
References to climate change in popular culture have existed since the late 20th century and increased in the 21st century.
Climate change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...
, its
impacts, and related
human-environment interactions have been featured in
nonfiction books and
documentaries
A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in ter ...
, but also
literature
Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to inclu ...
,
film,
music
Music is generally defined as the The arts, art of arranging sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Exact definition of music, definitions of mu ...
,
television show
A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed b ...
s and
video games
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedb ...
.
Science historian
Naomi Oreskes
Naomi Oreskes (; born November 25, 1958) is an American historian of science. She became Professor of the History of Science and Affiliated Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University in 2013, after 15 years as Professor of ...
noted in 2005 "a huge disconnect between what professional scientists have studied and learned in the last 30 years, and what is out there in the popular culture." An academic study in 2000 contrasted the relatively rapid acceptance of
ozone depletion as reflected in popular culture with the much slower acceptance of the
scientific consensus on climate change
There is a strong scientific consensus that the Earth is warming and that this warming is mainly caused by human activities. This consensus is supported by various studies of scientists' opinions and by position statements of scientific org ...
. Cultural responses have been posited as an important part of
communicating climate change, but commentators have noted covering the topic has posed challenges due to its abstract nature.
The prominence of climate change in popular culture increased during the 2010s, influenced by the
climate movement
The climate movement is a global social movement focused on pressuring governments and industry to take action (also called "climate action") addressing the causes and Effects of climate change, impacts of climate change. environmental movement, ...
, shifts in
public opinion
Public opinion is the collective opinion on a specific topic or voting intention relevant to a society. It is the people's views on matters affecting them.
Etymology
The term "public opinion" was derived from the French ', which was first use ...
and changes in
media coverage
Media may refer to:
Communication
* Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data
** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising
** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass e ...
.
Art
Film
Fictional films
Climate change has been an occasional topic in fictional cinema.
Nicholas Barber opined in
BBC Culture
BBC Online, formerly known as BBCi, is the BBC's online service. It is a large network of websites including such high-profile sites as BBC News and Sport, the on-demand video and radio services branded BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds, the childre ...
that
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywoo ...
films seldom feature
climate change mechanisms due to the difficulty of tying the topic to individual characters, and due to fears of alienating audiences; instead,
impacts of climate change
The effects of climate change impact the physical environment, ecosystems and human societies. The environmental effects of climate change are broad and far-reaching. They affect the water cycle, oceans, sea and land ice (glaciers), sea leve ...
have been more frequently depicted as a consequence of nuclear or geoengineering accidents.
* ''
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
''Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea'' is a 1961 American science fiction disaster film, produced and directed by Irwin Allen, and starring Walter Pidgeon and Robert Sterling. The supporting cast includes Peter Lorre, Joan Fontaine, Barbara E ...
'' (1961) - A
meteor shower
A meteor shower is a celestial event in which a number of meteors are observed to radiate, or originate, from one point in the night sky. These meteors are caused by streams of cosmic debris called meteoroids entering Earth's atmosphere at extr ...
ignites the
Van Allen radiation belt and causes
abrupt global warming that will render Earth uninhabitable within three weeks, which the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...
attempts to solve by sending the submarine
USOS ''Seaview'' into the
Mariana Trench
The Mariana Trench is an oceanic trench located in the western Pacific Ocean, about east of the Mariana Islands; it is the deepest oceanic trench on Earth. It is crescent-shaped and measures about in length and in width. The maximum know ...
to fire a
nuclear missile
Nuclear weapons delivery is the technology and systems used to place a nuclear weapon at the position of detonation, on or near its target. Several methods have been developed to carry out this task.
''Strategic'' nuclear weapons are used primari ...
at the flaming belt.
*''
The Day the Earth Caught Fire
''The Day the Earth Caught Fire'' is a British science fiction disaster film starring Edward Judd, Leo McKern and Janet Munro. It was directed by Val Guest and released in 1961, and is one of the classic apocalyptic films of its era. The film ...
'' (1961) -
Nuclear weapons testing
Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine nuclear weapons' effectiveness, yield, and explosive capability. Testing nuclear weapons offers practical information about how the weapons function, how detonations are affected b ...
by the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...
and the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
tilt the Earth's
nutation
Nutation () is a rocking, swaying, or nodding motion in the axis of rotation of a largely axially symmetric object, such as a gyroscope, planet, or bullet in flight, or as an intended behaviour of a mechanism. In an appropriate reference fra ...
by 11 degrees, causing Earth to begin spiraling towards the Sun and global temperatures to rise. The world's governments attempt to solve the problem by detonating nuclear bombs in
Siberia
Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part o ...
to correct the tilt.
*''
Soylent Green
''Soylent Green'' is a 1973 American ecological dystopian thriller film directed by Richard Fleischer, and starring Charlton Heston, Leigh Taylor-Young, and Edward G. Robinson in his final film role. It is loosely based on the 1966 scienc ...
'' (1973), film directed by
Richard Fleischer
Richard O. Fleischer (; December 8, 1916 – March 25, 2006) was an American film director whose career spanned more than four decades, beginning at the height of the Golden Age of Hollywood and lasting through the American New Wave.
Though h ...
and starring
Charlton Heston
Charlton Heston (born John Charles Carter; October 4, 1923April 5, 2008) was an American actor and political activist.
As a Hollywood star, he appeared in almost 100 films over the course of 60 years. He played Moses in the epic film '' The Ten ...
. Set in a
dystopia
A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ- "bad, hard" and τόπος "place"; alternatively cacotopiaCacotopia (from κακός ''kakos'' "bad") was the term used by Jeremy Bentham in his 1818 Plan of Parliamentary Reform (Works, vol. 3, p. 493). ...
n future of dying oceans and year-round
humidity
Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation, dew, or fog to be present.
Humidity dep ...
due to the
greenhouse effect
The greenhouse effect is a process that occurs when energy from a planet's host star goes through the planet's atmosphere and heats the planet's surface, but greenhouse gases in the atmosphere prevent some of the heat from returning directly ...
, resulting in suffering from pollution, poverty,
overpopulation
Overpopulation or overabundance is a phenomenon in which a species' population becomes larger than the carrying capacity of its environment. This may be caused by increased birth rates, lowered mortality rates, reduced predation or large scale m ...
and
depleted resources.
* ''
Blade Runner
''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, and written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick ...
