The 2024 day is focusing on land restoration, desertification and drought resilience.
According to the UN, World Environment Day is the "people's day" for doing something to take care of the Earth: "That 'something' can be local, national or global. It can be a solo action or involve a crowd. Everyone is free to choose."
Winning Films from our Festival
Green SuperHeroes 2030 Trailer
By: Los Angeles Barea
A group of 10 young environmentalists changing the world for the better. Their powers make the planet greener.
Reclaim
By: Kelly Guerin
Jo-Anne McArthur visited two pig farms: one industrial, packed with thousands of pigs, and one long abandoned.
The Emerald Edge: Cedar's Story
By: Chad Horn
"Explore the world’s largest coastal temperate rainforest in 360 degrees in a new immersive experience.
PB&J Productions My Hero
By: Shelby Dahl
This is an interview of Savannah Ackerman, the School Outreach Coordinator for Tree People.
The Art Of Discovery
By: Mónika Naranjo-Shepherd
Like scientists, artists conceptualize and put together ideas in new ways. Artists and scientists both have the ability to offer a deeper understanding of our Ocean.
Protecting Coral Reefs
By: NOAA Ocean Today
NOAA and the National Park Service are creating a geo-referenced coral reef base map to better understand coral reefs
Synthetic Seas
Produced by:Jody Lemmon
13 people from different walks of life board a research vessel to explore the South Atlantic Gyre and learn more about the constantly worsening problem of plastic pollution.
Discovering Plastic Pollution in Bali
Karen B. Song
Taking a look at the harmful effects of plastic pollution on local environments in Indonesia.
360 SEA PLASTIC
Hendrik S. Schmitt
The Jetlagged and Plastic Pollution Coalition want to show our addiction to plastics and raise awareness about the impact plastic waste has on the environment.
Pasta La Vista, Plastic Waste!
Ben Caloza
Plastic pollution is a plague on our beautiful California beaches. How can we fight it?
Plastic Bottle Village
Produced by:Dir. David Freid
One man's trash is another man's condo.
Plastic Ecosystem
Stefie Gan
Follows the journey of “new marine life” in the oceans and their behaviors. Millions of tons of plastics litter the oceans and we study their behaviors.
The Sustainability Laboratory
Produced by:Regenerative TV
A short video highlighting the good work of Dr. Michael Ben-Eli & the Sustainability Laboratory in their mission to save the planet.
Pieces of Us
Anthony Wahome Njuguna
Pieces of Us’ reminds us of the positive and negative impacts of tourism, and what can be achieved by human ingenuity in the fight against plastic pollution.
Who Should Decide The Future of the Amazon?
Martin Kingman | Executive Producer: Amazon Frontlines
A global campaign aims to raise awareness on the urgent need to respect Indigenous people's right to decide over the future of their territories, cultures & lives.
Looking After Our Environment: James Price Point
Produced by:Mark Pearce
Mark Jones speaks out against a gas development complex that spells doomsday for some species living around James Price Point.
Olivia's Birds and the Oil Spill
Produced by:Lynne Cherry
Young Olivia loves birds, and creates over 500 paintings of her feathered friends to raise funds for Audubon's bird rescue.
A Love Letter to My Mother : An Environmental Short Film
Emily Le
Mother Nature has given up so much for our welfare, but how are we repaying her?
Watch the Eva Haller Salon with Michael Ben-Ali
Eva Haller Salon - Michael Ben-Eli
Eva Haller
Stories
Goldman Environmental Prize Wins MY HERO Media Award
By: Deborah Neff, MY HERO Staff writer
Goldman Environmental Prize is awarded Media Award at the MY HERO 17th Annual Film Festival
Frances Moore Lappé’s Diet for a Small Planet Celebrates 50th Anniversary
By: Deborah Neff, MY HERO Staff writer
Frances Moore Lappé’s Diet for a Small Planet Celebrates 50th Anniversary with new edition.
Slater Jewell-Kemker, Director, An Inconvenient Youth
By: The My Hero Project
Slater Jewell-Kemker is an award-winning student reporter and filmmaker who works for a better environment and for peace. Learn about more heroes at myhero.com.
Help Mary Save Coral
By: Amanda Molinaro from Irvine
Help Mary Save Coral
works to repopulate the world's coral.
Alexandra Cousteau
By: Slater Jewell-Kemker
Alexandra Cousteau was honored as an Earth Trustee by the UN for her work to protect the oceans.
David Suzuki
By: Anna Gustaf
David Suzuki is a Canadian environmental activist with a PhD in zoology. He hosted the long-running show The Nature of Things.
Chibeze Ezekiel : Award Winning Climate Activist
By: Deborah Neff, MY HERO Staff writer
Dayna Reggero Wins Special Award for THE STORY WE WANT
By: Deborah Neff, MY HERO Staff writer
Two grassroots environmental activists--moms address fracking and coal ash dumping in Walnut Grove and the state of North Carolina.
Wangari Maathai
By: Frances Moore Lappe
Wangari Maathai was an environmental activist and Nobel laureate who founded the Green Belt movement.
Dorcas Lukwesa’s Mobile, Sustainable Farms
By: Abigail Richardson
Gaz Oakley – Vegan Chef and Food Hero
By: Abigail Richardson
Gaz Oakley, known as the Avant-Garde Vegan, is a vegan chef and cookbook author from Cardiff, Wales.
