Hollywood has faced no shortage of existential threats lately, but none more daunting than the climate crisis that threatens us all. Thankfully, the industry is in a unique position to do something about it. In its third annual Sustainability issue, THR assesses studios’ efforts to incorporate green practices — and climate-focused storylines — into their productions to help the world understand the stakes.
Edited by Julian Sancton and Kimberly Nordyke • designed by Kelsey Stefanson
Cover illustration by Peter Greenwood • Animation by Folio Lab
Contents
Features
Lee Isaac Chung Wants Nature. to Put Us In Our Place
By Rebecca Sun
A Climate-Focused Film Studio Takes Root in Ojai
By Katie Kilkenny
How Hollywood Turned the Humble Prius Into an “It” Car
By Brett Berk
The Report
How Hollywood Can Make Climate Stories Sexy
BY ALLISON BEGALMAN, HEATHER FIPPS, ALI WEINSTEIN
How ‘Hacks’ Snuck in Climate Activism Between Jokes
By julian sancton
About Town
Shailene Woodley Is Worried About You
By Rebecca Keegan
The 7 Most Luxe, Sustainability-Focused Resorts Around the World
By Kathryn Romeyn
Ed Begley Jr. Teams Up With Daughter Hayden to Raise the Environmental Alarm on TikTok
By Kirsten Chuba
Hollywood’s Hottest Vegan Restaurants
By Nicole Fell
Reviews & Insider
Experimenting With How We See Climate Change
By Lovia Gyarkye
Super-Chef René Redzepi on How Restaurants Can Combat Climate Change
By Kirsten Chuba
By Mikey O’Connell
Indie Rockers AJR Spotlight Sustainability on Their Summer Tour
By Hadley Meares
Which Blockbusters Pass the Climate Test?
By Kirsten Chuba
The Report
Guest Column
How Hollywood Can Make Climate Stories Sexy
The founders of the Hollywood Climate Summit break down the ways — subtle and not — our entertainment can address environmental themes while still remaining, well, entertaining.
BY ALLISON BEGALMAN, HEATHER FIPPS, ALI WEINSTEIN → read the story
truth telling
How ‘Hacks’ Snuck in Climate Activism Between Jokes
The comedy’s writers break down the season three episode in which Ava opens Deborah’s eyes to the crisis: “We hope it’s not too much of a fantasy that older people really start to listen to the younger voices about what an emergency this really is.”
magic school bus
Sean Penn on the Enduring Power of the ‘Into the Wild’ Bus (Now Out of the Wild)
“Attractive nuisance” or “sacred, holy place?” The bus depicted in the book and movie about Christopher McCandless’ life and death was tempting too many would-be adventurers to make a dangerous pilgrimage.
Guest Column
“Say It!”: Why TV Weather Forecasters Can No Longer Avoid Climate Change
CNN’s chief climate correspondent Bill Weir argues that with climbing temperatures wreaking havoc across the country, there is a bottomless well of story ideas for local stations to cover.
About Town
advocacy
Shailene Woodley Is Worried About You
After spending more than half her life championing environmental causes, Woodley now asks herself, “Am I just going to be adding to the noise?” With a new PBS docuseries on sustainable seafood, the Big Little Lies star finds a subject worth taking the dive.
Eco-travel for the 1 percent
The 7 Most Luxe, Sustainability-Focused Resorts Around the World
From a private island with a coral restoration program in the Maldives to a five-star forested retreat in the Dolomites, here are a few destinations for the economically advantaged eco-conscious.
bridging generations
Ed Begley Jr. Teams Up With Daughter Hayden to Raise the Environmental Alarm on TikTok
The family duo is collaborating on engaging videos to bring the actor’s longtime activism to a new generation.
Thought for Food
Hollywood’s Hottest Vegan Restaurants
Craving cashew cheese and buffalo cauliflower? A guide to 10 of the industry’s favorite meatless meeting places.
Lee Isaac Chung Wants Nature to Put Us in Our Place
"I would love to see more stories … to show how small we are in comparison to the nature around us," says the Oscar nominee and director of Twisters, who grew up in Oklahoma's tornado belt.
A Climate-Focused Film Studio Takes Root in Ojai
Big Picture Ranch founders Rebecca and Josh Tickell — who directed the hit doc Common Ground — moved from L.A. to Ventura County in 2012 to be closer to nature and to pursue the latest subject for their climate-centric films: soil.
Hillary Clinton Urges Hollywood to Focus on How Climate Change Is Hurting Kids
Through the new Clinton Foundation initiative Too Small to Fail, the former secretary of state is trying to help people make the connections between children’s mental and physical health and the impact of climate change.
How Hollywood Turned the Humble Prius Into an “It” Car
By rolling up to red carpets in the odd-looking hybrid, early adopters like Leo, Meryl and Arnold paved the way for the electric car. That was no accident: “My mission was, we can make the car so cool that if you didn't buy it, you didn't care about the environment.”
Reviews
Critic's Notebook
Experimenting With How We See Climate Change
From Ryusuke Hamaguchi's Evil Does Not Exist to Ramata-Toulaye Sy's Banel & Adama, indie films are representing climate change as a fraught ongoing negotiation between humans and the environment instead of a single catastrophic event.
THR Insider
revolutionary
Super-Chef René Redzepi on How Restaurants Can Combat Climate Change
The innovator, whose restaurant Noma has been called the best on the planet, is launching new Apple TV+ series Omnivore, which explores key ingredients and how to save them: “Changing food is changing the world.”
in the spotlight
The Greening of Reality TV
Scripted television has been working in climate stories for years. Now activists are urging reality shows to follow.
on the road
Indie Rockers AJR Spotlight Sustainability on Their Summer Tour
The pop band's co-founder Adam Met — who went back to school to study human rights and sustainable development — says the group plans to engage concertgoers "in every single place on a local issue."
Data Dive
Which Blockbusters Pass the Climate Test?
Using recent results from a climate-change version of the Bechdel test, THR surveyed 20 top Hollywood hits to see how many of them addressed the environmental crisis.
Hollywood Flashback
When Wall-E Became an Environmental Folk Hero
Though the Pixar classic was never intended to be “a message movie,” in the 16 years since its release, the film’s trash-collecting robot has been embraced by young climate activists — and we have Steve Jobs to thank for that.