Use your Netflix addiction to actually learn something new by watching these streaming documentaries available right now.

Let’s face it, we are all addicted to Netflix (or the streaming service of our choice). But all that time spent streaming in front of screen doesn’t have to be such a waste. While you may still want to catch up on the latest Bravo melodrama, add a documentary or two to your queue so you have something else to talk about at the next office party besides the “Real Housewives of Whatever.”

Whether your tastes run more to true crime, pop culture stories, politics, or getting woke, these streaming documentaries will keep you from having nothing to talk with the cool kids at the party.

10 Streaming Documentaries on Netflix to Watch Now

1. “Sour Grapes” (2016)

A lighthearted true crime documentary that chronicles a fine-wine scammer who bilked wine collectors out of millions. Even one of the Koch brothers makes an appearance–and he even got scammed.

2. “Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press” (2017)

President Trump isn’t the only one attacking the Fourth Estate. In this documentary that outlines the battle between wrestler Hulk Hogan and Gawker media, the future of a free and open press is called into question.

3. “Cosmos: a Spacetime Odyssey” (2014)

While this documentary series with Neil DeGrasse Tyson came out a few years ago, it’s worth a rewatch or if you haven’t yet seen it. Bonus points if you have watched the original “Cosmos” series with Carl Sagan.

4. “The Keepers” (2017)

A riveting a disturbing docu-series that examines a decades old murder of a nun and the suspected link to a priest accused of abuse. Riveting and disturbing.

5. “GLOW: The Story of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling” (2012)

If you’ve already seen the original Netflix series “Glow,” this documentary is a must-see. It chronicles the real life story of The Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling phenomenon from the 1980s.

6. “Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things” (2016)

Anyone interested in the concept of less is more needs to watch this compelling documentary. It features Americans who reject the notion that things bring happiness.

7. “13th” (2016)

Named after the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, this documentary chronicles the “intersection of race, justice and mass incarceration in the United States.”

8. “Small is Beautiful: A Tiny House Documentary” (2014)

Intrigued by the concept of tiny houses? Follow along with four people who bucked the housing crisis by joining the tiny house movement to create cozy and affordable homes.

9. “Requiem for the American Dream” (2015)

According to Noam Chomsky the American Dream is dead. He lays  all out about the how the bulk of America’s wealth and influence is in the hands of hands of a few and how that has changed everything.

10. “What the Health” (2017)

If “Cowspiracy” wowed you, get ready to never look at food the same again. The same filmmakers are back, examining this time the link between diet and disease, and the billions of dollars at stake in the healthcare, pharmaceutical and food industries.

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The vegan diet is about to get a Titanic makeover as Academy Award winning director, deep ocean explorer, and committed vegan and environmentalist James Cameron is producing the forthcoming documentary “The Game Changers.” The film is being directed by Louis Psihoyos, who won the 2010 Academy Award for best documentary feature for “The Cove,” which followed the controversial Japanese dolphin fishing practice.

“The Game Changers” aims to discuss one of the most common misconceptions about the vegan diet – that protein is somehow lacking or incomplete compared with animal protein. Some of the world’s top athletes are vegan or vegetarian including Grand Slam tennis star Venus Williams, boxing legend Mike Tyson, and nine-time track and field Olympic gold medalist, Carl Lewis. Athletes, soldiers, and cultural icons will discuss how they thrive on a vegan diet.

““The world’s strongest guy is a vegan,” Psihoyos told Boulder Magazine. “The world’s fastest guy, Carl Lewis, was the first to break 10 seconds, and he did it when he was a vegan.”

“We’re trying to dispel the myth that you need protein from animals to become a real man,” Psihoyos said. “I’m probably more excited about this one than anything I’ve done so far because I feel like it will change things perceptibly.”

According to Psihoyos, switching to a plant-based diet is the single most impactful step one can take toward reducing global warming. Cameron’s vegan commitment also highlights the benefits to the planet and the climate. He addressed climate change issues in his 2013 documentary series “The Years of Living Dangerously.”  Cameron recently partnered with another athlete who’s embraced a plant-based diet, former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. They worked together on several P.S.A.s focused on the benefits of reducing one’s meat intake.