'' (1982), a film directed by
Ridley Scott
Sir Ridley Scott (born 30 November 1937) is a British film director and producer. Directing, among others, science fiction films, his work is known for its atmospheric and highly concentrated visual style. Scott has received many accolades th ...
and starring
Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford (born July 13, 1942) is an American actor. His films have grossed more than $5.4billion in North America and more than $9.3billion worldwide, making him the seventh-highest-grossing actor in North America. He is the recipient o ...
and
Rutger Hauer
Rutger Oelsen Hauer (; 23 January 1944 – 19 July 2019) was a Dutch actor. In 1999, he was named by the Dutch public as the Best Dutch Actor of the Century.
Hauer's career began in 1969 with the title role in the Dutch television series ' ...
, is set in a humid rainy climate changed
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...
in an alternate 2015, based loosely on the novel ''
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
''Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'' (retroactively retitled ''Blade Runner: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'' in some later printings) is a dystopian science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick, first published in 1968. The ...
''. Its 2017 sequel ''
Blade Runner 2049
''Blade Runner 2049'' is a 2017 American neo-noir science fiction film directed by Denis Villeneuve and written by Hampton Fancher and Michael Green. A sequel to the 1982 film ''Blade Runner'', the film stars Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford, wi ...
'' is also noted for its depiction of a warmer climate.
* ''
Split Second
Split Second may refer to:
Film and television
* Split Second (1953 film), ''Split Second'' (1953 film), an American film noir
* Split Second (1992 film), ''Split Second'' (1992 film), a British science fiction film
* Split Second (game show), ''S ...
'', 1992 film starring
Rutger Hauer
Rutger Oelsen Hauer (; 23 January 1944 – 19 July 2019) was a Dutch actor. In 1999, he was named by the Dutch public as the Best Dutch Actor of the Century.
Hauer's career began in 1969 with the title role in the Dutch television series ' ...
and
Kim Cattrall
Kim Victoria Cattrall (; born 21 August 1956) is a British-Canadian actress. She is known for her role as Samantha Jones on HBO's ''Sex and the City'' (1998–2004), for which she received five Emmy Award nominations and four Golden Globe Awa ...
is set in 2008, in a
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
that is flooded as a result of global warming.
* ''
Waterworld
''Waterworld'' is a 1995 American post-apocalyptic action film directed by Kevin Reynolds and co-written by Peter Rader and David Twohy. It was based on Rader's original 1986 screenplay and stars Kevin Costner, who also produced it with Ch ...
'' (1995) starring
Kevin Costner
Kevin Michael Costner (born January 18, 1955) is an American actor, producer, film director and musician. He has received various accolades, including two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Screen Actors ...
. Set in 2500, where the
polar ice cap
A polar ice cap or polar cap is a high-latitude region of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite that is covered in ice.
There are no requirements with respect to size or composition for a body of ice to be termed a polar ice cap, nor ...
s have melted due to global warming and the
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surf ...
is almost entirely covered with water.
* ''
The Arrival'' (1996), starring
Charlie Sheen
Carlos Irwin Estévez (born September 3, 1965), known professionally as Charlie Sheen, is an American actor. He has appeared in films such as ''Platoon'' (1986), ''Wall Street'' (1987), '' Young Guns'' (1988), '' The Rookie'' (1990), '' The Th ...
. Extraterrestrial aliens attempt to secretly cause global warming and thereby
terraform Earth into an environment more suited to their needs.
* ''
A.I. Artificial Intelligence
''A.I. Artificial Intelligence'' (also known as ''A.I.'') is a 2001 American science fiction film directed by Steven Spielberg. The screenplay by Spielberg and screen story by Ian Watson were based on the 1969 short story " Supertoys Last Al ...
'' (2001), set in climate changed world near flooded ruins of
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
, where
global warming
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in a broader sense also includes ...
has led to
ecological disaster
An environmental disaster or ecological disaster is defined as a catastrophic event regarding the natural environment that is due to human activity.Jared M. Diamond, '' Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed'', 2005 This point disti ...
s all over the world in the mid-22nd century. 2,000 years later, the world has entered a new ice age and is populated by advanced robots known as Specialists.
*''
The Day After Tomorrow
''The Day After Tomorrow'' is a 2004 American science fiction disaster film directed, co-produced, and co-written by Roland Emmerich. Based on the 1999 book '' The Coming Global Superstorm'' by Art Bell and Whitley Strieber, the film stars ...
'' (2004) directed by
Roland Emmerich
Roland Emmerich (; born 10 November 1955) is a German film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is widely known for his science fiction and disaster films and has been called a "master of disaster" within the industry. His films, most of wh ...
and starring
Dennis Quaid
Dennis William Quaid (born April 9, 1954) is an American actor known for a wide variety of dramatic and comedic roles. First gaining widespread attention in the late 1970s, some of his notable credits include '' Breaking Away'' (1979), '' The ...
.
An abrupt
shutdown of thermohaline circulation
The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) is part of a global thermohaline circulation in the oceans and is the zonally integrated component of surface and deep currents in the Atlantic Ocean. It is characterized by a northward fl ...
causes catastrophic
abrupt climate change
An abrupt climate change occurs when the climate system is forced to transition at a rate that is determined by the climate system energy-balance, and which is more rapid than the rate of change of the external forcing, though it may include su ...
, plunging the
Northern Hemisphere into a new
ice age
An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gre ...
. As a result, the
Northern United States
The Northern United States, commonly referred to as the American North, the Northern States, or simply the North, is a geographical or historical region of the United States.
History Early history
Before the 19th century westward expansion, the " ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...
,
Japan, and
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...
are devastated by massive
winter storm
A winter storm is an event in which wind coincides with varieties of precipitation that only occur at freezing temperatures, such as snow, mixed snow and rain, or freezing rain. In temperate continental climates, these storms are not necess ...
s, and the surviving population of the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...
is evacuated to
Mexico
Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...
. The film has been cited as one of the few blockbuster films to discuss climate change.
*''
The Day the Earth Stood Still
''The Day the Earth Stood Still'' (a.k.a. ''Farewell to the Master'' and ''Journey to the World'') is a 1951 American science fiction film from 20th Century Fox, produced by Julian Blaustein and directed by Robert Wise. It stars Michael Renn ...
'' (2008) - Klaatu lands on Earth as an alien delegation to either convince humanity to halt its destructive behavior or destroy it. The film notably updates the
original film
Original Film is an American film and television production company founded by Neal H. Moritz. Notable films the company has produced include the '' Fast & Furious'' franchise.
