A documentary about the first victims of global warming
The Last Days of ShishmarefAn Inupiaq Community Swallowed by the Sea (The Netherlands: 2008, 90 mins.)
Thursday April 8, 2010, 7:00pm
U.C. Theater
Directed by Jan Louter

An astounding documentary on the first victims of global warming, The Last Days of Shishmaref travels to a small village in northwest Alaska, home to an Inupiaq Eskimo community, where homes are literally falling into the sea. The entire village is expected to disappear within 10 years. Shishmaref is the sole settlement on an island in the Chukchi Sea, situated just south of the Arctic Circle, in Alaska. The nearest towns are over 150 kilometers away. The island is inhabited by Inupiaq families who, for centuries, have been eking out a self-supporting existence with hunting as their main source of livelihood.  In the past few years the village has been forced to confront two great forces -- the increasing influence of modern Western culture and the Earth’s increasing temperature.  In the past 30 years, the temperature has risen 4 degrees Celsius and the polar ice caps have started to melt. As a result, longer winter storms terrorize the island and cause enormous damage to its coastline. In order to save them, fourteen houses had to be moved further up on the island on large skis. The entire Inupiaq community is now facing a very difficult and expensive decision – whether to move the entire village to the mainland, an act that will irreparably change their community, their livelihood, culture and traditions.

Discussions to Follow Each Screening. Please join us.

Producer's Web Site: www.TheLastDaysOfShishmaref.com

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