Whether you are a diehard HBO fan or you pledge loyalty to Hulu because you get a cheap subscription through Spotify (this we feel completely, keep scheming), everyone can admit that having a Netflix log-in is truly what matters. Albeit, you won’t be able to keep up with the Kardashians but really, lets maximize our free time here. We bit the bullet, and, for you, gorged ourselves on snacks and watched a whole, lot, of, quality Netflix programming. 

Environmental

For movies or shows concerning the environment, look no further. If you want to be woke, and can tear yourself away from rewatching the Office for the third time, these movies are for you. Watch with your partner, your parents, or your dog. Substitute one reality TV show out for one of these and you will be doing yourself a favor.

• Before the Flood -  It’s no surprise this movie was directed by Oscar-winning Fisher Stevens and produced by Leonardo Dicaprio (it bears noting that Martin Scorsese was an executive director). This movie features not only scientists, but well-educated public figures like Elon Musk, Pope Francis, and Barack Obama. It documents a three year journey to different parts of the globe to uncover how climate change is affecting different communities. Climate change denial, which mostly stems from corporate lobbyists (oh the good ole USA) and dirty politicians, is a topic discussed at length, along with possible solutions for global warming, among which a carbon tax was greatly favored. 

• A Plastic Ocean - Since we inhabit a planet that is over 70% water, humans tend to see it as an indestructible, continuous, perpetual life source. But this may not be the case, as a team of free divers, researchers, and scientists team up to examine the fragile state of our oceans, and how we have ensured a perilous future for our planet. Besides advocating for the abstention from plastic, film makers urged policymakers alike to consider prioritizing plastic recycling programs. Not unlike the images that crop up of beaches in far away lands crowded with litter from the first world, A Plastic Ocean takes a deep dive into what is lurking under the surface. Curious to see just how harmful decades of single use plastic dependance have done to marine life? This is the film for you. 

• Blue Planet II & Our Planet - voiced by the beloved David Attenborough, this show is truly a work of art. The breathtaking beauty of our earth is showcased in every scene, along with the brutality of nature. But the human variable, that is the effect that humans have had on this earth, is affecting virtually every one of Earth’s natural mechanisms in a negative way. Animal communities that used to thrive have been reduced to a population in the hundreds, and their survival depends on awareness, education, and change. David Attenborough has publicly stated that his lifespan is limited, yet has brought about a gigantic reduction in plastic in the UK use since the release of this show, fondly called the “Attenborough Effect”. Can you hold yourself to making small changes in your life and saying no to single use plastic to honor this old man’s life work and wish? What are you going to do to preserve that natural habitats and specifies that are threatened by extinction due to human behavior? 

Health/Nutrition

Food! Conspiracies! Realities? You can make up your own mind after watching these. Hopefully you base that opinion on fact, lest we acknowledge how difficult cognitive dissonance is to shed! If you plan to argue against people who go vegan for health and environmental reasons, you may want to see first hand what made them change their routines. And it allows you to point out a blatant hypocrisy in people who claim to be environmentalists and “for the earth”, but are somehow always ordering a burger.

• What the Health - Although some claims in this film need to be taken with a grain of salt, it doesn't discredit the overarching themes in this film that really do ring true. This film sheds light on the links between big dairy, different agricultural industries and how they relate to the pharmaceutical industries. It supports the idea of “food as medicine” and goes after the secretive nature of how lobbyists have infiltrated seemingly innocent charities such as the American Heart Association, and Susan G. Komen. It draws overwhelming conclusions ranging from the animal agriculture business to systemic racism, with a compelling case of systemic runoff and spraying has resulted in high cancer rates in African American communities that live in a close proximity to pig farms in South Carolina.

• Forks Over Knives- This documentary focuses on a Whole Foods Plant Based Diet and how adopting this diet could reverse your current medical ailments and create lifelong health benefits. The two doctors that conducted the ongoing research were once children growing up on a dairy farm, and vowed to never look back.  This documentary takes you on a journey with real people, real food, showing you how this diet has influenced their life for the better. The narrator of the documentary also adopts the diet, seeing for himself if it had any affect on him, and the results are shocking. 

• Food, Inc. - This film takes a close look at industrial food production in the US. Are you robotically purchasing your goods from your local supermarket, without a thought about where these items originate? The mass production of meat, and secretive manner in which these living beings are slaughtered and prepared for consumers to consume..is kept under wraps for a reason. “The way we eat has changed more in the past 50 years than it has in the past ten thousand” applies to not only the power of food companies, but how we produce fatter, cheaper chickens in 49 days, the illusion of industrial food, “Ag Gag Laws” that make it against the law to criticize producers, how it is illegal to publish photos of industrial food operations, and how the FDA allows sale of products without labeling. This movie emphasizes that when you buy something you are voting, for local or corporate producers. And question what life would be like if we had a national policy in place that incentivized us to eat nutritionally dense food that makes us feel good.

• Cowspiracy - Humans are living through a true environmental disaster, and is being ignored by people that should be championing it. We are smack dab in the middle of the largest mass extinction of species in 65 million years. But the US has been holding onto a deep secret that is key to solving this issue. It has to do with who is dictating the federal policies. Animal agriculture is the leading cause of deforestation, water consumption (55% of US use) and pollution, is responsible for more greenhouse gases than the transportation industry, and is a primary driver of rainforest destruction, species extinction, habitat loss, topsoil erosion, ocean “dead zones,” and virtually every other environmental ill. Yet it goes on, almost entirely unchallenged. Watch Cowspiracy to find out why many organizations are ignoring this. 

• Okja - “For 10 idyllic years, young Mija has been caretaker and constant companion to Okja - a massive animal and an even bigger friend - at her home in the mountains of South Korea. But that changes when family-owned, multinational conglomerate Mirando Corporation takes Okja for themselves and transports her to New York, where an image-obsessed and self-promoting CEO has big plans for Mija's dearest friend. With no particular plan but single-minded in intent, Mija sets out on a rescue mission.” (source: IMBD)