Videos & Publications | Island Reach

In this time of polycrisis, hard data is crucial, yet if activists have learned anything along the way, facts and statistics alone aren't always enough to move the dial. Compelling, grounded stories can fire imagination, harness the power of motivation, and help drive change.
Island Reach uses both visual and written media to help tell important stories.
Check out some of our videos and publications.

VIDEOS

Island Reach videos serve various purposes, Many are made with community participation for local screening and to support local initiatives or share stories about lessons learned. Others reach across distance and difference seeking recognition and reciprocity amongst international partners and activists. Here are just a few of our over 50 productions, most of which can be viewed on our Youtube channel.

Relationality, activism, and the entangled connection between humans and the more than human are the inspiration behind this short film which immerses viewers in old Wabanaki-Acadian forest in southwest Nova Scotia, Canada and explores local efforts to halt logging and seek protection for this rich habitat.
This is the first in a series in development exploring these themes of relationships with the more than human.

Produced as part of our partnership with PELUM Kenya supporting agroecological transformation. This is the first of several short videos produced as part of this collaboration. An early version of this video was shared by PELUM Kenya Country Coordinator, Rosinah Mbenya, at COP 29 in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Produced in partnership with the Centre for Local Prosperity and filmed at the renowned Thinkers' Lodge in Pugwash, NS. From the Great Unraveling towards a Great Turning is a 30-minute international documentary on the polycrisis, featuring global thinkers and Mi'kmaq Elders Joseph Michael and Albert Marshall.

Immuto (Change) is an Island Reach production intended to help stimulate the processes of intellectual, emotional, and ethical decolonization needed to change the course of the climate emergency and biocultural collapse. Shot in 2019 in Vanuatu, Viet Nam, Morocco, the EU, UK, and US, Immuto features stories of crisis and action told by compelling changemakers living and working on the frontlines. More than just compelling stories, however, these agents of change address viewers directly, calling for the mutual recognition and solidarity required for our varied yet interrelated struggles to safeguard our planet’s biodiversity, adapt to the rapid changes, demand climate justice, and draw down carbon.
Watch the full film at Films For Action, available here. IMMUTO is an award-winning documentary that has been screened around the world and at the People's Summit for Climate Justice at COP26 in Glasgow.

Produced for the Pacific Islands Climate Action Network and screened across Glasgow during the climate talks, COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland 2021

An Island Reach production, partially funded by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, this video documents the emerging role played by women in natural resource management and environmental decision-making as part of Wan Smolbag's Vanua'tai Resource Monitors Network.Their participation in the Vanua'tai network as environmental stewards and agents of change is inspirational.These women serve as models for women in conservation and communities across the Pacific region and beyond.

An Island Reach video featuring conservation leaders, community activists, and government experts from Vanuatu sharing their experience and knowledge with fellow Ni-Vanuatu. Designed as a resource tool for communities who are responding to climate change, economies of scale, and population pressures, it addresses food security, natural resource use, and the importance of community managed conservation areas.

This video about women's leadership and climate action was produced in partnership with Vanuatu Climate Action Network with funding from OXFAM.

An Island Reach video on organic gardening techniques for climate change adaptation in Vanuatu. Presented by a local farmer from Nguna Island and by the Torba Provincial Agricultural Officer.

Traditional stories, local ecological knowledge, and marine science practice come together for the people of east coast Tanna. This short video is about the formation of a 3-part marine conservation strategy where the village relies on the traditional Tabu area, which is open and closed according to local Chiefs and community needs, a permanently closed area, and an open fishing area. This combination pursues conservation goals, promotes repopulation of overfished species, and recognizes the current food security needs of the community. This project received support from the Global Green Grants Fund.

The community of Worasiviu is facing significant coastal erosion due to reef subsidence, caused by factors including climate change, Crown of Thorns infestations, and overfishing. This video highlights social impacts and the community's efforts to respond, and was used as a case study in a report on Loss and Damage from climate change prepared by the Danish Red Cross and CARE Denmark.

Island Reach's first music video! Featuring Mota Lava's Pillar of Fire Bamboo Band with lyrics by IR's Willie Kenneth, the song addresses climate change impacts and community adaptations.

Cyclone Pam in March 2015, followed by a severe El Nino, led to a water crisis for the people of Vanuatu. Here, the people of Buninga Island share their dramatic experience. This video, produced in partnership with Live & Learn Vanuatu, follows up on the Buninga Water Security Project video, and IR's assistance with transporting and installing water collection systems.

One of our earliest videos. Produced in partnership with 350 Pacific, this video documents Vanuatu "climate warriors" and the ceremonial launch of a traditional canoe which joined a flotilla of boats from 12 Pacific Island nations that traveled to Australia to protest the expanding coal industry.

Publications about Island Reach work

Finding agroecology: Navigating constitutive contradictions of common interest. Special Issue: Ways of knowing and being for agroecology transitions. (2024)

Authors: Janis Steele, Connor B. Steele-McCutchen, Sriramappa Gonchikara, Shamim Hossain, Brooks McCutchen. In Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene, University of California Press.12 (1): 00080. Included in the FAO's Agroecology Knowledge Hub

Stories from the Blue Continent: Women Activists, Allies, and Radical Difference. (2021)

Author: Janis Steele. In Climate Adaptation: Accounts of Resilience, Self Sufficiency and Systems Change. Arkbound: Glasgow, Scotland.

Three articles on indigenous conservation actions, published in Island Life Magazine, a general interest magazine serving Oceania:

“Kae Kae Krab in the Torres Islands.” Island Life Magazine. Issue 37, Dec 2019, pp 14-20.

“Island Women Leading the Way to a Sustainable Future.” Island Life Magazine. Issue 36, June 2019, pp 4-9.

“How to Grow a Coral Garden: Islanders Looking After Their Reefs.” Island Life Magazine. Issue 35, April 2019, pp16-23.