In the early summer of 2019, the Chorus Foundation team and many of our grantees traveled to Alaska to see firsthand the work of our Alaskan partners in addressing climate change and creating a Just Transition to a post-extraction economy. The visit was one of an annual set of gatherings by the Foundation and grantees, which are held each year in one of the Foundation’s four core funding communities.

After our trip, Alaskans experienced a summer like none they have ever had. Many parts of the state had record heat — including Anchorage, which had never before hit temperatures of 90°F. Wildfires swept across the state, a drought in Southeast Alaska continued, and thousands of salmon died of heatstroke in waters that were simply too warm.

“I’ve lived here all my life,” said Kendra Kloster, Executive Director of Native Peoples Action, “And I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

Filmmaker Chris Landry and videographer Jafar Fallahi made two trips to the state to collect stories of what Native and non-Native Alaskans are seeing, and of how they are working together to confront the challenges they face in a state where climate denial is strong and 90 percent of the state budget comes from oil revenue. We are pleased to share this short film about our Alaskan friends and colleagues as they work to restore balance in a place where Indigenous people have lived in balance with nature for over ten thousand years.