History
Original Film was started out in the early 1990s by Nea ...
's
Cold War-era concern with
nuclear warfare
Nuclear warfare, also known as atomic warfare, is a theoretical military conflict or prepared political strategy that deploys nuclear weaponry. Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction; in contrast to conventional warfare, nucle ...
and
mutually assured destruction
Mutual assured destruction (MAD) is a doctrine of military strategy and national security policy which posits that a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by an attacker on a nuclear-armed defender with second-strike capabilities would cause the ...
into the contemporary issue of climate change.
*''
The Thaw'' (2009) - Melting ice caps defrost the remains of a
woolly mammoth
The woolly mammoth (''Mammuthus primigenius'') is an extinct species of mammoth that lived during the Pleistocene until its extinction in the Holocene epoch. It was one of the last in a line of mammoth species, beginning with '' Mammuthus sub ...
infected with deadly parasites, which spread to a research crew sent to
Banks Island
Banks Island is one of the larger members of the Arctic Archipelago. Situated in the Inuvik Region, and part of the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, of the Northwest Territories, it is separated from Victoria Island to its east by the Prince of ...
.
* ''
The Age of Stupid
''The Age of Stupid'' is a 2009 British documentary film directed by Franny Armstrong, with first-time producer Lizzie Gillett. The executive producer is John Battsek. The film is a drama- documentary-animation hybrid, which stars Pete Post ...
'' (2009), drama-documentary-animation hybrid directed by
Franny Armstrong
Franny Armstrong (born 3 February 1972) is a British documentary film director working for her own company, Spanner Films, and a former drummer with indie pop group The Band of Holy Joy. She is best known for three films: ''The Age of Stupid' ...
and starring
Pete Postlethwaite
Peter William Postlethwaite, (7 February 1946 – 2 January 2011) was an English character actor.
After minor television appearances, including in '' The Professionals'', his first major success arose through the British autobiographical fi ...
as a man living alone in the devastated world of 2055, watching archive footage from 2008 and asking "Why didn't we stop climate change when we had the chance?"
* ''
Earth 2100
''Earth 2100'' is a television program that was presented by the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) network on June 2, 2009, and was aired on the History Channel in January 2010 and was shown through the year. Hosted by ABC journalist Bob ...
'' (2009), predictions of possible attempts at
adaptation to and
mitigation of the
effects of continuing global warming.
*''
Birdemic: Shock and Terror'' (2010) and ''
Birdemic 2: The Resurrection'' (2013), where global warming mutates birds to begin attacking humanity.
* ''The Expedition to the End of the World'' (2013), director:
Daniel Dencik
Daniel Dencik (born 1972) is a Danish writer and film director currently residing in Samoa. He has published ten books, ranging from poetry to short stories and essays as well as four novels.
He has studied Philosophy at Stockholm University, wh ...
, relating to the
Greenland ice sheet
The Greenland ice sheet ( da, Grønlands indlandsis, kl, Sermersuaq) is a vast body of ice covering , roughly near 80% of the surface of Greenland. It is sometimes referred to as an ice cap, or under the term ''inland ice'', or its Danish equ ...
and the
retreat of glaciers since 1850
The retreat of glaciers since 1850 affects the availability of fresh water for irrigation and domestic use, mountain recreation, animals and plants that depend on glacier-melt, and, in the longer term, the level of the oceans. Deglaciation occur ...
.
* ''
The Colony'' (2013), climate modification towers are built to cool the planet, but cause a Ice Age, forcing humans to live underground.
* ''
Snowpiercer
''Snowpiercer'' () is a 2013 post-apocalyptic science fiction action film based on the French climate fiction graphic novel ''Le Transperceneige'' by Jacques Lob, Benjamin Legrand and Jean-Marc Rochette. The film was directed by Bong Joon-ho an ...
'' is a 2014 fictional film regarding a problematic
solar geoengineering
Solar geoengineering, or solar radiation modification (SRM), is a type of climate engineering in which sunlight (solar radiation) would be reflected back to outer space to limit or reverse human-caused climate change. It is not a substitute fo ...
attempt that inadvertently freezes the earth.
* ''
First Reformed
''First Reformed'' is a 2017 American drama film written and directed by Paul Schrader. It stars Ethan Hawke, Amanda Seyfried, and Cedric Kyles, and follows a Protestant minister (Hawke) struggling with his faith while serving as pastor of a ...
'' is a 2017 film in which an
Reformed Church in America
The Reformed Church in America (RCA) is a mainline Reformed Protestant denomination in Canada and the United States. It has about 152,317 members. From its beginning in 1628 until 1819, it was the North American branch of the Dutch Reforme ...
pastor discovers the causes and effects of
climate change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...
and attempts to take violent action against those he considers responsible.
*''
Climate Change Denial Disorder
''Climate Change Denial Disorder'' (CCDD) is a satirical short film which parodies climate change denial and perspectives on climate change through discussion of a fictional disease. The film stars actors Ed Begley Jr., Timothy Brennan, and Su ...
'' is a
satirical
Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming o ...
short film
A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...
which
parodies
A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its su ...
climate change denial
Climate change denial, or global warming denial, is Denial (Freud), denial, dismissal, or doubt that contradicts the scientific consensus on climate change, including the extent to which it is Attribution of recent climate change, caused by hum ...
and perspectives on
climate change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...
through discussion of a
fictional disease
Diseases, disorders, infections, and pathogens have appeared in fiction as part of a major plot or thematic importance. They may be fictional psychological disorders, magical, from mythological or fantasy settings, have evolved naturally, ...
.
*''
Downsizing'' (2017) - In the future scientists discover a method to shrink humans to size of five inches to solve climate change and overpopulation. The technique fails when only three percent of the population choose to undergo it, with its inventor discovering that humanity will go extinct from
positive feedback
Positive feedback (exacerbating feedback, self-reinforcing feedback) is a process that occurs in a feedback loop which exacerbates the effects of a small disturbance. That is, the effects of a perturbation on a system include an increase in th ...
of
Arctic methane emissions
Arctic methane release is the release of methane from seas and soils in permafrost regions of the Arctic. While it is a long-term natural process, methane release is exacerbated by global warming. This results in a positive feedback cycle, as m ...
within 100 years.
*''
Geostorm
''Geostorm'' is a 2017 American science fiction disaster film directed, co-written, and co-produced by Dean Devlin (in his feature directorial debut). The film stars Gerard Butler, Jim Sturgess, Abbie Cornish, Ed Harris, and Andy García. It fol ...
