Nature & Environment Documentaries

The balance between man and the environment
The relationship between man and the environment has been established since the beginning of time. Human beings live in nature and constantly interact with it. The air we breathe, the food we eat, the water we drink, and even the gold and oil that we mine are all drawn from the sources of nature in one way or another. Therefore, it is important that we acknowledge our effects on the environment. Over the last 100 years, our technological advances have far exceeded the forces of nature and created problems such as global warming, changes in sea-levels, environmental pollution, reduction in biodiversity, and ecological balance, which endanger human survival. On the other hand, the environment affects us with natural disasters such as flooding, rainstorms, earthquakes, volcanoes and more.

Whether one lives in the city or country, the impact of nature and our entire ecosystem affects each and every one of us.

Explore nature and our environment through the world of documentaries
Documentaries about nature and our environment cover a wide range of topics, ranging from the serious to the light-hearted. Some nature documentaries make us reflect on how we are affecting the environment and what others are doing or we can do to fight climate change, while some others offer peeks into the secret lives of animals.

For heavy-hitting documentaries, check out A Plastic Whale, Climate Challenge, or Deadliest Earthquakes: Christchurch. A Plastic Whale is a documentary about a whale, rarely seen in the North Atlantic, that died in a quiet cove. When scientists attempted to salvage its skeleton for the local museum, they discovered something shocking. The whale’s stomach was filled with 30 pieces of plastic, such as shopping bags, crisp packets, and ice cream wrappers. This documentary questions how the gentle giant could have swallowed so much plastic out at sea and a mile below the waves, wondering what lead it to confuse household rubbish for natural food, and what this says about the state of our oceans.

Climate Change is an environmental documentary series where Professor Siwan Davies, an expert in ancient climates, investigates how climate change is affecting lives and landscapes all over the world. Each episode juxtaposes two places against each other, set against the backdrop of a shared environmental issue, from causes and effects of rising sea levels in Greenland and the Maldives, to deforestation in Uganda and California, to working towards becoming world leaders in sustainability in Costa Rica and Norway.

On the other hand, there are more upbeat nature documentaries, such as Kalahari Meerkats and The Wonder of Marsupials. In Kalahari Meerkats, we follow the lives of a the Gosa gang of meerkats as they roam, squabble, forage for food, struggle to avoid predators, and battle it out with rival gangs in the Tsuwalu Game Reserve in the Kalahari desert. The Wonder of Marsupials transports us to stunning Australian landscapes, where we meet unique marsupials and observe how they came to be and how they adapt to life in Australia.

Start browsing the full collection of nature and environmental documentaries on iwonder today.