Climate is a common inspiration for film in the past and present. Numerous examples of such media pieces and their connections to climate are explored are highlighted in this learning resource.
The drop-down menus below contain links to in-site webpages developed by the Smith College Climate in Arts and History team. The display above features selected images from these pages. The Exploration (In Progress) menu lists additional topics that are in development to become full-length entries.
- Eco-anxiety
- “Solastalgia”
- Eco-terrorism
Climate-Inspired Film
- Soylent Green (1973)
- Waterworld (1995)
- Princess Mononoke (1997)
- 10.5 (2004)
- The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
- The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)
- Avatar (2009)
- The Age of Stupid (2009)
- Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)
- Interstellar (2014)
- Snowpiercer (2014)
- Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
- Mother! (2017)
- Annihilation (2018)
- How to Blow Up A Pipeline (2022)
Climate Documentaries
- An Inconvenient Truth (2006)
- Chasing Coral (2017)
- 2040 (2019)
- David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet (2020)
Climate-Inspired Television
- The Last of Us (2023)
- Directors
- Adam McKay
- Al Gore
- David Attenborough
- James Cameron
- Articles
- 68 Climate Leaders Changing the Film and TV Industry
- Action! How movies are helping young people fight climate change and other global challenges
- Ten years on: how Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth made its mark
- Good Energy Releases “Playbook” For Incorporating Climate Change Storylines Into TV and Movies