Matt Damon, Adrian Grenier, David Attenborough star in Earth Day documentaries

The first Earth Day of the COVID years brought a bright-eyed, bright-skies novelty. In Northern India, for instance, people were delighted; for the first time, they could see the Himalayas.

The second pandemic Earth Day even brought a film about slowed-down world: “The Year the Earth Changed” saw nature rebounding vibrantly.

Now comes the third one. Filmmaking has been difficult, but there’s still a big, ambitious line-up on PBS and the streaming channels.

There’s a new Charlie Brown tale on Apple TV+, a stunning global trip to national parks on Netflix and a rich David Attenborough collection on Discovery+.

And on Friday, the choices grow. BBC America starts a two-day marathon of epic nature reruns, PBS Kids fills much of its day with animated nature and Disney+ adds three major documentaries. It has:

"Polar Bear," from DisneyNature, which previously made 10 epic movies that opened in American theaters around Earth Day. This one features animals that are very eco-dependent, said filmmaker Alastair Fothergill. "They hunt and live entirely on sea ice. It’s likely polar bears will be the first of the sort of A-listers, stars of the natural world, who may go extinct because of global warming."

"Explorer: The Last Tepui," with climber Alex Honnold on an expedition to help biologist Bruce Means explore an untouched environment. "I’m still driven by the climbing," Honnold said, "but it’s definitely a big bonus to do something useful."

"The Biggest Little Farm: The Return," revisiting Molly and John Chester, who left their city life to revive an abandoned, 81-acre farm in an eco-friendly way. Their 2018 film was successful; now John Chester sees the pandemic as tightening people’s focus, "bringing us together around the same problem. It’s giving us an opportunity to really see just how unified we are with the biosphere."

That pandemic made things complicated for the "Polar Bear" project. "We were in the middle of a massive shoot, with three cameramen," Fothergill said. "After 10 days, COVID came in and we had to drag the whole team back."

For the "Tepui" crew, that pandemic seemed like a different world. "The expedition was so remote, out in the jungle, that we didn’t have to worry about COVID," Honnold said. Then it "was a bit of a shock when we came back into civilization after a month. We’d sort of forgotten that a pandemic was ongoing."

There were plenty of other things to worry about, while stomping through that wet jungle. "It was kind of like wading through chocolate pudding for 10 straight days," filmmaker Taylor Rees said. "We also had Bruce Means with us, who is 80 years old and 300 pounds, so we were kind of moving at his pace."

The Chesters, by comparison, could stay at home. As more people become interested in small, eco-friendly farms, they’ve conducted weekly tours, done Internet features and made two films.

"It wasn’t an easy thing for our marriage, to farm and also tell a story and then another one," John said.

Added Molly: "We have an amazing couples counselor."

That may be something lots of people need, amid the third COVID-time Earth Day.

Earth Day TV coming up

Wednesday (April 20), at pbs.org and the PBS Video app: PBS has "Changing Planet" at 8 p.m. "Earth Emergency" follows at 10 p.m.

Friday and Saturday: BBC America has a marathon of lush documentary series. "Planet Earth" is 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, followed by the marine-world "Planet Earth: Blue Planet II" from 5-11 p.m. They then rerun "Planet Earth" from 11 p.m. to Saturday at 9 a.m., "Blue Planet II" from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, then "Africa" from 3-8 p.m.

Also: The PBS Kids channel keeps adding Earth-themed animation. A new one this year, on "Elinor Wonders Why," airs at 7 and 9 p.m. Friday. Others on Friday include eco-episodes of "Ready, Jet, Go" at 6:30 a.m., "Peg + Cat" at 7 a.m., "Super WHY" at 7:30 a.m., "Nature Cat" at noon and "Pinkalicious & Peterrific" at 3 p.m.

Already airing

Animated specials, new and old. "It’s the Small Things, Charlie Brown" is on Apple TV+, joining Apple’s collection of past Peanuts films. "Happy Birthday, Earth Day," on HBO Max, is a 1990 special with voices including Lainie Kazan and the late Christopher Reeve and Fred Gwynne. Both are a half-hour and kid-friendly.

On Paramount+, an "Earth Through Different Lenses" carousel, through April 26. "Wasteland” is a new four-parter, viewing waste-management in Alabama, New York, Florida and Iowa; "Bring Your Own Brigade" is a 2021 movie following people battling wildfires. Also, there’s "Aerial America," plus aerial series on Africa, Greece and New Zealand. Other films include "America’s Badlands" and "Russia’s Wild Sea," plus "Epic Yellowstone," "Arctic Secrets," "Undiscovered Vistas," and more.

Discovery+ has a collection (through Sunday, April 24) of films it made, plus ones from its related channels. Its originals include films from Ellen DeGeneres ("Endangered"), former Wall Street lawyer Patrick Dykstra (the eight-part "Chasing Ocean Giants") and several celebrities – Matt Damon, Jane Fonda, Adrian Grenier, etc. – in 8-12 minute films, packaged as "Action Planet Climate Challenge."

From Animal Planet is "Crikey! It’s the Irwins."

From the BBC are several films with David Attenborough: "The Mating Game," "A Perfect Planet," "Planet Earth II" and (also with Prince William) "The Earthshot Prize." Others (from BBC and/or the Discovery Channel) include "Mysterious Planet," "The Story of Plastic," "Wild Africa: Rivers of Life" and "Judi Dench’s Wild Borneo Adventure."

Netflix calls this Earth Month, with a "One World, Infinite Wonder" collection of 170 films. That’s led by "Our Great National Parks," a spectacular five-parter in which Barack Obama ranges from his native Hawaii to his father’s Kenya homeland. Others include "Our Planet," "Animal" and "David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet." It also includes some mainstream shows, from "Bill Nye, the Science Guy" to "Don’t Look Up," the piercing, Oscar-nominated sorta-comedy about choosing to ignore a problem.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Earth Day 2022: Stream these nature documentaries this weekend