Barack Obama to Host New Netflix Series

Former President Barack Obama will host a new Netflix original series called Our Great National Parks, which will premiere next month. The docu-series will explore the unique and diverse National Park system in the U.S. and around the world, with narration from Obama. It will premiere on Wednesday, April 13.

Netflix announced Our Great National Parks last year according to a report by Deadline, but the host and narrator has somehow been kept under wraps. It turns out to be none other than the 44th President of the United States, who was already listed as an executive producer alongside former First Lady Michelle Obama. The two worked through their production company Higher Ground as part of their overall deal with Netflix.

A trailer for Our Great National Parks shows Obama on-site for some of the clips and in voice-over for others. It is clear that this will not just be educational – it will be a call to action. Obama highlights the conservation work that goes into protecting national parks, the value they provide to communities and even the scientific value they could add to our technology and medicine.

Obama was considered to be a strong advocate for public lands and waters – at least, relative to other U.S. presidents. During his two-term presidency, he expanded the national parks and set aside over 550 million acres for protection, counting regions of the sea.

Sadly, much of that conservation work was reversed and undone under the following president, Donald Trump. Trump's administration "systematically undermined, degraded and outright attacked the laws that protect our public lands, the agencies that manage them and the irreplaceable resources these places safeguard for the American people," according to a report by The National Parks Conservation Association. It published a full list of all the actions Trump took in regards to public lands during his time in office.

Public lands and national parks in particular saw a huge surge in use and interest during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thanks to their wide-open spaces, the parks are often a safe place to get exercise, meet for a socially distanced get-together or simply get out of the house. This, in turn, has led to renewed campaigns to protect those lands.

Our Great National Parks may push those efforts even further. The documentary series premieres on Wednesday, April 13 on Netflix. It will have five episodes.

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