The new film came to Psihoyos and Cameron through Ultimate Fighting Champion James “Lightning” Wilks.

“He and Joseph Pace, who works on animal rights up in Canada, came to me with the idea. They wanted to know if I knew of a director who could do the film, and I started thinking about it,” says Psihoyos.

“About 18 percent of the carbon dioxide that we produce comes from the raising of feed for animals that we, in turn, are going to eat,” Psihoyos says.

“So if you want to save the oceans, if you want to save the environment, the best thing you can do—and you do it three times a day—is develop more of a plant-based diet. It’s more important than solar panels or driving a Prius or an electric car.”

The film is set for release later this year.

Find Jill on Twitter and Instagram

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In case you haven’t heard the news, Richard Simmons is missing. Not missing in that no one knows of his whereabouts, but more like he is missing from public life–and has been for several years now.

A longtime mainstay of late night TV and shock jock radio, the lovable Simmons has been missing from radio and television airwaves for three years. The exercise guru’s home was a perpetual stop on the Hollywood celeb bus tours, and Simmons could be counted on to entertain the tourists regularly. He also taught a weekly exercise class at his studio, Slimmons, and was actively in contact with friends and fans around the world–and then he wasn’t. Simmons suddenly, without any warning, retreated to his Hollywood mansion. What is disturbing to some is not that he retreated from his fame, but that he retreated from those to whom he was close.

Enter “Missing Richard Simmons,” a new podcast called the “next cult audio obsession” by The New York Times. Filmmaker Dan Taberski was a Slimmons regular and a friend of Richard’s. Before Simmons disappeared from public life, he and Taberski had been in talks about a documentary featuring Simmons. “Missing Richard Simmons” is a continuation of that work and is Dan’s search for Richard–the deeper he digs, the stranger it gets. Simmons was last seen in public on February 2014, and the podcast premiered three years later almost to the day.

The show has not debuted without criticism, though. Wired magazine’s headline on the story sums up the disparagement best, “’Missing Richard Simmons’ is gripping. And also kinda icky.” Taberski is at the center of the of it all with critics claiming that the podcast is less the work of a friend and more the work of self-serving exploitation. I say, it’s a lot more complicated than that.

For many, Simmons might have been thought of as a has-been, a caricature, a wacky figure to ignore, but through Taberski’s storytelling, a much more complex and layered picture of Simmons emerges. While the exploration of someone’s life (and retreat from public life) without their consent seems wrong, the humanizing of a figure many have easily dismissed has merit. The podcast, just like the man it seeks to find (or more accurately to lure out of seclusion), is much more complicated than it first appears to be.

There are many theories behind the disappearance of Simmons, and for more on those you will need to listen to “Missing Richard Simmons.” The podcast will feature just six episodes, and you can catch each one on iTunes, GooglePlay, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

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If you, like the rest of Netflix’s subscribers, are obsessed with the “Making a Murderer” docu-series but wonder what to watch next, continue reading for some spoiler-free suggestions.

Whether you think Steven Avery and his nephew, Brendan Dassey, are innocent or guilty, chances are you got sucked into the drama of “Making a Murderer” nonetheless. While the docu-series has its critics, it’s safe to say that since finishing it a lot of folks are looking for what to watch next. Here are our suggestions for what to watch next. The list features both docu-series and documentaries.

What to Watch After “Making a Murderer”

1. “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst” (HBO)

Directed by Andrew Jarecki (“Felicity” and “Capturing the Friedmans”), this six-part documentary series shares the information gleaned from a seven-year investigation into a series of unsolved crimes and their connection to Robert Durst, the wealthy scion of New York’s Durst family. The most interesting aspect of this series is that it was made with his full cooperation, just like “Making a Murderer.”

2. “Central Park Five” (PBS)

If you came away from “Making a Murderer” with concerns about the problems in our justice system, you might want to watch this film. It’s by the award-winning filmmaker Ken Burns and tells the story of the five black and Latino teenagers who were wrongly convicted of raping a white woman in New York City’s Central Park in 1989. The film chronicles the case from the perspective of the five teenagers whose lives were changed forever by a miscarriage of justice.