'' (2017) - Natural disasters caused by climate change lead humanity to construct a network of
weather modification
Weather modification is the act of intentionally manipulating or altering the weather. The most common form of weather modification is cloud seeding, which increases rain or snow, usually for the purpose of increasing the local water supply. We ...
satellites in 2019, which malfunction and cause severe weather across the world in 2022.
*''
Fast Color
''Fast Color'' is a 2018 American superhero drama film directed by Julia Hart from a screenplay by Hart and Jordan Horowitz. Horowitz produced the film along with Mickey Lidell and Pete Shilaimon. It stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Lorraine Toussaint, S ...
'' (2018), is set in a future
American Midwest
The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...
suffering from an eight-year
drought
A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...
.
*''
Bo Burnham: Inside'' (2021), the special includes several references to climate change and the danger of a
climate apocalypse
A climate apocalypse (also called a climate dystopia and a climate-induced collapse, among other names) generally denotes a predicted scenario involving the global collapse of human civilization and potential human extinction as either a d ...
. For instance, the lyric "20,000 years of this, seven more to go," in the song "That Funny Feeling" is believed to be a reference to the
Climate Clock
The Climate Clock is a graphic to demonstrate how quickly the planet is approaching 1.5 °C of global warming, given current emissions trends. It also shows the amount of CO2 already emitted, and the global warming to date.
The Climate Clock ...
showing the time left to reduce greenhouse gas emissions before
1.5 C global warming becomes inevitable.
*''
The Tomorrow War
''The Tomorrow War'' is a 2021 American military science fiction action film directed by Chris McKay, written by Zach Dean, and starring Chris Pratt. It was produced by David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, Don Granger, David S. Goyer, Jules Daly, and ...
'' (2021), melting ice sheets from global warming thaw a frozen spaceship under the
Academy of Sciences Glacier
The Academy of Sciences Glacier (russian: ледник Академии наук; ''Lednik Akademii Nauk''), is a large ice cap on Komsomolets Island, Severnaya Zemlya, Russian Federation.
It is the largest in Severnaya Zemlya and is also the la ...
from the 10th century AD filled with weaponized bio-engineered aliens known as "Whitespikes" in November 2048, which completely overrun Earth and almost completely annihilate humanity by 2051.
*''
Reminiscence
Reminiscence is the act of recollecting past experiences or events. An example of the typical use of reminiscence is when people share their personal stories with others or allows other people to live vicariously through stories of family, frien ...
'' (2021), a film set in a post-apocalyptic future where
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at th ...
has been flooded by the ocean due to climate change.
*''
Don't Look Up
''Don't Look Up'' is a 2021 American apocalyptic political satire black comedy film written, co-produced, and directed by Adam McKay from a story he co-wrote with David Sirota. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Rob Morgan, Jo ...
'' (2021). An apocalyptic black comedy film, in which two astronomers from
Michigan State University
Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...
unsuccessfully attempt to warn the world of a
comet
A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or Coma (cometary), coma, and sometimes also a Comet ta ...
coming to
impact Earth and destroy humanity within six months. The film is intended to
satirize
Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or ...
public
denial
Denial, in ordinary English usage, has at least three meanings: asserting that any particular statement or allegation is not true (which might be accurate or inaccurate); the refusal of a request; and asserting that a true statement is not true. ...
and apathy towards climate change from governments, the media, and corporations.
Documentary films
*''
An Inconvenient Truth
''An Inconvenient Truth'' is a 2006 American documentary film directed by Davis Guggenheim about former Vice President of the United States, United States Vice President Al Gore's campaign to educate people about global warming. The film featur ...
'' (2006) is an American documentary film made in 2006 directed by
Davis Guggenheim
Philip Davis Guggenheim (born November 3, 1963) is an American writer, director and producer. His credits include '' NYPD Blue'', '' ER'', '' 24'', '' Alias'', '' The Shield'', ''Deadwood'', and the documentaries ''An Inconvenient Truth'', '' ...
which covers former
United States Vice President
The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks first in the presidential line of succession. The vice p ...
Al Gore's campaign related to raising awareness about
global warming
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in a broader sense also includes ...
. ''
An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power'' is a follow-up film released in 2017.
* ''
The 11th Hour'' (2007), created, produced and narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio.
*''Signos: Banta ng Pagbabagong Klima'', a 2008 Philippine
television documentary
Television documentaries are televised media productions that screen documentaries.
Television documentaries exist either as a television documentary series or as a television documentary film.
*Television documentary series, sometimes called ...
presented and narrated by actor
Richard Gutierrez
Richard Kristian Gutierrez (born January 21, 1984), known professionally as Richard Gutierrez, is a Filipino actor, environmentalist and model. He is one of the sons of actor Eddie Gutierrez.
Early life
Richard Gutierrez was born on January ...
and aired on
GMA Network
GMA Network (Global Media Arts or simply GMA) is a Philippine free-to-air television and radio network. It is the flagship property of publicly traded GMA Network, Inc. Its first broadcast on television was on October 29, 1961. GMA Network ( ...
.
*''
The Great Global Warming Swindle
''The Great Global Warming Swindle'' is a 2007 British polemical documentary film directed by Martin Durkin. The film denies the scientific consensus about the reality and causes of climate change, justifying this by suggesting that climat ...
'', a 2009 polemical film that
denies the existence of climate change.
* ''
Carbon Nation
''Carbon Nation'' is a 2010 documentary film by Peter Byck about technological- and community-based energy solutions to the growing worldwide carbon footprint. The film is narrated by Bill Kurtis. ASIN: B0055T46LA (Rental) and B0055T46G0 (Purcha ...
'', a 2010 documentary film.
* ''
Chasing Ice
''Chasing Ice'' is a 2012 documentary film about the efforts of nature photographer James Balog and his Extreme Ice Survey (EIS) to publicize the effects of climate change. The film was directed by Jeff Orlowski. It was released in the United St ...
'', a 2012
documentary film
A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...
.
*
''White Knight'', a 2012 documentary film
* ''
Thin Ice'', a 2013 documentary film.
*
''Merchants of Doubt'', a 2014 documentary based on the
2010 book of the same name
*
''Before the Flood'', a 2016 documentary
*''
Chasing Coral
''Chasing Coral'' is a 2017 American documentary film about a team of divers, scientists and photographers around the world who document the disappearance of coral reefs. ''Chasing Coral'' was produced by Exposure Labs and directed by Jeff Orlow ...
