergies and chemical sensitivities, and I think this will especially resonate with teenagers who may be just getting into the world of personal care products and cosmetics.
You’ll be inspired to… Take a second look at the products you use every day in your home and start making different choices that better support health.
About: You know those “fast fashion” brands that allow us to buy jeans for $20 and t-shirts for $5? It may be cheap for us, but the cost on the planet and the people overseas making them is huge.
What You’ll Learn: You’ll visit those overseas factories and meet the people who are working there, as well as see the environmental impact of cheap shopping habits. You’ll learn how our consumption habits of disposable clothing and new trends every season impacts the health of the makers and the planet.
Who should watch it: Everyone who wears clothes! This is especially important for those of you who love shopping (especially at stores like Forever 21, H&M, Old Navy… basically most of the mall brands) and always want to have the next trendy thing. The film isn’t intended to inspire guilt, but to educate us about what to look for when shopping and how we can make more responsible shopping decisions.
You’ll be inspired to…. Start paying more attention to your shopping habits, and perhaps start buying less and spend a bit more on better quality things that will last.
About: How are there still doubters of climate change? How did cigarettes make it into the mainstream before it was revealed that they cause cancer when the makers knew all along? Why is our sofa filled with up to two pounds of flame retardants? Watch and learn!
What You Will Learn: A touch of self control as you try not to shake the man pictured above in the freeze frame of the trailer. You will also learn why it is so important as consumers that we both trust our instincts and do our own research.
Who should watch it: Everyone! But definitely the people who place all their trust in government regulations to look out for our best interests when it comes to food, pharma and the chemicals used in our everyday products. It’s also a great film for those who currently trust that GMOs are harmless and safe. There’s a lesson in this film for all of us.
You’ll be inspired to… Ask big questions, and perhaps even wonder what product we currently accept as safe that will be the next cigarette. Is it GMOs? Is it wifi? Or perhaps it’s cell phones? Yes, so many questions.
About: Travel around the globe with Leonardo DiCaprio and see firsthand how the habits of us here in North America are affecting climates and communities around the world. One of my favourite quotes in this movie is from the head of a small island country that said, “Those that are impacted the most, contribute to the problem the least.” And right there, that is the issue.
What You Will Learn: How our daily habits are having a rapidly growing impact on the planet.
Who Should Watch It: Everyone! This is a film for those of us who think we’re too small to make a difference. It is the actions of each one of us that add up to big change.
You’ll Be Inspired To… Live a little more simply. It can only do us and the rest of the world good.
About: I first read this book ten years ago when I was introduced to yoga and meditation. This film explores the life of the man who brought yoga and meditation to the west. You’ll see how what was first met with resistance has become part of everyday life for many of us.
What You Will Learn: How one person can truly impact a nation simply by living and practicing their own truth.
Who Should Watch It: Anyone who practices yoga or meditation, or anyone who says things like, “I really need to start doing yoga”, or “I know I should meditate.” And anyone who is feeling like life is just a little too much sometimes.
You’ll Be Inspired To… Sit down every day and take a few moments of silence to listen to your breath and connect inwards. Truly. Watching this documentary kickstarted my meditation practice once again.
There are new documentaries coming out all the time and I trust this list will only grow. If you’ve seen something lately that you think should be included, please post in the comments below.
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