Hardest hit: Survival strategies from the frontlines of climate change

Hardest hit: Survival strategies from the frontlines of climate change



Viewer (optional): Brian Rawson

How to view: Request a free DVD from Oxfam America (while supplies last)

Or click here for the films online:

Global Crisis (10 minutes) - overview of climate change effects on people


US Gulf Coast (6 minutes) - Hurricane Katrina and building back stronger


El Salvador (6 minutes) - Safer source of drinking water to endure hurricanes



Ethiopia (6 minutes) - Innovative early warning system based on interviewing women in the community


Vietnam (6 minutes) - Farming families adapting to climate change


Director: Alan Grazioso.  Narrated by Majora Carter 

Produced in the US.  Countries featured: Ethiopia, El Salvador, Vietnam, US (Gulf Coast)

Run Time: 34 minutes to show all segments

Language: English

Year: 2009

Synopsis: 

Recommendation:  This is an excellent choice for events focused on climate resilience.

The Carbon Rush

The Carbon Rush

How to view: http://www.thecarbonrush.net/
Watch the trailer now and watch the whole movie on YouTube on August 13th 2014.

Director: Amy Miller | Producer: Byron Martin

Produced | Country: Worldwide

Run Time: | Language: English

Synopsis: Hundreds of hydroelectric dams in Panama. Incinerators burning garbage in India. Biogas extracted from palm oil in Honduras. Eucalyptus forests harvested for charcoal in Brazil.

What do these projects have in common? They are all receiving carbon credits for offsetting pollution created somewhere else. But what impact are these offsets having? Are they actually reducing emissions? And what about the people and the communities where these projects have been set up?

THE CARBON RUSH takes us around the world to meet the people most impacted. They are the least heard in the cacophony surrounding in this emerging “green-gold” multi-billion dollar carbon industry.

From indigenous rain forest dwellers having their way of life completely threatened, to dozens of Campesinos assassinated, to the livelihood of waste pickers at landfills taken away, THE CARBON RUSH travels across four continents and brings us up close to projects working through the United Nations, Kyoto Protocol designed Clean Development Mechanism. This groundbreaking documentary feature asks the fundamental questions “What happens when we manipulate markets to solve the climate crisis? Who stands to gain and who stands to suffer?”

Opinion:

Recommendation:

Impact of the FTA with Colombian Small-Scale Framers

Impact of the FTA with Colombian Small-Scale Framers and Workers 

How to view: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ny3C3d-ToI 

Director: | Producer: Enlalucha Films, US Office on Colombia 

Produced | Country: Colombia  

Run Time: 6.41 minutes  | Language: Spanish (English subtitles) 

Synopsis:  Today, the U.S. Office on Colombia, along with more than 400 other organizations, academics, and individuals from the United States and Colombia, sent a letter to the U.S. Congress asking representatives to vote no on the pending U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement (FTA). The Labor Action Plan has not stopped new violence on trade unionists and labor activists from taking place, nor has it banned third party contracting that obstructs workers’ ability to unionize. 

Opinion: This powerful video voices the opinions of small-scale farmers, laborers and women of how rural areas in Colombia are being displaced. See how hegemonic countries affect the developing world. 

Bajo Aguán: The Clamor for Land

Bajo Aguán: The Clamor for Land 

How to view: http://www.albasud.org/video/en/22/bajo-aguan-grito-por-la-tierra-english-version

Viewer: Zhenxi 

Director: | Producer: Alba sud and Rel-UITA with the support of the The World Rainforest Movement (WRM), Food First International, The Coordination of Popular Organizations of the Aguán (COPA), Radio Universidad (UCA Nicaragua) anb Comitè de Empresa de Serveis Funeraris de Barcelona
Produced | Country: Honduras

Run Time: 30 minutes  
Language: (Spanish with English subtitles)

Synopsis: a film about one of the most violent regions in Honduras since the 2009 coup, where the country’s largest and wealthiest landowner, Miguel Facussé, has used extreme levels of violence to re-press peasant communities in order to expand his massive oil palm plantations. Since the coup, over 80 Aguán peasants and activists fighting for the right to land been murdered.

Opinion:
The film documented the struggle people in Bajo Aguan are facing by letting the people speak for themselves. It starts with an introduction to the military regime and follows up with the reality of farmer's lives after the resettlement. 
The film highlighted the cruelty and injustice in the region through people's narration. Through the interviews with the local activists, survivors and government officials, we get a holistic idea of the impacts the violence has caused. 

Good with documentation, but no suggestive actions. See hope but mostly depressing.

 Recommendation:

Good for motivational purpose. It leaves a powerful impression. However, the documentary does not link Oxfam's campaigns as the solutions to the problem. 

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