Over the span of last night and today I have watched three impacting documentaries:”Minimalism”, “The True Cost”, and “Food Choices”. Each of these topics have been sparked in my life at some point or another recently, so I took the opportunity to educate myself further on the decisions that I make in my daily life. All three of these documentaries have lots of similarities, “The True Cost” and “Minimalism” in particular are very similar in their messages, and I believe that from these I not only have felt the urge to change my habits in life, but also promote the education of other people around me to have the same urge.

The first documentary I watched was “Minimalism”. This documentary was basically about consumerism and how we humans can really live off of much less than we currently live off of when it comes to possessions. This was such a fascinating documentary because they show people who live off of 50 things or less total. I know that if I had to pick 50 things to live off of right now, I would have an incredibly hard time deciding which to keep and which to get rid of. This not only helped me realize that I need to have a “thing cleanse”, but it also helped me realize that if I want to spend money, I should invest into things that I know will be beneficial to my life for a prolonged amount of time. Click here to learn more.

I came across a YouTuber that I follow talking about a documentary called “The True Cost”. It is about the behind the scenes of the fashion industries and every painful and unbelievable thing that is happening in poor countries that are used by them. It takes you into the factories behind the most popular fashion brands, and shows you the awful working conditions that an unbelievable amount of people are forced to work in, for less than 5$ a day or even month in some factories. This documentary not only was incredibly eye-opening and saddening, but hopeful in the sense that it tells you what you can do to prevent workers in poor countries from suffering for our happiness. After watching this film, I will definitely be checking that where I am purchasing from is ethical, and not using people without empathy for their lives. Click here to learn more.

The last documentary I watched was more about the facts and fiction of the food industry than the awful things the food industry does to animals. I appreciated this because watching anything remotely cruel to animals sickens me to my core. While there are some graphic scenes near the end of the film, the documentary was definitely not centered around those awful images nearly as much as it was centered around what is true and false about food, and what needs to change. Recently I have been interested in fixing my diet. I do not really have three meals a day, rather, I mostly snack and have small meals. I am constantly hungry for something and my snacks usually are not nutritious for me. So, finding and watching this documentary was just what I needed to get me thinking about if, how, and when I should change my eating habits. Click here to learn more.

I believe the most common theme in each of these documentaries is simply that humans are consumer robots, with a lack of information, and we need to change our ways individually first before any impact can occur. Since our economy is run off of consumerism, we are shown the way to consuming, and therefore harming ourselves, others around us, and the planet, and simple adjustments to how we live can help us save money and protect the planet. All of these films are on Netflix, and these are all great documentaries, so I highly recommend you watch them!!

R