What are the best eco films of all time?

I really enjoy a great story and my ideal story is one that stimulates your thinking and ideas long after the final credits have rolled.

After recently watching Garbage Warrior I thought I would pick my top half dozen eco films that I have seen and share them with you. If you think I have missed something then please feel free to add your own.

1. Inconvenient Truth
No surprises here. I remember watching this film with my wife and coming out of the cinema thinking about the future and what we are doing to the planet. Love him or hate him you have to take your hat off to Al Gore for bringing such an important issue into the mainstream lives of the modern world.
4½ stars View Trailer




2. Shark Water
Being a keen diver I have had the pleasure of seeing these amazing creates in their own habitat gracefully cruising around the reef. Shark Water has some of the best underwater cinematography that I have ever seen and it is hard to believe that these creatures have survived for over 450 million years.

Sharkwater takes a look at the overfishing of sharks and how they are under threat because of the Asian delicacy of shark fin soup which is apparently quite tasteless anyway.
A truly wonderful movie 4 ½ stars View Trailer

3. Garbage Warrior
I really love this story as it has passion, determination and characterises for me the human drive to become truly sustainable. Garbage Warrior focuses on the life of an architect, Michael Reynolds who for 30 years has built homes from everyday rubbish that are totally off the grid.

In New Mexico he has developed a settlement that does not require any cooling or heating, he collects all the water needed to keep itself sufficient, grows food and manages all the waste.

Like many visionaries he has been the subject to many rules and regulations that almost saw his dream end. It was the Tsunami of 2004 where he went to India with a team of dedicated builders and showed the locals how to rebuild self sufficient houses where his true achievements could be made without the constraints of government regulations.
Truly great story and well worth watching.
I give it 4 stars View Trailer

4. The FutureMakers
I had the privilege of going to the launch of this documentary and meeting the directors of this inspiring documentary. The FutureMakers looks at the lives of dedicated scientist and engineers in their quest for sustainable renewable energy. After watching this documentary I have a renewed respect for those remarkable individuals who have dedicated their lives to this important cause.
http://www.thefuturemakers.com.au/
4 stars View Trailer

5. Who Killed the Electric Car
Probably one of those “Only in America” moments where you see a great product that was no doubt destroyed for political reasons. This movie deals with the history of the electric car from the development to commercialisation. Mainly focusing on the EV1 model shown here by General Motors, Who Killed the Electric Car is one of the most inspiring but also frustrating documentaries I have watched. I wonder what GM would look like now if it kept the EV1 program? Maybe they wouldn’t need billions of US Government money to stay afloat. There is also a good website on the topic.
3 ½ Stars View Trailer

6. A Crude Awakening
A documentary about the limited resources of oil and the possible impact of us running out of this resource. Watching this gives you a quick wakeup call and makes you question the powers of governments and OPEC. Are we going to see oil run out in our lifetime? What implications will that have?

I found it a bit heavy on the documentary side but was however entertained.
3 stars View Trailer