Climate Change Alaska by Sydney Burton

This film was made in Valdez by Sydney Burton. It explores the pressing issue of climate change and its significant effects on the local environment, including Valdez’s glaciers, water levels, and temperatures. The film highlights how these changes are impacting the community and the surrounding natural landscape.

Lesson Plans

A Eulogy to Nature

Students will watch student created films to better understand personal, cultural, historical and environmental connections to place. To better understand […]

Classroom Guide

Essential Questions

What are the environmental implications of receding glaciers?
What are the personal implications of receding glaciers?
Why is it important to understand climate change in Alaska and how does it connect to change in other parts of the world?

Standards

Alaska State Standards History A: A student should understand that history is a record of human experiences that links the past to the present and the future. Geography E2, E4, E5: recognize and assess local, regional, and global patterns of resource use; determine the influence of human perceptions on resource utilization and the environment; analyze the consequences of human modification of the environment and evaluate the changing landscape
Alaska Cultural Standards A1: assume responsibility for their role in relation to the well-being of the cultural community and their life-long obligations as a community member

Resources

Workshop Info

See Stories led film workshops with youth in six Prince William sound communities in 2016 (Cordova, Whittier, Nanwalek, Tatitlek, Valdez, and Chenega Bay) with generous funding and support from the Prince William Sound Science Center (PWSSC). The PWSSC wanted to support youth to create films on their communities' profound and changing relationship to the ocean 25 years after the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill (EVOS). The films created during these workshops focus primarily on vibrant cultural and personal connections to water, and some of them explore the tragedy of EVOS and the long-standing impacts that ripple through to the present moment.