3. “Kids for Cash”

By the same token, “Kids for Cash” is another film that highlights injustices in the criminal justice system. The film unpacks the notorious scandal of one Pennsylvania judge, who sent more than 3,000 kids to jail, and received millions of dollars in payments from the privately-owned juvenile detention centers where the kids were incarcerated.

4. “Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills” (HBO)

This film is the first in a trilogy that chronicles the story of the 1994 conviction of the ‘West Memphis Three’, a trio of teenagers accused of murdering three boys as part of a Satanic ritual in West Memphis, Arkansas. This film, like “Making a Murderer” takes a  critical look at the criminal justice system, especially when it comes to the juvenile justice system.  The subsequent films in the series are “Paradise Lost 2: Revelations” and “Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory.”

5. “The Prince of Pennsylvania” (ESPN)

If the appeal of “Making a Murderer” were the seemingly unstable cast of characters, then you might want to catch this film. It documents the murder of Olympic-wrestler Dave Schultz who was murdered by John DuPont. It also makes a nice companion to “Foxcatcher,” the film inspired by the murder that came out in 2014.

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We always like to crow about people who take the time to make films that examine the difficult ins and outs of consent. Especially when it’s in an educational format.

The trailer below is for the film “Yeah Maybe, No.” The educational film is meant to teach kids and young adults about just how important consent is, and why it’s so difficult for some people to comprehend the definition of consent.

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If you want to see what it’s like for a little boy whose parents work in the fields, cutting lettuce, watch the soon-to-be-released documentary “East of Salinas.”

The film examines, in depth, the economic conditions that people who work in fields tend to find themselves in, and how those conditions affect their entire family, including their children. Below is the preview, but you can see the film in its entirety on Independent Lens on Monday, December 28th on PBS.

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“Act like a man” and “grow some balls” are incredibly hurtful phrases. And they also reinforce the terrible standards of what it means to be masculine.

Those types of phrases and typical assumptions about what it means to be a “man” in modern America are examined in the documentary, “The Mask You Live In.” Watch the emotional trailer below. Thanks to Bitch for sharing.

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Sure. We all know that Scientology has a back-story that would make for a great B-movie late night feature film. But the reality of Scientology is incredibly scary.

News outlets are never not covering Scientology, the religion founded by L. Ron Hubbard. Every year, another strange and disturbing nugget of information about the church is unearthed and reported to the public.

Recently, the LA Times reported that David Miscavige, the current head of the church, paid two private detectives the follow Miscavige’s 79-year-old father, Ronald Miscavige Sr. David Miscavige had has father followed because he feared his dad would divulge secrets about the church. (Ronald recently left the church.)

Also: Let us not forget all the creepy little details about the church’s abuse toward members in “Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief,” the recently released HBO documentary.

After reading the Times story and watching “Going Clear,” EcoSalon staff felt we should pen a few short, open letters to some celebrities who practice Scientology and ask them what the hell they are thinking…

 1. Beck

Dammit, Beck. I’ve always loved your music but am heartbroken that you choose to follow a religion that hurts its members. Maybe you’re scared to quit the religion because its “powers-that-be” have gathered a lot of dirt about you — well, who cares if that stuff is released? After all, you used to do a lot of weird shit musically in the ’90s… We really don’t think anything the church could release would be any weirder…

2. John Travolta

John! John. We loved you in the ’70s and ’80s… And you killed it in the ’90s classic “Pulp Fiction”. But sometime in the 2000s you got to be a bit… much. And now, every time you make a miss-step (like stroking Idina Menzel’s face at the Oscars) it turns into a heaping pile of creepiness. We think that if you maybe decided to get out of the church, the public may be able to see you as good ol’ John again, and not creepy John.

3. Elisabeth Moss

We think you’re a great actress. And we love your portrayal as Peggy, a smart and sensible woman-about-town in the 1960s on “Mad Men.” Now, would sensible Peggy approve of Scientology? No. No she would not.  It’s time to think more like Peggy, Elisabeth.

4. Tom Cruise

Dude. We can’t even with all of the gross Scientology stuff swirling around about you. All we can say is that maybe, just maybe, if you put your ego aside and saw Scientology for what it really is, we would actually pay money to see your movies again.

