While President 44 is no longer holding the reins to our nation’s government, Barack Obama has been dedicating his time to the preservation of public lands. He’s now releasing a new Netflix docuseries dedicated to national parks around the world.
The show premieres April 13th in a 5-part series titled, Our Great National Parks.
“Around the world, the more isolated the national park, the more unusual its creatures and the more extraordinary their behaviors,” said Barack Obama in the trailer that premiered Tuesday. “When humanity started to protect these wild places, we did not realize how important they would become.”
A few of the parks featured from around the world are Gunung Leuser National Park in Indonesia, Chilean Patagonia in Chile, Monterey Bay in California, and Tsavo National Park in Kenya.
“Spanning five continents, the series brims with wonder, humor, 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,” explained in the official description of the series.
It’s no surprise the former president has taken on a project to promote the preservation of public lands and water, as no president before him has protected as much land in the history of the United States. He declared 1.65 million acres of land in Nevada and Utah as well as 87,000 in Maine as national monuments while granting fourth graders free admission to these parks till this day.
“Join me in the celebration of our planet’s greatest national parks and wilderness,” says Obama in the conclusion of his trailer. “This is a journey through the natural wonders of our shared birthright.”
Higher Ground Production which is Barack and Michelle Obama’s production company in association with Freeborne Media are the producers of the series. Their production company has a multi-year contract with Netflix to produce more films and series.
“One of the simple joys of our 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,” stated Barack in 2018 about their partnership. “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.”
Later this year their company will be releasing another documentary called “Descendant” based on a community in Alabama called Africatown, where many of the residents are direct descendants of slaves who traveled from Africa on the final illegal slave ship to America.