Pollution, a recurring theme of Bond movies beginning 'Underneath a Mangrove Tree . . .'

"Underneath the Mangrove Tree, My honey and me can watch for the moon . . . ", lyrics to one of the iconic images from the Bond films where Ursula Andress emerges from the sea to meet James Bond, Sean Connery, on a polluted beach in the first ever Bond film, Dr No. A piece of modern cinematic history for Bond and pollution! 

It was, of course, "Mango" and not "Mangrove" but we like to think of it today as Mangrove as we plant your trees in Madagascar to combat Climate Change - why, because Dr No was actually one of the first popular films ever to feature 'pollution', and was right on the money, as Bond ever was and is, in 1962, predating the first Clean Air Act in the United States in 1963.

Bond and Honey Rider find themselves on a Caribbean beach polluted by radioactivity, and both have to be detoxed with a good shower before they can meet the badie himself, Dr No . . . and we know the rest!  

Connery went on to become an icon, symbolising one the great heroes of 20th Century literature and film. In many ways he was a forerunner to the Marvel heroes who dominate our cinema screens today, but still the legend of Bond lives on and every new film is celebrated as a part of our culture. 

As successive generations tastes in films, heroes and heroines evolve, Sean Connery has left us with a legacy of a very human but ever triumphant superhero frequently saving the planet from baddies trying to pollute it!

Bond films with pollution as a theme include:-

Dr No 1962 (nuclear fall out on a Caribbean Island)

Thunderball 1965 (Nuclear Weapons)

On Her Majesty's Secret Service 1969 (Biochemicals)

Diamonds Are Forever 1971 (back to nuclear weapons destruction)

The Man With The Golden Gun (Solar power and the energy crisis)

 Moonraker 1979 (nerve gas to eradicate mankind )

The World is Not Enough 1999 (Pipeline / pollution)

Die Another Day 2002 (Solar Energy and crops)

Quantum of Solace 2008 (Controlling water supply)

 No Time To Die 2021 . . ? An abducted scientist . . . TBA

A 2018 survey in the United States shows that 27% of the population have watched all the Bond films and 47% have watched some of them. That's more than 5 billion viewings in the United States alone. Imagine if everyone who had gone to see a movie at the cinema had planted a tree when they purchased their ticket!