Celebrating Earth Day on the couch just got a little more legit, thanks to these six environmental documentaries. Helmed by award-winning directors, each film honors the movers and shakers鈥 that are fighting to change the fate of the planet. Their stories are dire, but wonderfully exhilarating on any sized screen.
"Racing Extinction"
James Bond was never this green. From famed photographer Louis Psihoyos鈥 director of The Cove鈥攃omes a behind-the-scenes film about the illegal wildlife trade. It follows OPS, a covert team on a guerrilla-style mission to expose the seedy side of global animal trafficking.
High-tech equipment in hand and getaway driver in tow, OPS builds a testimony of what鈥檚 happening to disappearing species, such as whale sharks and manta rays. explores the possibility of a sixth mass extinction on Earth鈥攐ne that could be prevented if we band together and beat out time.
Showing in ; wider release later this year.
"Revolution"
Rob Stewart鈥檚 documentary was supposed to be about saving sharks. But that changed when Stewart realized that threats to sharks are threats to all living things鈥攈umans included. So instead, he set out to make the case that conservation is really about the preservation of our own race. 鈥淲e have a decision to make, and we don鈥檛 have much time,鈥 he says in the film. 鈥淭his is no longer just about saving the oceans. It鈥檚 about saving ourselves.鈥
What Stewart鈥檚 trying to say is that everyone needs to pitch in, even if it means less dramatic, more delicate work, like advocacy and political campaigns. It鈥檚 not the typical environmental warrior鈥檚 tale, but that doesn鈥檛 make it any less important.
Showing in ; DVD out June 2nd; download on .
"Field Biologist"
Tyler Christensen didn鈥檛 need a diploma to validate his love for birds; despite not having a college degree, Christensen launched his own ornithological mission in Costa Rica. is the raw biography of this renegade scientist鈥攕een through director Jared Flesher鈥檚 lens鈥攚ho at 22 already has a glum view of the future. 鈥淚鈥檓 a pessimist,鈥 he says. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think humans are able to get their act together quickly enough to save most of the species in peril.鈥
But Christensen wants to be proven wrong. After all, the odds are in our favor: We are the first species to have the choice of preserving or destroying biodiversity. He leaves his home in New Jersey and settles into the Costa Rican jungle, where he studies migratory songbirds and aims to save the endangered Mangrove Hummingbird. Fighting for the earth requires no credentials鈥攋ust the ambition to solve a global crisis, one species at a time.
Download or buy the DVD .
"Emptying the Skies"
Time is running out for the migratory songbirds that fly through Southern Europe every spring, and right into the nets and glue traps of poachers. Jonathan Franzen has been the rallying voice against the deadly practice here in the States, ever since his expos茅 on bird poaching was published in the New Yorker in 2010. Now, , from directors Douglas Kass and Roger Kass, takes Franzen鈥檚 message and turns into a heart-wrenching, 78-minute investigation on the bird hunters of Mediterranean countries like Malta and Cyprus.
The documentary features a group of bird lovers, including Franzen, on a quest to end poaching. Their fight enters dangerous territory as they secretly free trapped birds to save them from the bleak fate of being sold and slaughtered on the black market. The documentary is a call to action, making it clear that it鈥檚 our responsibility to stop the devastation before it鈥檚 too late.
Download on .
"Rara Avis"
In 2010, John James 探花精选鈥檚 Birds of America was auctioned off at $11.5 million as the most expensive book in history. Director Al Reinett takes a look at what made this book so special in , a biographical documentary about 探花精选 himself. Featuring his best work and childhood drawings, this film is an intimate look at the Frenchman who made it his life鈥檚 work to catalogue the birds of North America.
探花精选鈥檚 diary comes to life in this movie, revealing the mind of a major conservationist. 鈥淚 felt a great desire to make choice of a style more particularly adapted to the imitation of feathers [and] to complete a collection not only valuable to the scientific class, but pleasing to every person,鈥 he wrote. Two hundred years later, 探花精选鈥檚 legacy still resounds loud and clear through bird lovers everywhere.
Showing in .
"The Messenger"
Listen carefully: Birds are telling us something about our future, but their message is fading away quickly. Su Rynard鈥檚 documentary unveils the complex effect of disappearing forests on migrating birds. While building windmills and skyscrapers has been great for life in the 21st century, we are inadvertently interfering with these birds鈥 ancient rite of passage. The changes in tree-lined landscapes are causing the decline of many songbird species鈥攅specially the Cerulean Warbler, Purple Martin, and Olive-Sided Flycatcher.
Rynard uses a unique combination of animation and breathtaking cinematography in her film to show that these birds鈥 journeys are not only beautiful, but also important to the ecosystems that humans inhabit. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 just take birds out of the picture and expect the rest of it to keep working,鈥 Rynard says in the movie. That鈥檚 something we can wholeheartedly agree on.
Set for release this spring.