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Following the path of cotton from field to suit, Laura Kissel’s documentary “Cotton Road” sets out to explore the fashion industry’s previously elusive supply chain.

“Americans consume nearly 20 billion new items of clothing each year,” reads the opening on-screen caption, followed by the statistic: “98% of it is manufactured overseas.”

A domino effect is soon discovered: one that is largely influenced by U.S. economic conditions, expanding far beyond the fashion industry. That prevalence is first made evident by the dialogue of Carl Brown, a South Carolina cotton farmer, lamenting the impact of the 2008 financial crisis on agriculture. He explains that crops are treated with a chemical weed-killing combination of Roundup and Staple, highlighting the environmental impact of the apparel industry that can begin before factories even become involved. Then, he utters what is perhaps the most blood-boiling sentiment found in the film’s total running time:

“We cannot afford to pay the same price for fertilizer next year that we did this year,” Brown says. “Coupled with that, we’ve had these genetically modified seeds going up [in price]. Monsanto, who’s the primary player in the market, [is] adding to their technology fees.” The biotech giant, it turns out, threatens to appear in more household rooms than the kitchen.”*

Eventually, the cultivated cotton lands by ship in the pollution-fogged Shanghai, where Cathie Xu, a port logistics specialist, states what some might identify as the essence of the supply chain’s every wrongdoing. At first, she says with a laugh, she despised the smell of cotton, until her supervisor told her, “It’s the smell of money.”

“I like the smell now,” she says.

It’s a conviction echoed throughout the film, particularly in the narratives of Chinese textile factory employees: predominantly young women who come to the warehouse-laden, industrial Shanghai suburb of Changzhou out of financial necessity. One of them, Liu Chengfeng, was sent there by her mother at age 18. The money she would earn was necessary to fix the leaking roof of her family’s home, or else the house would flood. Her recollection of the dye factories she observed in Changzhou raise further environmental issues, as she describes “lots of terrible smells coming out, and some polluted water.”

Back in Shanghai, there are more factories. One of them, the Shanghai Sky-High Fashion Company, is managed by Jiang Guifang, a noticeably better-dressed, direct woman who keeps no secrets regarding the supply chain’s corrupt nature. Pay attention to Guifang; she’s the voice behind the documentary’s pivotal final 12 minutes, in which she definitively illustrates where the harmful nature of the cotton and clothing trade comes to fruition.

The first problem is the fee offered by American companies, which she says “has always been low,” but today, “the quantities have fallen. And the price offered now is even lower than before.”

Complicating matters are the factory inspections required by many of these American companies, the funds and time for which relatively small operations, like Guifang’s, do not have. Those who do pass the inspections, she implies, have done so through “underhanded” means.

“If you do business following all the standards, you can not survive,” Guifang explains. “For example, no working overtime. If they work overtime, you need to pay them several times their salary. How can we afford those salaries on the prices offered by American companies?”

In a sense, “Cotton Road” sheds more light on the implications of U.S. economic conditions than it does about its foreign counterparts; after all, it is on American farms where the path appears to begin. Domestically, there already exists the widespread dilemma of paying minimum-wage earners a sustainable living, leaving concerned citizens wondering how to resolve conflicts on both the national and international level. Can they be remedied with federal regulation and, if so, how? Or, is responsibility ultimately assigned to the private sector?

Guifang’s account, however, raises skepticism regarding the plausibility of efforts made by corporations to improve labor conditions overseas, challenging the idea that a significant number of international manufacturers even have the means to follow such standards. At the very least, “Cotton Road” prompts many personal considerations, leaving several members of its audience dejectedly motivated to check the labels of what they have elected to wear that day. The results mirror the montage of images displayed at the movie’s conclusion: A shuffling slideshow of labels originating in China, India, Bangladesh and Indonesia.

The film leaves behind no uncertainty of a troubling reality. Rather, it begs the question of what can be done. To learn more about “Cotton Road” or to attend a screening, visit www.cottonroadmovie.com. 

*A timeline of Monsanto’s penetration of the cotton seed market was compiled in Food & Water Watch’s “Monsanto: A Corporate Profile.”

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NBA star turned animal activist, Yao Ming is now working to protect our elephants. His mission? To turn public opinion on ivory, in his home land of China and around the world, from elitist to socially unacceptable.