'', a 2017 documentary
*
''2040'', a 2019 documentary by
Damon Gameau
Damon Gameau is an Australian actor, director, and producer, known for his documentaries '' That Sugar Film'' and ''2040''. Gameau has also appeared in a number of award-winning TV shows and films, such as ''Love My Way'', '' The Tracker'' and ...
*''
Climate Change – The Facts
''Climate Change – The Facts'' is a 2019 British documentary presented by David Attenborough
Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and author. He is best known for ...
'', a 2019 BBC documentary presented by
David Attenborough
Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and author. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, the nine natural histor ...
*''
Planet of the Humans
''Planet of the Humans'' is a 2019 American environmental documentary film written, directed, and produced by Jeff Gibbs. The film was executively produced by Michael Moore. Moore released it on YouTube for free viewing on April 21, 2020, the e ...
'', a 2019 documentary directed by
Michael Moore
Michael Francis Moore (born April 23, 1954) is an American filmmaker, author and left-wing activist. His works frequently address the topics of globalization and capitalism.
Moore won the 2002 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for ...
*''
I Am Greta
''I Am Greta'' is a 2020 internationally co-produced documentary film directed by Nathan Grossman, following climate change activist Greta Thunberg. The film had its world premiere at the 77th Venice International Film Festival on 3 September 2 ...
'', a documentary following teenaged climate activist
Greta Thunberg
Greta Tintin Eleonora Ernman Thunberg (; born 3 January 2003) is a Swedish environmental activist who is known for challenging world leaders to take immediate action for climate change mitigation.
Thunberg's activism began when she persuaded ...
Literature
Non-fiction

This refers to the classification non-fiction, without regard to whether the books are accurate or intended to be accurate.
*''The End of Nature'' 1989 book by Bill McKibben, which has been cited as the first book on climate change written for a general audience.
*''Our Angry Earth, Our Angry Earth: A Ticking Ecological Bomb'' (1991) by Isaac Asimov and Frederik Pohl
*''Earth in the Balance'' (1992) by
Al Gore, recommending a "Global Marshall Plan" to resolve ecological crises such as climate change
*''The Carbon War, The Carbon War: Global Warming and the End of the Oil Era'' 1999 book by former oil geologist Jeremy Leggett
*''The Coming Global Superstorm'' (1999) by Whitley Strieber, Whitley Streiber and Art Bell, predicting the possibility of abrupt climate change from a
shutdown of thermohaline circulation
The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) is part of a global thermohaline circulation in the oceans and is the zonally integrated component of surface and deep currents in the Atlantic Ocean. It is characterized by a northward fl ...
*''The Discovery of Global Warming'' 2003 Spencer R. Weart book describing the history of climate change science
*''The Weather Makers'' (2005) by Tim Flannery, a series of essays describing the effects of climate change
*''Field Notes from a Catastrophe, Field notes from a catastrophe: man, nature, and climate change'' (2006) by Elizabeth Kolbert describing effects from climate change already occurring in the natural world, as well as opposition to climate change mitigation from corporations and the Presidency of George W. Bush, Bush administration
*''Hell and High Water (book), Hell and High Water'' (2006) by Joseph J. Romm warning about the consequences of sea level rise
*''An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It'' is a 2006 book by
Al Gore released in conjunction with the film ''
An Inconvenient Truth
''An Inconvenient Truth'' is a 2006 American documentary film directed by Davis Guggenheim about former Vice President of the United States, United States Vice President Al Gore's campaign to educate people about global warming. The film featur ...
''. Based on Gore's lecture tour on the topic of
global warming
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in a broader sense also includes ...
this book elaborates upon points offered in the film. It "brings together leading-edge research from top scientists around the world; photographs, charts, and other illustrations; and personal anecdotes and observations to document the fast pace and wide scope of global warming."
*''Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet'' (2007) by Mark Lynas. It presents the consequences of climate change for each additional Celsius, degree Celsius of warming, culminating in a possible 6 degree scenario in which release of Methane clathrate, methane hydrate leads to an extinction event similar to the Cambrian–Ordovician extinction event. The book was also adapted into a National Geographic Channel film.
*''Scorcher: The Dirty Politics of Climate Change'' (2007) by Clive Hamilton, criticizing the government of Australia for blocking international climate change mitigation
*Break Through (book), ''Break Through'' (2007) by Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger, arguing that the paradigms motivating the Environmental movement, environmentalist movement are poorly suited to resolve climate change
*''An Appeal to Reason'' (2008) by Nigel Lawson, criticizing the scientific consensus on climate change
*''Hot, Flat, and Crowded'' (2008) by Thomas Friedman, arguing that the United States could reclaim a sense of purpose after the September 11 attacks and the end of the
Cold War by solving issues of
overpopulation
Overpopulation or overabundance is a phenomenon in which a species' population becomes larger than the carrying capacity of its environment. This may be caused by increased birth rates, lowered mortality rates, reduced predation or large scale m ...
and climate change
*''Why We Disagree About Climate Change'' (2009) by Mike Hulme, exploring the reasons for differing ethical, political, cultural, and economic views on climate change across the world
*''Carbon Shift'' (2009) by Thomas Homer-Dixon and Nick Garrison, explaining how the likely effects of peak oil and Climate change in Canada, climate change on
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...
*''Requiem for a Species'' (2010) by Clive Hamilton, arguing that climate change has already progressed past the point at which catastrophic impacts for the world and human society, including possible societal collapse or Human extinction, extinction, can be avoided
*''Merchants of Doubt'' (2010) by
Naomi Oreskes
Naomi Oreskes (; born November 25, 1958) is an American historian of science. She became Professor of the History of Science and Affiliated Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University in 2013, after 15 years as Professor of ...
and Erik M. Conway, which examines the history of
climate change denial
Climate change denial, or global warming denial, is Denial (Freud), denial, dismissal, or doubt that contradicts the scientific consensus on climate change, including the extent to which it is Attribution of recent climate change, caused by hum ...
and its relationship with the tobacco industry playbook.
