Copenhagen climate change conference 2009: the movies

Lights, camera... climate change. Films that have grappled with the environmental threat to the planet.

Published: 9:00AM GMT 23 Nov 2009

AL Gore's documentary The Inconvenient Truth won two Oscars Photo: AP
Soylent Green (1973)
The cult classic is set in the year 2022. The greenhouse effect has risen the temperature into nearly unbearable regions, and the people are kept in the cities by law.

New York's population has grown to 40 million mouths to feed. The rich live in separated luxury apartments (with women as part of the rented furniture) but also experience the lack of natural food. Strawberries are priced at $150 for a glass.
Police Detective Thorn (Charlton Heston) investigates the strange murder case of an official from the Soylent corporation, which feeds the masses with a revolutionary creation: Soylent red, yellow, or, even more nutritious, green. Just remember: you are what you eat.
On Deadly Ground (1994)
Super-macho Steven Seagal went green playing an oil company agent Forrest Taft who realises he's on the wrong side of the fight to exploit the Alaskan wilderness and dispossess the local people.
In the final scene where Taft gives a speech about the oil companies and air pollution, test audiences complained that it was overlong and preachy and it was cut from the original 11 minutes.
Waterworld (1995)
In this Kevin Costner vanity project the greenhouse effect has taken place, the icecaps have melted, and the ravaged Earth is covered in water.
People are few and far between, living in small communities at sea or sailing from one to another as traders.
A mysterious drifter (Costner) appears and aids a mother and daughter in seeking Dryland, a mythical place that a group of savage bandits seek out as well.
Unfortunately, the movie - the most expensive ever produced at the time - was panned by critics and audiences, and sank without a trace.
The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
Big budget blockbuster where melting of the polar ice caps has poured fresh water into the oceans and diluted the salt level, causing the temperature of the ocean currents to drop 13 degrees. The world's climate system changes for the worst.
Tokyo is hit by hail the size of softballs; it begins to snow in New Delhi; and Los Angeles is destroyed by a group of tornadoes that all hit at the same time. A New Ice age is about to beign
A climatologist (Dennis Quaid) tries to figure out a way to save the world at the same as helping his young son in New York, which is being taken over by a new ice age.
A massive hit with cinema goers who, in the USA, were given Red Cross pamphlets on what to do to keep safe during tornados, floods, and blizzards as they left.
An Inconvenient Truth (2006)
First documentary to win two Academy Awards, the film weaves the science of global warming with former vice president Al Gore's personal history and lifelong commitment to reversing the effects of global climate change.
The DVD case, in which the film is packaged, is made from 100 per cent recycled cardboard.