The inconvenient truth of climate-fiction (cli-fi) films—both in front of and behind the camera—is that they’re too white. For flicks with the potential to raise awareness and motivate action about a climate crisis that affects all of humanity, it would help if at least some of the cast, directors, producers, or writers represented more of humanity in all of its rich colors and cultures.

Although another, glaringly ironic truth remains. Those responsible for causing the massive amounts of carbon emissions fueling climate change are mostly white celebrities, billionaires and CEOs living a jet-set lifestyle in industrialized countries while billions of Black and Brown people in the Global South already experience the ferocious effects of extreme drought, flooding, sea level rise and wildfires attributable to the climate crisis or worsened by it.

So, here, unlike conventional lists of top cli-fi films to watch, we spotlight seven cli-fi flicks reflecting at least a little DEI. Though they may not galvanize viewers into participating in nonviolent civil disobedience for the sake of climate justice, they will at least be more personally relatable. A few point up the deep connections between environmental racism, economic inequality, and climate refugees manifested in various depictions of the world once climate change really begins to dominate every aspect of society. 

‘Beasts of the Southern Wild’ (2012)

An extraordinary performance by nine-year-old Quvenzhané Wallis—that made her the youngest person ever to be nominated for an Academy Award—portraying six-year-old Hushpuppy tasked with saving her beloved Louisiana bayou home-island known as the Bathtub from rising sea levels due to melting polar ice caps. When prehistoric beasts called aurochs—metaphorically representing the climate crisis—begin to attack, Hushpuppy convinces them to leave, saving her town. Hushpuppy’s dad, Wink, is played by Dwight Henry, who in real life is a New Orleans entrepreneur and founder of the Buttermilk Drop Bakery. 

‘Where the Water Runs’ (2017)

A short film directed by DuBois Ashong, Where the Water Runs portrays the ethical conflict experienced by Nasir Jones, a water transporter promoted to controller in drought-stricken Los Angeles. Nasir witnesses the racial disparity in who gets water during an extended drought. He observes affluent whites washing their cars and watering lawns with the water he delivers while Blacks can’t purchase even a gallon of water when the City cuts back on service centers. His sister joins a group protesting the climate injustice of water privatization. The suspenseful ending will leave you cheering. Ashong dedicated his film to the people of Flint, Michigan.  

‘The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind’ (2019)

Directed by Chiwetel Ejiofor who also stars in this inspiring climate success story based on a true story, 13-year-old Malawian William Kamkwamba, whose family can longer pay for his education, blackmails his science teacher into allowing him to attend class and use the library to learn about electrical engineering and energy production. Kamkwamba constructs a small windmill of simple materials—and an essential part of his teacher’s bicycle—based on a library book description with the goal of saving his village from famine. The windmill powers the village’s water pump. Later, he enlists the help of villagers to build a larger one. This film contains scenes of desperate Africans rioting for basic necessities like food and water rationed by the government as the extremes of the climate crisis already wreak havoc on their lives and livelihoods.

‘Snowpiercer’ (2013)

Based on French climate fiction graphic novels and directed by Bong Joon-ho, Snowpiercer depicts life for a few remaining humans trapped on a train continually circumnavigating the cold Snowball Earth after a type of geoengineering called stratospheric aerosol injection failed to return the planet to a pre-industrial climate. Believing the lie told to them that life can’t exist outside the train, those of lower socioeconomic status are relegated to the back of the train for 17 years while the elites are in the spacious and comparatively luxurious front. Tired of their poor living conditions, forced cannibalism, and serial executions, the poor eventually elect a leader to stage a revolt. Violence ensues and an explosion kills many, but two passengers escape from the train, see polar bears, and realize life is possible off the train. Commenting on the message of the film, Octavia Spencer who plays Tanya says, “We are all covered in smoke and dirt from years and years of not washing and particles in the air, and we are all the same color if you look at it.” 

‘Children of Men’ (2006)

Directed by Alfonso Cuarón, Children of Men depicts a chaotic world where women become infertile, leading to war, widespread depression, and fears of human extinction. After 18 years of this, a pregnant African asylum seeker named Kee, played by Clare-Hope Ashity, is discovered in England where immigrants are arrested and either imprisoned, deported, or executed. The film tells the story of her safe passage to the Human Project, a research group intent on curing humanity’s infertility, located in the Azores. Kee did not appear in the book in which the film is based, but was written into the film. “When we decided to make this follow the line of immigration we decided to make this character an illegal immigrant. And then we decided that we wanted her to be a black African. There are many different reasons—one is, that as far as we know, human life sprang out of Africa. There is the notion that the future of humanity resides on the dispossessed—the lumpen of the lumpenproletariat on that continent,” said Cuarón.

‘Don’t Look Up’ (2021)

A star-studded cast including Jennifer Lawrence, Leonardo Dicaprio, Timothée Chalamet, Meryl Streep, Tyler Perry, Ariana Grane, Rob Morgan, Cate Blanchett and Kid Cudi star in the Netflix blockbuster written, directed, and co-produced by Adam McKay, an outspoken climate activist along with leading actor Leo DiCaprio. The film depicts the emotionally charged efforts of an astronomer and his student to warn people about an oncoming comet destined to destroy civilization. They are received with a mix of apathy and disbelief. The story serves as an allegory for the climate crisis while the film is a satire on governmental and media indifference to it.

‘Avatar’ (2009)

Although the internationally acclaimed box office sensation Avatar is commonly believed to be a classic sci-fi—not cli-fi—film, its inclusion here is to call attention to the fact that environmental destruction through capitalist depletion of natural resources and climate change are inter-connected. In fact, Evo Morales, the first indigenous president of Bolivia, praised Avatar for its “profound show of resistance to capitalism and the struggle for the defense of nature.”  

Avatar features Zoe Saldana as Princess Neytiri of the Na’vi, a nature-loving, advanced group of blue-skinned humanoids living on  Pandora which contains deposits of a valuable mineral (unobtanium) that humans want. But, the atmosphere is inhospitable to humans, so to visit Pandora, humans first must become avatars (human-Na’vi hybrids). Former marine and paraplegic Jake Sully becomes an avatar to embark on the mission to acquire unobtanium. He eventually falls in love with Neytiri. After organizing a rebellion against human exploitation and enlisting Pandoran wildlife in the battle, the Na’vi force the humans to leave. Jake remains there as an avatar with Neytiri.