US 2021, 76 min Directors COSTA BOUTSIKARIS and ANNA PALMER
Climate change is undeniably the most pressing issue we are facing in our lifetime, and how we should deal with it is still being debated. It may appear that there are no viable solutions, but perhaps the answer lies in plain sight. For millennia, Native Americans have successfully managed their natural resources despite discrimination and forced colonization. Inhabitants: An Indigenous Perspective takes us on a journey through deserts, coastlines, forests, mountains, and prairies to see how various Indigenous communities are restoring their ancient relationships with the land. We visit a Hopi farmer in Arizona growing crops without dependence on rainfall, the traditional Blackfeet herders of Montana are now managing the buffalo herds, the Karuk people of Northern California who have perfected controlled burnings in their forests, and Hawaiian natives who are reclaiming commercial plantations in exchange for food secure gardens. It soon becomes quite clear that as the climate crisis escalates these time-tested practices of North America’s original inhabitants are becoming increasingly essential in our rapidly changing world.