Storytelling is a highly effective way to explain complex problems like climate change to a wide audience. Films and movies help folks better understand the stakes involved in global warming and the actions we need to take to prevent a climate catastrophe. Cinematic, emotive movies can influence policymakers and lead to widespread social changes, too. The 1961 British neo-noir film Victim is famous for bringing an end to anti-homosexuality laws in the UK and Dr. Strangelove is credited for influencing the U.S. government’s nuclear policies and procedures. These same insights can be applied to films focusing on climate issues. Even films with a loose connection to climate change, like Don’t Look Up, help folks understand the type of challenges we face and give everyday people a reference point when talking about climate change denial.
An Inconvenient Truth
Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth (AIT) has become ubiquitous in climate cinema. It’s been viewed millions of times in public cinemas, schools, and climate conferences around the world. It also earned $49.8 million at the box office, thus spurring a series of climate documentaries in the years since its release in 2006. Gore’s film has played an influential role in changing environmental policy, too. Before the film, politicians seemingly did their best to ignore the huge challenges that climate change presents. Measuring the influence of AIT is tricky at best, but research collated by The Conversation suggests:
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Areas that screened AIT have a 50% increase in carbon credit purchases;
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AIT reduced the polarizing effect of conversations around climate change;
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In the UK, students who viewed AIT were more likely to make sustainable lifestyle changes.
While these changes do not represent direct policy changes, they do highlight the influential impact that AIT had on society. As such, today’s policymakers must account for the voting power of more climate-conscious citizens. This, it could be argued, has led to the formation of national and international policies like the White House’s Climate Agenda and the legally binding Paris Agreement.
Deepwater Horizon
The world has been rocked by environmental scandals in recent years. However, few man-made disasters can compare to the scale and devastation of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010. The spill resulted in 57,500 square miles of a slick extending around the Gulf of Mexico. The National Ocean Service (NOS) estimates that the spill killed thousands of marine animals and caused a significant decline in the population of mammals like bottlenose dolphins.
The follow-up film Deepwater Horizon helped the public understand an issue that largely affected marine and coastal ecosystems by simplifying the causation and impact of the spill. It also gave the general public a better understanding of how our energy supplies are captured and the stakes at risk. This has led to regulatory reforms designed to minimize the risk of another catastrophic spill ever occurring.
Power Trip Link
Jonothan Scott’s 2020 documentary Jonathan Scott’s Power Trip helps the average person understand the way that modern energy systems work and exposes the challenges that solar power faces today, including:
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Storage issues;
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Reliability struggles;
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Geographical variations in sunlight;
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Poor cost-competitiveness compared to non-renewables;
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Land use requirements.
Scott’s documentary covers these issues and highlights the reality that many of these seemingly impossible hurdles can be overcome with the right approach. However, Jonathan Scott’s Power Trip also exposes the fact that many big power companies do not want folks to install their own solar panels and reclaim the means of energy production. The film has intensified calls for greater solar power sovereignty and is part of the reason why The U.S. Department of Energy continues to fund solar panel installation.
Food, Inc
The food industry produces around 30% — or 15.8 GtCO2e — of the world’s total emissions. However, until recent years, the impact of the food industry has flown under the radar when compared to high-profile emitters like cars, planes, and heating/electricity.
The 2008 film, Food, Inc., raised public awareness of the issues surrounding globalized food supply chains and has helped folks understand key issues like:
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Inequality in food systems;
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Expanding food deserts and their impact on public health;
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The impact of intensive farming on local ecology;
Films like Food, Inc. exposed the underhand, sometimes dangerous tactics that food companies take to produce the volume of food that America has come to expect, from chemically enhanced tomatoes to chickens that cannot walk more than a few steps due to their unnaturally fast growth.
It’s impossible to say whether documentaries had a direct impact on policy changes, but the 2011 Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) certainly seems to respond to the critiques raised in Food, Inc. The FSMA improves traceability, reduces waste, and protects the environment from intensive farming. It also ensures that preventive measures are in place to protect the people and livestock involved in feeding the nation.
Conclusion
Cinema has the potential to educate and entertain the population at the same time. Even dramatized versions of climate change, like 2012 and Scorched Earth, can leave a lasting impression on moviegoers and policymakers alike. This has resulted in meaningful changes and may be seen as a catalyst for acts like the regulatory reforms for offshore drilling.