I wanted to write a list of movies to help you “feel cool and beat the heat,” but that felt basic. After all, how many other movie lists are already out there? And how many times can someone recommend you watch the movie “Frozen” as a cool summer respite before you eventually break down and watch it?

So I figured, as climate change progresses, we’re going to have longer periods of intense heat anyway. We’ll actually have a ton of problems, like ocean acidification, increased droughts, and desertification, so I wanted to put together a little list to commemorate that.

Here are fives movies and shows (that are not documentaries) you can watch to remind yourself that while the planet can live without us, we can’t live without the planet:

One: The Twilight Zone’s “The Midnight Sun” (1961), streaming on Paramount+

I watched this episode of “The Twilight Zone” years ago during a Fourth of July marathon, and it still gives me nightmares! It takes place in a horrible alternate reality in which the Earth has sprung out of its orbit and is slowly edging closer to the sun. Everyone is doomed! Whee!

In my digging, I found this 2016 list by Gordon Jackson on Gizmodo you should peruse! Mostly it’s about movies and shows that feature deadly heatwaves, and it features “The Midnight Sun,” as well as many other creepy tales I look forward to exploring.

Two: Dune (2021), streaming on Max

If you haven’t read Frank Herbert’s Dune, consider this your sign to do so! And if you hate reading books, then maybe you’d rather watch the excellent film directed by Denis Villeneuve in 2021. I’m also a fan of the miniseries that came out in the early 2000s on the Syfy channel, which includes the very fun sequel miniseries “Frank Herbert’s Children of Dune.”

“Dune” mostly takes place on the desert planet of Arrakis, where water is so scarce the native Fremen wear stillsuits to recycle every drop of moisture that exits their bodies. The richest people on the planet are water merchants, and a fun way to insult a wealthy person is to call them “water fat.”

Watch “Dune” and be grateful you live on a planet with access to so much fresh water (that we really shouldn’t waste).

Three: Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), streaming on whatever “Philo” is

The first three Mad Max films also take place in crumbling societies and desert wastelands, but those films were created more in response to a gasoline shortage in Australia. In “Mad Max: Fury Road,” the evil villain Imortan Joe presides over his weak populace and warns them all, “Do not, my friends, become addicted to water.”

It’s easy to ignore the environmentalism in “Mad Max” in favor of the many, many dope action sequences, but I think you can enjoy both. “Mad Max: Fury Road” has many salient points about the evils of objectification and how resource scarcity can lead to fear and chaos. So don’t be an Immortan Joe and hog all the best resources for yourself.

Four: Futurama’s “Crimes of the Hot” (2002), streaming on Hulu+

This episode of “Futurama” featured a brilliant and completely realistic solution to climate change: drop a giant ice cube in the ocean. It also featured Al Gore guest starring as himself, and a clip about global warming and the greenhouse effect that is in turn featured in “An Inconvenient Truth.”

And there’s a nice subplot about the similarities between robots and turtles.

Five: “Soylent Green” (1973), available for rent

I used to think every person and their mother knew about “Soylent Green.” Now whenever I bring it up, all I get are blank stares and maybe some pity interest.

“Soylent Green” is based on the prescient 1966 novel “Make Room! Make Room!” by the late science fiction author Harry Harrison. Harry Harrison was like, “Damn, people are having too many babies. That’ll be a problem in the future.” And he was kind of right!

Technically I would argue that the problem is less “overpopulation” and more “poor resource allocation” and “people need to retake kindergarten and learn to share,” but Harrison’s work had some great points. As more people are born and humanity overuses its resources, those born into poverty will continue to suffer, whereas those with money and influence will continue to enjoy a better, and undeserved, quality of life.

The movie “Soylent Green” removes some of humanity’s culpability in favor of a “soylent green is a conspiracy” plot, but many of Harrison’s doomsday-esque prophecies can be seen in the film (which takes place in the futuristic year of 2022). People are often crammed together in sweltering stairways and street corners. Everyone looks sweaty and tired all the time. And almost all remains of nature are gone. Although the “secret” of soylent green may be what some people remember most from this film, I think it also has an important message about the need to preserve what nature and biodiversity we still have, while there’s still time.

Special Mention: “White” (2011), streaming somewhere?

“White” takes place a few days during Christmas in a blisteringly-hot New York City. In this universe, climate change has become so dire that mandatory curfews are in place during the afternoon to prevent heat stroke, and melanin has become a precious resource. A young man finds himself in a complex situation where he must sacrifice his identity to provide for his wife and child.

For a moment, I was convinced I had imagined this short film. Eventually, with more digging, I found a PBS article which led me to the movie, although I’m not sure it’s on any streaming platforms. I followed the link to this website, and that’s about as far as I was able to go. “White” is a unique, Afrofuturistic story with interesting implications, and I hope more people have the opportunity to watch this movie.

So friends, when you’re feeling pessimistic about the environment, what stories do you turn to? “Silent Running“? “The Day After Tomorrow“? “2067“? Let me know what you like!

(Unless it really is “2067,” because that movie is hot garbage)