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All Roads Film Festival
Thought-Provoking Movies: Last weekend I saw some short documentary films at National Geographic's All Roads Film Festival in Washington, DC. One that really made an impression on me was 'Time & Tide,' by Julie Bayer and Josh Salzman. It depicted the plight of the South Pacific island chain of Tuvalu (map), which could disappear in 50 years due to the rising sea level. Tuvalu consists of nine coral atolls, all of which are barely above sea level -- mostly a few feet above, I believe. Global warming is heating the ocean, causing sea levels to rise, because water expands when it gets warmer. The rising water threatens the very existence of the islands, but also threatens its water table and crops by saltwater intrustion.
The film was very well done. It told the story by following a group of Tuvalu ex-patriots, who, after being gone for 20 years, returned to the islands from New Zealand to see what modern Tuvalu was like. Much of the film showed how these once isolated islands have been changed by Western culture and business. There are more motorcycles and cars now, along with new buildings and other development.
The visitors pointed out where their villages used to be, areas now washed away and covered by the sea. An unusual high tide flooded the islands in 2002. The people see their islands and their way of life slipping away. On the main island, it seemed that people could no longer live on the "free food" -- from fishing and coconut harvesting. They had traditional Western jobs and more and more food was being imported.
In 2000, Tuvalu sold its "dot-tv" domain name to an Internet company for $50 million. It used part of that money to join the United Nations and lobby for action against global warming. As the movie states, Tuvalu could soon be victims of fossil fuel use by the industrial North, because that fuel use causes pollution that is warming the planet and pushing up sea levels.
The question for the world is indeed a moral one. The Tuvaluans have lived on their islands for 1,500 years. Will the world work together to protect them? Will we work to protect from climate change all people who live in low-lying areas? 'Time & Tide' presents these questions in a compelling way. Go see it if you get a chance.
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The All Roads Film Festival is traveling to Vancouver, Canada this week and will visit Jackson Hole, Wyo., Sante Fe, N.M., and Bainbridge Island, Wash. later this year. See the schedule here.
Technorati Tags: All Roads Film Festival, Time and Tide, Tuvalu, Time & Tide, Global Warming, Climate Change, National Geographic
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10/23/06 6:45 AM
As these cycles are separated by thousands of years, we should consider sources
outside of our earth? Sun spot cycles, and how about our solar system's position
within the galaxy??
No doubt we can do small things to improve our local environment, but nature can
wipe out those benefits in the explosion of a single volcano. Let's keep a rational
perspective on just how much money can achieve, or is it really an scheme to
redistribute wealth aka power.