A new documentary focusing on the effects of climate change in Kivalina and Newtok will premiere this weekend on Al Jazeera America. The 30-minute TV program is titled “When the Water Took the Land.”
Libby Casey is a correspondent for Al Jazeera America, which produced the show for its documentary series, “Fault Lines.” Between President Obama’s fall visit to Alaska and the recent climate talks in Paris, she said there’s a large-scale spotlight on finding ways to fight climate change.
For this documentary, though, Casey said the goal is to highlight people who deal with coastal erosion and rising temperatures in their daily lives.
“When you go to villages like Kivalina and Shishmaref and Newtok, you experience it firsthand,” she said. “So we wanted to go and talk to the people for whom this isn’t theoretical. It’s not a debate in Congress. It’s their real lives.”
The filmmakers landed in Kivalina in early October and filmed there for a few weeks, interviewing everyone from elders and whaling captains to tribal leaders and city officials. Even early on, Casey said it was clear the community had spoken on the subject before.
“A lot of journalists come up and parachute in,” she said. “The community is really patient, and they tell their story over and over again to people like me — to reporters. They tell it to state officials. They tell it to federal officials. One woman we talked to — Lucy Adams, a well-known elder — said, ‘Sometimes I just feel like I should stop talking. We talk and we talk, but what good does it do? Nothing’s changing.’”
Casey said she heard similar frustrations in Newtok, even though the community is a step ahead of Kivalina, having already decided on a site for relocation. Both villages will need major funding — and more federal help — before they can move.
In the meantime, Casey said their lands are being swallowed up by the sea — something she hopes the documentary can convey, with urgency, to viewers around the world. She said Al Jazeera will broadcast the show in the U.S. and internationally, giving residents in Kivalina and Newtok a chance to communicate with a wide audience.
“We were privileged to have people sharing their stories in their own words,” she said. “We really wanted the Yupik community and the Iñupiaq community to be able to share their stories in an honest and raw way.”
The documentary will premiere Dec. 20 and air again on Dec. 22. Viewers in Alaska can watch on Al Jazeera America, available on DISH and DirecTV.
