During his time in office, former United Stated President Barack Obama protected more public land and water than any other US President, including 1.65 million acres of land in Nevada and Utah and 87,000 acres in Maine. Furthermore, he established a program that still allows all fourth graders free admission to national parks.
For the next chapter in his journey of conservation and awareness for nature reserves, he partnered with Netflix to create a documentary about the greatest national parks in the world. Our Great National Parks is “an epic five-part series narrated by President Barack Obama that invites viewers to celebrate and discover the power of our planet’s greatest national parks and wild spaces”.
1. Our Great National Parks
The docuseries has its release on 13 April and it spans five continents, travelling from the waters of Monterey Bay, California, to the bright red soil of Kenya’s Tsavo National Park, the lush rainforests of Indonesia’s Gunung Leuser National Park, the majestic terrain of Chilean Patagonia and more.
Species found nowhere else on Earth. Join me in this celebration of our planet’s greatest national parks and wilderness. This is a journey through the natural wonders of our shared birth right.
Barack Obama
According to the official description, “the series brims with wonder, humour, and optimism as each episode tells the story of a national park through the lives of its wildest residents — both big and exceptionally small — and explores our changing relationship with wilderness.” “When humanity started to protect these wild places, we did not realize how important they would become. They’re a haven for endangered species and a hotbed for scientific research” explains President Barack Obama.
The series is a Wild Space production in association with Higher Ground Productions and Freeborne Media and it will coincide with a nature protection fundraising campaign by the Wildlife Conservation Society in collaboration with Count Us.
2. The Obamas and Netflix
Higher Ground Productions is Barack and Michelle Obama’s production company which, in 2018, entered into a multi-year agreement to produce films and series with Netflix.
At the time, Barack Obama said one of the simple joys of their time in public service was “getting to meet so many fascinating people from all walks of life, and to help them share their experiences with a wider audience. That’s why Michelle and I are so excited to partner with Netflix – we hope to cultivate and curate the talented, inspiring, creative voices who are able to promote greater empathy and understanding between peoples, and help them share their stories with the entire world. “Barack and I have always believed in the power of storytelling to inspire us, to make us think differently about the world around us, and to help us open our minds and hearts to others. Netflix’s unparalleled service is a natural fit for the kinds of stories we want to share, and we look forward to starting this exciting new partnership” underlines Michelle Obama.
Within this partnership, the former first lady starred in the Netflix documentary “Becoming”, based on her international best-seller memoir. Higher Ground has also produced some educational series for children, like “Ada Twist, Scientist” and “Waffles + Mochi”, which can be found on the streaming platform.