*''The God Species'' (2011) by Mark Lynas, postulating that climate change indicates that Earth has entered an Anthropocene, anthropocene epoch in which natural systems are under human control
*''2052: A Global Forecast for the Next Forty Years'' (2012) by Jørgen Randers, arguing that current trends suggest carbon emissions will peak around 2030 but that it will be insufficient to prevent 2 degree Celsius warming which will limit future economic growth
*''The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars'' (2012) by Michael E. Mann, explaining the temperature record of the last 2,000 years and his work on the so-called "hockey stick graph (global temperature), hockey stick graph"
*''This Changes Everything (book), This Changes Everything'' (2014) by Naomi Klein, which Criticism of capitalism, criticises capitalism as a root cause of climate change.
*''The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History'' (2015) by Elizabeth Kolbert, which won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction and explained the concept of the Holocene extinction
*''The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable'' (2016) by Amitav Ghosh, arguing that climate change is driven by New Imperialism, neoimperialism
*Drawdown (book), ''Drawdown'' (2017) which ranks different Climate change mitigation, climate change solutions.
*''Deep Adaptation'' (2018) by Jem Bendell, arguing that climate change has progressed too far to prevent societal collapse and that people must accept major changes to their way of life to adjust to the coming changes
*''Losing Earth'' (2019) by Nathaniel Rich (novelist), Nathaniel Rich, based on a ''The New York Times Magazine, New York Times Magazine,'' examining attempts to implement Climate change policy of the United States, climate change policies in the United States from 1979 into the 1980s.
*''No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference'' (2019) by
Greta Thunberg
Greta Tintin Eleonora Ernman Thunberg (; born 3 January 2003) is a Swedish environmental activist who is known for challenging world leaders to take immediate action for climate change mitigation.
Thunberg's activism began when she persuaded ...
, collection of speeches presented before the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...
, the European Union, the World Economic Forum, the United States Congress, the National Assembly (France), French National Assembly, and climate protests
*The Uninhabitable Earth (book), ''The Uninhabitable Earth'' (2019) by David Wallace-Wells, based on a The Uninhabitable Earth, 2017 magazine series of the same name explaining the Effects of climate change on humans, likely consequences of climate change on human society in future years.
*On Fire (book), ''On Fire'' (2019) by Naomi Klein, advocating substantial climate change mitigation tactics such as the Green New Deal.
*''A Life on Our Planet'' (2020) by
David Attenborough
Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and author. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, the nine natural histor ...
, an autobiography describing his career in the BBC since the 1950s during the Holocene extinction and warning about the consequences of Climate change and ecosystems, biodiversity loss from unmitigated climate change
*''How to Avoid a Climate Disaster'' (2021) by Bill Gates, providing tactics to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, particularly greater investment in sustainable energy technology
*''How to Blow Up a Pipeline'' (2021) by Andreas Malm, advocating violent techniques such as sabotage in Individual action on climate change, climate activism
*''The New Climate War'' (2021) by Michael E. Mann, Michael Mann, describing resistance to climate change mitigation from the fossil fuel industry
*''Under a White Sky'' (2021) by Elizabeth Kolbert, exploring possible technological solutions to climate change such as
solar geoengineering
Solar geoengineering, or solar radiation modification (SRM), is a type of climate engineering in which sunlight (solar radiation) would be reflected back to outer space to limit or reverse human-caused climate change. It is not a substitute fo ...
Fiction
Music
Climate change has been a topic of some popular music, particularly during the 2010s.
The topic has been discussed in various genres, including Pop music, pop, Folk music, folk, electronic music and Heavy metal music, heavy metal.
''The New York Times'' found 192 references to climate change in English-language songs that entered the Billboard charts between 1999 and 2019, with around half of those (87 songs) between 2015 and 2019.

* American thrash metal band Testament (band), Testament released a song titled "Greenhouse Effect" on 1989 album ''Practice What You Preach''
and later referenced climate change in "Fall of Sipledome" on The Gathering (Testament album), ''The Gathering'' (1999).
* American rapper Mos Def's "New World Water" (1999) on ''Black on Both Sides'' discusses the history of water access and Water scarcity, scarcity, including the impact of climate change.
* American pop rock group Smash Mouth make reference to climate change in their songs "Walkin' on the Sun" (1997) and "All Star (song), All Star" (1999).
* French metal band Gojira (band), Gojira have released several songs about climate change and environmental issues, particularly "Global Warming", "World to Come" and other songs on ''From Mars to Sirius'' (2005).
* Melissa Etheridge's "I Need to Wake Up" (2006), which was the theme song to the film ''
An Inconvenient Truth
''An Inconvenient Truth'' is a 2006 American documentary film directed by Davis Guggenheim about former Vice President of the United States, United States Vice President Al Gore's campaign to educate people about global warming. The film featur ...
''.
* Climate change is a theme of English rock band Radiohead's 2000 song "Idioteque"
and 2016 album ''A Moon Shaped Pool''. Frontman Thom Yorke has also explored climate change on his solo album ''The Eraser'' (2006).
* Thirty Seconds to Mars' 2007 single "A Beautiful Lie (song), A Beautiful Lie" was released alongside a music video that was filmed in Greenland, and highlights Climate change in Greenland, impacts of climate change on the island. The band also launched a tie-in website promoting individual action on climate change.
* American rapper Pitbull (rapper), Pitbull has released albums titled Global Warming (Pitbull album), ''Global Warming'' (2012) and Climate Change (album), ''Climate Change'' (2017).
* "Love Song to the Earth" was a 2015 charity single produced in the run up to the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, 2015 UN Climate Change Conference. Paul McCartney, Jon Bon Jovi, Sheryl Crow and Sean Paul all sang on the single.
*British musician Anohni's 2016 song "4 Degrees (song), 4 Degrees" discusses climate change and Holocene extinction, extinction.
It references Climate model, projected rise in global temperature and impacts of climate change on biodiversity by 2100.
*OneRepublic's "Truth to Power (OneRepublic song), Truth to Power" (2017) which was the theme song to ''
An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power''.
*American rapper Childish Gambino's "Feels Like Summer (Childish Gambino song), Feels Like Summer" (2018).
*Singer-songwriter Weyes Blood's ''Titanic Rising'' (2019) features several songs that discuss climate change.
* Australian rock band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard have released several songs about climate change, and it is a central theme of 2019 album ''Infest the Rats' Nest'' which follows characters who are forced to Space and survival, leave Earth to escape climate change impacts.
* Composer Matthew Burtner's ''Glacier Music'' (2019) is intended as emulating Retreat of glaciers since 1850, melting glaciers.
* Lil Dicky released charity single "Earth (Lil Dicky song), Earth" in 2019, featuring numerous celebrities and other musicians.
