Climate Change Documentary Gets Academy Award Nod

While anti-science climate change deniers continue to play a reckless game of roulette with the planet’s future, a documentary on climate change and its impact on a group of South Pacific Islanders has been nominated for an Academy Award. Sun Come Up: A Story of Climate Change Refugees, is a documentary by Jennifer Redfearn that follows the relocation of some of the world’s first environmental refugees, the Carteret Islanders. The movie’s website describes it this way:

When rising seas threaten their survival, the islanders face a painful decision: they must leave their beloved land in search of a new place to call home.

The film follows a group of young Carteret Islanders led by Nick Hakata as they search for land in Bougainville, an autonomous region of Papua New Guinea 50 miles across the open ocean.

The move will not be easy as Bougainville is recovering from a 10-year civil war.  Many Bougainvilleans remain traumatized by the “Crisis” as the civil war is known locally.  Yet, Sun Come Up isn’t a familiar third world narrative.  Out of this tragedy comes a story of hope, strength, and profound generosity.

San Kamap (Sun Come Up) means sunrise in pidgin and reflects this sentiment – the resilience of the community, and the hope that’s present at the start of a new day.  The Carteret Islanders have formed their own organization, Tulele Peisa, working with local leaders on the ground to relocate 1,700 islanders to Bougainville over the next ten years.

As the movie states:

This is one of the first stories of climate change refugees.

It won’t be the last.

More links:

Sun Come Up Home

Academy Award Nominees