This article is part of a series of sustainability-themed articles we're running to observe Earth Day 2025 and promote more sustainable practices. Check out all of our Sustainability Week 2025 content.
This week marks the 10th anniversary of Sustainability Week, which promotes sustainability across the globe. Since it first started, it’s fair to say that the need to protect our planet has become even more urgent.
There’s no hiding from the damage we are doing, from deforestation to our treatment of wildlife and the plastic filling our oceans, and over the years there have been numerous award-winning documentaries that lay bare the impact we are having on the environment.
Here, I’ve picked out the best of the bunch for anyone with a social conscience and a subscription to one of the best streaming services.
David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet (2020)
RT score: 96%
Age rating: PG
Length: 1h 23m
Director: Alastair Fothergill and Keith Scholey
Where to watch: Netflix (US, UK, AU)
In his 98 years on the planet, naturalist and filmmaker Sir David Attenborough has witnessed first-hand humanity’s colossal impact on the natural world. His award-winning documentary acts as a witness statement to this and shows how wildlife populations have dwindled over the course of his illustrious career.
David also digs into issues such as biodiversity loss, climate change and the use of fossil fuels and shows how we are hurtling towards a terrifying mass extinction event. However, David does offer some hope, suggesting preventative actions that could help reverse the tide.
Burning (2021)
RT score: 94%
Age rating: 15
Length: 1h 26m
Director: Eva Orner
Where to Watch: Prime Video (US, UK, AU)
Between 2019 and 2020, catastrophic Australian bushfires burned over 59 million acres of land, killing approximately three billion animals and affecting millions of Australians. In Burning, filmmaker Eva Orner looks at this unprecedented period of time known as ‘Black Summer’ and explains how these fires were fuelled by climate change.
Told from the perspective of the victims, activists, scientists and fire-fighters, Orner shows how, thanks to global warming, the frequency and severity of these fires have increased over the years plus she calls out certain elements of the media for spreading climate misinformation and enabling denialism.
Chasing Coral (2017)
![Chasing Coral | Official Trailer [HD] | Netflix - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/b6fHA9R2cKI/maxresdefault.jpg)
RT score: 100%
Age rating: PG
Length: 1hr 33m
Director: Jeff Orlowski
Where to Watch: Netflix (US, UK, AU)
With an impressive 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating, Emmy award-winning documentary Chasing Coral is a must-see for anyone concerned about our oceans. It follows a team of divers, photographers and scientists who between 2014 and 2017 documented the most severe bleaching event of coral reefs in recorded history.
This is where coral stressed by temperature changes expel the algae living within them, causing them to turn white. The film shows how during that three year-period 75 per cent of corals suffered or died from heat stress brought on by climate change and predicts that if nothing is done about it, by the end of the century every reef in the world will bleach.
An Inconvenient Truth (2006)
RT score: 93%
Age rating: PG
Length: 1hr 58m
Director: Davis Guggenheim
Where to Watch: Pluto TV (US)
There’s no doubt that global warming is an inconvenient truth and this Oscar-winning documentary shows how politicians and governments are hesitant to address it because it means they will have to make unpopular decisions to tackle the issue.
The 2006 film follows former US vice president Al Gore as he gives lectures at schools and universities across the globe, warning of the effects of global warning. It illustrates how melting ice caps affect salt levels in the sea, raising water temperatures and affecting millions of lives through drought, hurricanes, typhoons and mudslides.
Food, inc. (2008)
RT score: 95%
Age rating: PG
Length: 1hr 34m
Director: Robrt Kenner
Where to Watch: Prime Video (US, UK), Foxtel (AU)
Award-winning film Food, inc. is not one for the faint-hearted but it does make you think twice about what you eat. The documentary delves into the impact corporate farming in America has on the environment, warning about both the industrial production of meat products and the modern methods used to grow grains and vegetable.
It’s also an exploration into the abuse of animals and exposes the corporations fighting to keep consumers ignorant about how their food is produced and avoid more robust food safety laws.
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