Documentaries

Combining powerful images and firsthand accounts, these stories told through film share human experiences of climate change. 

Explore below to watch MCS documentaries!

Introducing Campus Correspondents: My Climate Story’s Newest Chapter!

(2024) A chat with MCS interns Maria Villarreal Simon + Faith Bochert

My Climate Story interns Maria Villarreal Simon and Faith Bochert sat down to chat about the exciting launch of the new MCS program, Campus Correspondents! In this conversation, they discuss the project’s origins, the twelve dynamic members of the inaugural cohort, and their hopes and vision for the project’s future!

Paul Robeson High School’s Climate Story

(2023) A documentary by Christy Choo

As part of her Public Research Internship with My Climate Story (MCS) in 2022-23, Christy Choo (UPenn, C ‘24) directed a short documentary capturing the Climate Stories of teachers and students at Paul Robeson High School in West Philadelphia.

You can read more about Christy’s experience with MCS and making this film in Field Notes the PPEH blog.

GreenFest 2024: My Climate Story’s Storytelling Booth

A collection of handwritten climate stories

The My Climate Story team hosted a storytelling booth at the annual Earth Week festival hosted by Penn Environmental Group, GreenFest. Participants were asked to hand-write or draw their climate stories, which were posted around the booth.

You can read more about the storytelling booth in Field Notes, the PPEH blog.

I love PA - I moved here from LA with my family when I was 5, and I will always remember driving in late at night and waking up on my first day in PA to 6 inches of snow on the ground!! Growing up here I always loved winters and playing in the snow that you always knew was coming. Sadly, since I've moved back to Philadelphia, winters have been so different. It's so rare for snow to even stick on the ground these days. This winter was the first one in years where it snowed more than once, which felt like a miracle. I hope one day we can get real winters back!
I'm from Long Island, New York. I personally witnessed Hurricane Sandy and am terrified for my friends and family when another Superstorm arrives. I remember waiting on gas lines and school being cancelled for two weeks.
Yellow Breeches Creek, PA: Growing up we would float down the creek in the summer. But as it gets hotter the creek gets lower. Last time it was more of a creek-walk.
Philly - seeing the wildfire smoke cover the city last summer was really unnerving. As "normal" as it is for the West Coast, I definitely don't expect wildfires here, but realizing that this is the new reality with climate change makes it very personal for me.
Arkansas. ("Storms are getting harsher") It is a beautiful, yet tragic story of weather and its harshness on the communities.
Philly's Schuylkill river park. Over the past 10 years, Philly has received a lot less snow. I miss the snow.
Snowing in the Algerian desert around February and March. Increased intensity of hurricanes in Florida.
Philly! As large storms become more frequent, I've started seeing more lasting/visible destruction such as the flooding of I-95 in Fall 2021. Its impact on lower income/high risk neighborhoods is scary and something that deserves more attention! Explore Philly parks! Volunteer at community gardens! Leave a positive impact on the city before you leave!
The heart of the Cuban diaspora beats in Miami, FL. Over my lifetime (36 y/o), I have witnessed stronger, more frequent storms, "sunshine floods," and overall decrease in quality of life (in part due to increased cost of living), as a direct result of climate change. I feel sad about losing my adopted home.
The Schuylkill river flooded so much if people went on the water they'd be in danger of going over the dam.
I am from the Black Hills of South Dakota -- seasons have always been extreme, but weather events have gotten more and more volatile in recent years, e.g., tornadoes, winter storms, and heat waves. It can feel very destabilizing.
I am from Hong Kong. I noticed that Summer is getting hotter. Weather is becoming unpredictable. Seasons do not appear as usual as they were.
I'd like to share about my hometown which is in the eastern part of China. And a climate change effect is, a flower that should bloom in Spring are blooming in Winter because of the warm weather. My hometown is in Monsoon Climate of Medium latitudes, and Yulan are blossoming in late winter with El Nino. Flowers in Mulan should not bloom in Winter I guess? And they can't reproduce because there's no bee or butterfly in Winter to carry pollen.
Delhi - India Summers are unbearable: I can't do any (most) of my fav. summer activities anymore. I can't even walk till it's like 10 pm.
Southern California - Many years of record heat, drought, and wildfires... It's sad to see but hopefully we can enact change and help restore balance.
My family has been vacationing at Bethany Beach, DE, since I was a baby. Over the last few years, the summers have been hotter and the beach has shrank from changes in the tides. I remember being in that setting w/o suffering from excessive heat.
Mid-Michigan: My childhood home... a gorgeous state with (what used to be) 4 distinct seasons... We haven't had a white Christmas since I was a kid.
The Mile High City! I am from Denver, Colorado, and I've noticed our seasons changing... my grandma used to always say the seasons have shifted by a month from when she was a kid, and I've started to notice winter starting later and later... in 2019, it didn't snow until after Christmas! It was really upsetting, because it didn't feel like the Colorado I know and love. I am afraid that I am losing my home.
Every year, the Darby Creek floods every time it rains. It ruins business, houses, and blocks roads. We don't have as many Winters as well now. I miss the snow.
My hometown in Texas was deeply affected by the Texas freeze. We had never had a winter that bad in my 21 years.
I'm from North Carolina -- we're used to hurricanes, but our hurricane season has been lasting longer and longer, and the devastation harder to bounce back from. People are still rebuilding from Hurricane Matthew in 2016. I love my state and am worried about the safety of North Carolineans living in flood zones -- people who have not had to withstand weather like what we're seeing now.
Puerto Rico! Because of climate change, half of the island will be under water in a couple years.
My hometown -- Delhi, India. I've seen it evolve over the years and not in a good way. The air pollution and heat gets worse every year and it's really sad to see it change like this.
Montana... is becoming more prone to wildfires. As a place close to my heart, I wish it could stay the same forever. Inevitably, this is not the case.
I am from Miami and we have the most beautiful beaches, but recently, plastic and trash has been accumulating. Furthermore, climate change has caused an increase in hurricanes which damage existing ecosystems. I feel sad.
Flat Rock Brook Nature Center! Climate change is increasing temperatures and rainfall patterns, affecting flooding and changing the nature preserve's hours. It makes me feel sad and anxious for the future.