* American pop singer Billie Eilish's 2019 single "All the Good Girls Go to Hell" makes reference to California wildfires and sea level rise.
* English band The 1975's The 1975 (2019 song), eponymous 2019 song features a spoken word passage by environmental activist
Greta Thunberg
Greta Tintin Eleonora Ernman Thunberg (; born 3 January 2003) is a Swedish environmental activist who is known for challenging world leaders to take immediate action for climate change mitigation.
Thunberg's activism began when she persuaded ...
. Adapted from her Our House Is on Fire (speech), "Our House Is on Fire" speech, her passage in the song calls for civil disobedience to demand Climate change mitigation, action on climate change. Proceeds from the song were donated to activist group Extinction Rebellion.
*Japanese-British singer Rina Sawayama has said her 2020 single "XS (song), XS" is a Criticism of capitalism, critique of capitalism in the context of climate change.
* Canadian musician Grimes (musician), Grimes's 2020 album ''Miss Anthropocene'' is a concept album about an "anthropomorphic goddess of climate change" and human extinction.
* The music video for Pearl Jam's 2020 single "Retrograde (Pearl Jam song), Retrograde" depicts the impacts of climate change, and features climate activist
Greta Thunberg
Greta Tintin Eleonora Ernman Thunberg (; born 3 January 2003) is a Swedish environmental activist who is known for challenging world leaders to take immediate action for climate change mitigation.
Thunberg's activism began when she persuaded ...
.
* Brazilian metal band Sepultura's 2020 song "Quadra (album), Guardians of Earth" is about climate change, Deforestation in Brazil, deforestation and indigenous people in their home country.
* Trip-hop group Massive Attack released a song on their 2020 EP Eutopia (EP), ''Eutopia'' that features a speech by Christiana Figueres, the diplomat who wrote the Paris Agreement, urging for action on climate change.
* Marina Diamandis, Marina's 2021 single "Purge the Poison"
* Climate change is a central theme of Australian rock band Midnight Oil's final album Resist (Midnight Oil album), ''Resist'' (2022).
* Greg Barnett's triple album "The Flat White Album" (2020) is bookended by two climate related tracks, ''The C-Bomb'' and ''Frogs in a Pan''.
Theater

* ''The Contingency Plan'' (2009) by Steve Waters is a diptych of plays first performed at the Bush Theatre in London. They are set in the near future, at a time during which severe tidal surges begin to submerge parts of coastal Britain.
* ''The Climate Monologues'' (2010).
* The Heretic (play), ''The Heretic'' (2011)
* 2071 (play), ''2071'' (2014) by climate scientist Chris Rapley and playwright Duncan Macmillan (playwright), Duncan Macmillan.
Television
Television documentaries
*''Years of Living Dangerously'', nine-part 2014 Showtime documentary television series
Fictional television

*''Captain Planet and the Planeteers'' had numerous episodes which dealt with global-warming including "Two Futures" Part 1 & 2, "Heat Wave", "Domes of Doom", "The Ark", "Summit to Save Earth" Parts 1 & 2, "Greenhouse Planet", "A Perfect World", and "Planeteers Under Glass"
*The World Set Free (Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey), "The World Set Free" (''Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey''), 2014 TV series episode
*''South Park'' spoofed global warming in seven episodes:
**"Spontaneous Combustion (South Park), Spontaneous Combustion", (1999) - Randy and Sharon Marsh, Randy Marsh wins a Nobel Prize by discovering that a string of spontaneous combustions around South Park was caused by partners refusing to fart in front of each other and solving the crisis by having the town's residents fart every few seconds, only for the resultant methane emissions to cause global warming and a massive heat wave.
**"Terrance and Phillip: Behind the Blow" - Environmentalists host an Earth Day festival at South Park to raise awareness about global warming, brainwashing its residents into supporting propagandistic slogans using Jedi mind tricks. The boys struggle to arrange for Canada, Canadian comedians Terrance and Phillip to perform at the festival.
**"Goobacks" (2004) - Environmental migrant, Climate refugees from the year 3045 begin using a time portal to travel to Earth in 2004 for work, leading to a controversy mirroring the debate over illegal immigration as they work for low wages.
**"Two Days Before the Day After Tomorrow", (2005) - Stan Marsh pretends that a flood caused by him crashing a boat into a beaver dam was caused by global warming, leading to a panic. The episode was meant to parody the Criticism of the government response to Hurricane Katrina, government response to Hurricane Katrina, as well as explanations that it was Tropical cyclones and climate change, caused by climate change.
**"Smug Alert!" (2006) - Drivers of Hybrid vehicle, hybrid cars cause massive emissions of "smug," causing a superstorm which annihilates San Francisco and South Park.
**"ManBearPig" (2006) -
Al Gore visits South Park warning about a giant carnivorous monster known as the ManBearPig and takes the protagonists to search for it in the Cave of the Winds (Colorado), Cave of the Winds, only for it to become evident that Gore is using the incident to get attention. The episode parodies Environmental activism of Al Gore, Gore's climate change activism and reflects series co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone's Climate change denial, climate change skepticism at the time of the episode's release.
**"Time to Get Cereal"/"Nobody Got Cereal?" (2018) - The ManBearPig proves to have actually been real and begins attacking South Park's residents, some of whom nevertheless remain skeptical of its existence. The boys are forced to apologize to Gore to get him to help, although he remains self-aggrandizing. At the end of the arc the townsfolk finally admit that the ManBearPig was real and begin negotiating for it to leave but are constantly unable to accept the creature's terms for its departure. Parker and Stone wrote the episode as an apology for the show's previous depictions of climate change, and Gore himself praised the episode.
*''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' had several global-warming themed episodes:
** Episode "Deja Q" (1990) - The crew suggests an artificial amplification of global warming using greenhouse gases to counter the cooling effects of dust from the impact of a moon on a planet.
** Episode "A Matter of Time (Star Trek: The Next Generation), A Matter of Time" (Season 5 EP 9) - A passing cloud of dust from an asteroid causes global cooling on a planet, the crew of the enterprise use a Phaser (fictional weapon), phaser to release frozen deposits of carbon dioxide on the planet.
** "The Inner Light (Star Trek: The Next Generation), The Inner Light" (1992) - Jean-Luc Picard lives a lifetime on a planet experiencing Global Warming and aridification. Ultimately, the climate change becomes serious enough to threaten all life on the planet. This Hugo Award winner is among the 5 most popular out of all 178 episodes in the TNG series.
