Research Guides: UWS 52B: Environmental Justice / Climate Justice: Films about issues affecting indigenous communities

International concerns: short films

If Not Us Than Who
Short videos from around the world explore the social and environmental impacts of development, and the emergence of indigenous communities organizing to protect the land and their livelihoods.

Mishkos Kenomagwen: The Teachings of Grass | Bioneers

Robin Kimmerer, professor of Environmental Science and Forestry, of Potawatomi ancestry, explores the question: “If plants are our teachers, what are their lessons, and how might we become better students?”

Kimmerer describes the tenets of the honorable harvest and how it exemplifies the Potawatomi’s relationship with nature (land as a set of relationships and moral responsibilities) and how it differs from Western understandings of what land means (land as rights, properties, ecosystem services, capital).

Indigenous communities: streaming documentaries

The Condor and the Eagle (Academic Video Online) by Sophie Guerra and Clement Guerra, directors
Publication Date: 20019
Four Indigenous leaders embark on an extraordinary trans-continental adventure from the Canadian plains to deep into the heart of the Amazonian jungle to unite the peoples of North and South America and deepen the meaning of 'Climate Justice'. This film documents the stories of these four well-known Native environmental spokespeople who are at the forefront of a perspective shift in the identity of their people, from forgotten voices to strong shared communities with the power to bring change to the entire world. Their path through the jungle takes them on an unexpectedly challenging and liberating journey, which will forever change their attachment to the Earth and one another.

Homeland: Four Portraits of Native Action
GEJ Teacher's Guide
"Native American activists are fighting back" against the "multinational energy companies and others extract[ing] the hidden mineral wealth of the reservations" where they have been forced to live.
Tar Creek
GEJ Teacher's Guide
What was once the Quapaw Tribe’s reservation is now one of the largest lead and zinc mines on the planet. Tar Creek is home to more than 40 square miles of environmental devastation in northeastern Oklahoma: acid mine water in the creeks, stratospheric lead poisoning in the children, and sinkholes that melt backyards and ball fields..Almost 30 years after being designated for federal cleanup by the Superfund program, Tar Creek residents are still fighting for decontamination, environmental justice, and ultimately, the buyout and relocation of their homes to safer ground.
Standing on Sacred Ground: Fire and Ice
Standing on Sacred Ground: Profit and Loss
Standing on Sacred Ground: Pilgrims and Tourists
Standing on Sacred Ground: Islands of Sanctuary
Companion website
"Around the world, indigenous people stand up for their traditional sacred lands in defense of cultural survival, human rights and the environment."