Listen & Read Along
Sylvia Earle
By: Edward Ortiz
"The key is to see ourselves as a part of the natural systems that support us." [This story is also available in French and Spanish.]
Chico Mendes
By: Jeff Trussell
Chico Mendes died a martyr defending the rainforests. [This story is also available in French.]
Films selected by Wendy Milette, MY HERO's Film Festival Director
I selected the following films because they represent a variety of film styles as well as a range of heroism. These films inspire all of us to take action to protect our precious environment and respect biodiversity!
2021 IFF Special Hero Climate Activist Award | Slater Jewell-Kemker and Wendy Jewell
Slater Jewell-Kemker
Slater Jewell-Kemker and Wendy Jewell accept the Special Hero: Climate Activist Award at the 2021 MY HERO International Film Festival.
The Goldman Environmental Prize
The Goldman Environmental Prize
2021 MEDIA AWARD WINNER - The Goldman Environmental Prize is the world's foremost award honoring grassroots environmental activists
The Story We Want - Episode 1 - Coal and Climate
Dayna Reggero
SPECIAL HERO AWARD - 2021 --Dayna Reggero traveled across America to listen to ordinary women who are confronting fossil fuel industries, climate change impacts, and a culture of extraction.
Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies
Michael Hanrahan
A collaboration of government agencies, non-profits, and private industry come together to solve the problem of commercial ships causing increased air pollution and whale strikes in the Santa Barbara Channel.
2021 Global Educator Award - Frances Moore Lappé & Anna Blythe Lappé
Produced by:The MY HERO Project
Learn about Frances Moore Lappé & Anna Blythe Lappé in this video celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Book Diet for a Small Planet.
Interview with Youth Activist Sophie Healy-Thow
Kitty Richardson
The Arctic Garden
Produced by:Will Parinello/Tom Dusenberry
Caroline Cannon, an Inupiat indigenous leader, takes aim at offshore oil drilling that threatens her people and the biodiversity in the Arctic Sea.
Last Stand - The Vanishing Caribou Rainforest (Trailer)
Produced by:David Moskowitz
The forthcoming documentary “Last Stand” puts the Caribou Rainforest on the map before it’s too late.
Protecting the Amazon by Advancing Indigenous Rights
PAUL PAZ Y MINO
Since 1996, Amazon Watch has protected the rainforest and advanced the rights of indigenous peoples in the Amazon Basin. We partner with indigenous and environmental organizations in campaigns for human rights, corporate accountability, and the preservation of the Amazon's ecological systems.
MABON ‘The 8 year old activist’
Jack Davies
Our world has a serious ocean plastics problem. There are now a higher number of plastics in the ocean than the number of fish.
Ocean Hero Spotlight
Jessica Vance
Oluwaseyi Moejoh from Nigeria and Heather Brockbank from the Bahamas share their stories of ocean activism.
A Day in the Life of a Plastic Bottle
Produced by:Jasper County High School
In mini-documentary style, a plastic water bottle is purchased then followed through a typical day in the hands of a high school student.
All the Way to the Ocean
Produced by:Joel Harper
A story about two friends and their discovery of the relationship between our cities' storm drains and the world's oceans, lakes and rivers.
Rise From the Cape Flats
Shamier Magmoet
Shamier Magmoet overcomes difficulty and learns to educate youth to experience the ocean, becoming advocates and protectors of therof.
Rainforest Action
Will Parrinello
In 2020 Nemonte received the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize and was named to Time Magazine’s Top 100, its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Restoring the Coral Reefs in Florida by Richard Morris
Richard E Morris
This film introduces Sea Heroes who are working to restore the depleted coral reefs off the Florida Keys.
Voice Above Water
Produced by:Turning Tides Films
Learn about 90 year old, Wayan Nyo from Indonesia, who does his part to clean the ocean and make the world a much better place.
Plastic Waste Free Islands
Emma Samson
The Plastic Waste Free Island project with the IUCN, supported by Norad, has been running since 2019.
One World One Ocean
Produced by:MacGillivray Freeman Films
One World One Ocean campaign inspires stewardship of the sea.
Mother of All Rivers
Produced by:Will Parrinello | Executive Producer: Goldman Environmental Prize
Berta Cáceres rallied her indigenous Lenca people to wage a grassroots protest that successfully pressured the government of Honduras and the world's largest dam builder to withdraw from building the Agua Zarca Dam.
Art from the Gallery promotes environmental awareness in a powerful and direct way to illustrate the urgency of our planet's fragile state
Protect the Sacred by Shepard Fairey for Amplifier
By: Shepard Fairey
Artist Shepard Fairey of Obey Art has created many posters for the Amplifier Foundation as well as being instrumental in initiating the Kickstarter campaign to get the Amplifier Foundation off the ground
Preserve the Environment Stamp by Peter Max 1974
By: Peter Max
Max's Cosmic Runner was selected by the USPS to promote conservation
Stop Fracking Stop Drilling
By: Gregg Deal
A direct call for the end to fracking by an Amplifier Foundation artist
Protect Sacred Waters by Ernesto Yerena- Amplifier
By: Ernesto Yerena
This poster for the Amplifier Foundation represents artist Ernesto Yerena's commitment to Native American heritage, issues and sacred lands