* The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987 TV series), 1987 ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' cartoon has four episodes dealing with global warming. In "Shredder's Mom", Shredder (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Shredder and Krang use a mirror fixed to a satellite to warm up the
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surf ...
if the political leaders do not surrender to them. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles get help from General Yogure to stop them. In Northern Lights Out, a man named Eric Red in Norway plans to melt the
polar ice cap
A polar ice cap or polar cap is a high-latitude region of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite that is covered in ice.
There are no requirements with respect to size or composition for a body of ice to be termed a polar ice cap, nor ...
and flood all the coastal city, cities on the
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surf ...
by blowing up underground volcanoes, which will make it "easy" for Eric Red and his gang to take over the Earth. In "A Real Snow Job", set in the Alps in Austria, Krang and Shredder use a ''Zoetropic wave'' device to melt the world's ice, flooding the coastal city, cities and making the Earth easy for Krang and Shredder to take over. In "Too Hot to Handle", Vernon Fenwick's nephew Foster has an invention that brings the Earth closer to the Sun, a "Solar Magnet".
* The Transformers (TV series), The 1980s ''Transformers'' animated series had at least one global-warming themed episode: "The Revenge of Bruticus". There, the Combaticons (a faction of the series' main villains, the Decepticons, created by rebel Decepticon Starscream (Transformers), Starscream) use the Space Bridge device to hurl Earth toward the Sun, hoping to destroy the Earth and all enemies. The Autobots are forced to help the humans endure the heat while putting aside their differences with the Decepticons in a race against time to restore Earth to its natural orbit.
* The TV series ''Utopia (UK TV series), Utopia'' is a violent thriller about a fictional conspiracy (criminal), conspiracy that has a number of Espionage, secret agents embedded in key places in government and industry. The conspiracy, known as "The Network", seeks to frighten the populace into taking a vaccine which will, as a side-effect, cause mass infertility. Their aim in doing so is to reduce the number of humans on the planet, in order to tackle climate change, resource shortages and other environmental issues.
* ''The Simpsons'':
**"On a Clear Day I Can't See My Sister" (2005) - Springfield Elementary School goes on a field trip to the Springfield Glacier, which is almost completely melted because of climate change.
**"The Good, the Sad and the Drugly, The Good, the Sad, and the Drugly," - (2009) Lisa is assigned to write a report on the year 2059 and becomes depressed after learning about the future effects of climate change, terrifying the class with her reports.
**"White Christmas Blues", episode of ''The Simpsons'' (2013) - Global warming causes no snowfall on Christmas for the entire United States except in Springfield (The Simpsons), Springfield, which is cooled by smog from Mr. Burns's nuclear power plant and the local tire factory
*In episode 2, season 1, of the Marvel Cinematic Universe series ''Loki (TV series), Loki'', "The Variant" (2021), Earth experiences a series of climate-related natural disasters in the mid-21st century implied to have been caused by climate change. Mobius M. Mobius mentions that the extinction of the swallow at that time resulted in ecological collapse. A variant of Loki (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Loki, Sylvie (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Sylvie, evades the Time Variance Authority by hiding in the Roxxcart Big-box store, superstore in Alabama shortly before its destruction by a Tropical cyclone, hurricane in 2050, thus preventing any branches of the timeline.
*''Doctor Who'', "Orphan 55" (2020) - The Thirteenth Doctor takes Graham O'Brien, Ryan Sinclair, and Yasmin Khan (Doctor Who), Yasmin Khan to a spa in the future which proves to be a trap on the abandoned planet Orphan 55. They later discover it is an abandoned version of Earth wrecked by climate change and nuclear warfare, and inhabited by mutant humans known as "Dregs." The episode ends with the Doctor telling them that although it is only one possible future she cannot guarantee it will not come to pass.
*The first ever Crossover episode, crossover episodes of rival British Soap opera, soap operas Casualty (TV series), ''Casualty'', ''Coronation Street'', Doctors (2000 TV series), ''Doctors'', ''EastEnders'', ''Emmerdale'', ''Holby City'' and ''Hollyoaks'' aired in 2021, which all featured references to climate change in the lead up to the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference.
Comic books
*''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures'' from Archie Comics. Mostly set in their present (late 1980s and early 1990s), but also including time travels to a future, in which
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
is flooded because of
global warming
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in a broader sense also includes ...
and the
greenhouse effect
The greenhouse effect is a process that occurs when energy from a planet's host star goes through the planet's atmosphere and heats the planet's surface, but greenhouse gases in the atmosphere prevent some of the heat from returning directly ...
.
Video games
*''Civilization (video game), Civilization'' (1991) is a strategy game in which the pollution created by industrial production and transportation, if left unchecked, leads to desertification and coastal regions becoming swamps.
*''Fuel (2009 video game), Fuel'' (2009) is a racing video game set in a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by extreme weather fueled by global warming.
* In 2008, the Tamagotchi, TamaTown website featured a game that taught children how to prevent global warming.
*''Civilization VI: Gathering Storm'' (2019) includes a mechanic where Greenhouse gas emissions, carbon emissions lead to sea level rise, permanent coastal flooding and an increase in the intensity and frequency of Tropical cyclones and climate change, extreme weather events.
*''Battlefield 2042'' (2021) is set in 2041 where a World war 3, global military conflict is driven by the exacerbation of tensions from resource depletion and Physical impacts of climate change, extreme weather caused by climate change.
A Refugee crisis, massive influx of Environmental migrant, climate refugees and category 6 hurricanes lead to an economic depression in 2034 and the dissolution of the European Union following the collapse of Germany in 2035. Although technological development causes human society to begin to recover in 2037, a Kessler syndrome event destroying 70 percent of Earth's satellites pushes the world into war between Statelessness, stateless Proxy war, proxies fighting for the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...
and
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...
.
Other
* ''What if it's a big hoax and we create a better world for nothing?'', a 2009 satirical cartoon by Joel Pett
* Keep Cool (board game), Keep Cool, a board game
* Mothers of Invention (podcast), Mothers of Invention, a feminist podcast
See also
* Climate change art
* Catastrophes in popular culture
* Climate fiction
* Media coverage of climate change
*Climate communication
References
{{Authority control
Climate change and society, Popular culture
Climate change in fiction, Popular culture
Science in popular culture
Climate change mass media,
Topics in popular culture