It can be tough to fit in. Especially when you are 7’6”. But Yao Ming found his sweet spot on the basketball court where he had a massive fan following in both the US and China. Now he’s a hero off the court, taking to the African bush to aid in banishment of the ivory trade.

That’s right. Yao’s goal is to make the sale and purchase of ivory “socially unacceptable”.

Known as The Gentle Giant in his basketball days, Yao has said he was first drawn to Africa because many of the animals there are bigger than him. It seems more than the physical similarities, it is his big heart that has moved him toward this mission.

Humans have killed 4.5 million elephants in the past 60 years. Over 20,000 elephants died last year alone, along with more than 1,000 rhinos. At this rate it is estimated that these two species could be extinct within the next ten years. Can you imagine your kids or grandkids living in a world without these animals?

In his documentary on the illegal elephant poaching and ivory trade, “Saving Africa’s Giants” which aired on November 18 on Animal Planet, Yao visits Africa to bring the message back home. The people there have no idea he is a mega star in his country. They do, however, share his love of basketball. And his mission to abolish the ivory trade. As he shoots hoops with the locals, one man explains how elephants used to pass through their village regularly. Now they are scarce. Instead roaming further away, scared, skittish and stressed out. Many with bullet holes in their bodies. He says this rampant poaching is killing not only their beautiful elephants, but their economy and their heritage.

These gentle giants are being destroyed for their tusks. Ivory is big business and demand is at an all time high. The highest since the beginning of the ivory ban in 1989. And China is the largest consumer. Once a symbol of wealth and power, the newly wealthier middle class has taken to collecting ivory too. But are they thinking about where it comes from in the first place?

In order to harvest ivory the animals must be killed. The ivory never falls off naturally or is taken from a living animal. Don’t let anyone selling ivory tell you otherwise.

Those doing the killing? Illegal poachers. And these are not the back alley renegades we may once have thought. Poachers of today are organized groups with serious ammo, night vision goggles, and the support of many parties throughout the world. An ivory mafia, of sorts.

The gangs, who move quickly and usually at night, spray the herds with automatic weapons hoping to kill a large elephant. Often babies are killed in these rampages, left to die for no reason. Once larger elephants are killed, their faces are crudely chopped off with axes and taken away. Their bodies litter the African landside.

Systems to defeat poaching have done little to no good in the past. So Yao is implementing a new idea…go to the source. He feels this fight should be fought in the marketplace. This means in Chinese trade rather than the fields of Africa. In order to make a difference in the senseless killing of these remarkable animals, the demand for ivory must cease.

Elephants, aside from being beautiful creatures, are emotional mammals. They live in families, love, and mourn. They also have personalities and look out for one another. They are not only becoming extinct but severely traumatized by this senseless carnage.

Elephant herds are led by a matriarch who knows where to go for food and water, and which areas are safe or should be avoided. Once these matriarchs have been taken from the herd by poachers, babies are left to themselves. When a family member dies the remaining elephants gather round the fallen animal, touching the body with their tusks and feet. This is a mourning period where the elephant family says goodbye to their lost member.

While in Africa, Yao and crew watched one elephant family who was left with only one female. The rest had been killed for their tusks. This last female, whose tusks were very long, showed visible scarring by poachers. She’d been treated three times by the local organization. It is likely only a matter of time before she is destroyed too, her family left to fend for themselves.

“If we buy ivory it makes all of us killers as well,” says Ming. He hopes the documentary shows those at home in China, and around the world, the realities of the ivory trade. When you see the carcass of a young elephant, face missing and life needlessly ended, it makes that ivory trinket seem absolutely pointless and ridiculous.

This past February, the Obama administration tightened the rules on the sale of ivory in the US. Vendors must prove that the ivory they are trying to sell was imported before the 1989 ban. Antique ivory is also exempted with proof of age, and no ivory sales are allowed across state lines.

Conservation groups feel any restrictions on the sale of ivory will help to end illegal poaching. Yao Ming backs them up and is doing what he can to send this message to the people of his country and around the world.

I don’t want to live in a world without elephants. Do you? Wondering what we can do here at home? Take the Ivory Free Pledge, donate or volunteer at WildAid.org.

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