Original subtitles

(wind blows)

(sound of footsteps)

(engine starts)

# BOB DYLAN: "High Water"

# High water risin', risin' night and day

# All the gold and silver are being stolen away

# Big Joe Turner lookin' East and West

# From the dark room of his mind

# He made it to Kansas City, Twelfth Street and Vine

# Nothing standing there

# High water everywhere

# High water risin', the shacks are slidin' down

# Folks lose their possessions and folks are leaving town

# Bertha Mason shook, it broke it

# Then she hung it on a wall

# Says, "You're dancin' with whom they tell you to

# Or you don't dance at all

# It's tough out there

# High water everywhere

# I got a cravin' love for blazing speed, got a hopped up Mustang Ford

# Jump into the wagon, love, throw your panties overboard

# I can write you poems, make a strong man lose his mind

# I'm no pig without a wig

# I hope you treat me kind

# Things are breakin' up out there

# High water everywhere

# High water risin', six inches 'bove my head

# Coffins droppin' in the street Like balloons made out of lead

# Water pourin' into Vicksburg, don't know what I'm going to do

# "Don't reach out for me," she said "Can't you see I'm drownin' too?"

# It's rough out there

# High water everywhere

(sound of engine)

MAN: And my grandfather, he used to say

this Newtok will become one big island.

It's already an island.

We got river around us.

And when a high wind comes in,

it's like just one big island surrounded by the water.

Water.

Feel like it's getting danger, danger every time it gets close.

Who knows? This one big village can come out.. snap.

Cos we're on the permafrost. We're on the permafrost.

And this, Newtok, it's really heavy you know.

This land keeps coming off the ice. The land, you know.

It's on everybody's mind.

And everybody has realised we have to relocate.

When I got here 10 years ago, people were saying

we're gonna move within 4 years.

And that was an ambitious statement,

I've come to know.

The shoreline is gonna tell us 3 years.

I think.

In a very oral culture,

one has to be able to tell stories.

Elders talk about you have to be a thief of lessons from other people.

I would like to move across the river because it's high ground.

I think people who are thinking about staying here forget that

it floods here in the fall.

People who stay need to be prepared to be devastated by some kind of flood.

Not a safe place.

Yeah. There was a tsunami in my dream.

Like a big flood.

It was scary.

Just recently, like last year.

Hello. My name is Bosco Charles.

I am 19 years old and I am from a small village called Newtok.

I go to a school that has 137 students.

I am writing about our village trying to move because of climate change.

Newtok is a small place that has about 350 people living here.

We are trying to move to a place called Mertarvik.

That's about 9 miles out of Newtok.

I have been in Newtok basically all my life and it has always been

the same every year.

We lose a number of feet of land each year.

What is not the same each year is the extent of the erosion because

the weather isn't the same each year.

Sometimes it cooperates with us but most of the time it doesn't.

In 2013, we lost 150 feet of land from water washing away land.

The nearest home to the water is about 100 yards.

We are going to have a disaster if we don't move.

We need to act as soon as possible before the water gets to us or

it'll eat us like Cookie Monster eating cookies.

It just falls. The land just falls down and

it cannot pick itself up.

I strongly believe we can do this but we will need help.

This place is very important to us because of how much hunting we do.

How much we move around a whole lot.

But the hardest thing we have to face is having no running water

or sewer lines.

We use honey buckets which is a 5 gallon bucket for human waste.

Then we dump it out into the water when it is full.

According to the government, it's about 130million dollars.

Climate change is like playing chess and it has checkmated us.

Please, we need to make a move because we have a possibility

we might lose this battle.

We just want to sit at a table with no worries,

just like everyone else and just have a cup of tea,

laughing away with our cousins.

Life is too short to see us swimming to the nearest village.

That's about 40 miles.

And the water is too cold.

I'm done.

You know their early contacts with Westerners were mainly for trade.

With that trade of course, and governments.

So with the government came either a post office or a school.

So wherever they placed those structures is where these

communities were told that you have to now live.

So regardless, if your main camp which is probably your winter camp

is the most permanent structure you'll have.

You can't go back there ever.

You have to relocate your family here.

They were not a one location people.

They were migratory.

And the way they were able to keep them there was to

ship their children off to boarding school

if they didn't live near the school.

So the challenge began in that initial contact.

I think we're a part of America that the rest of America forgot

that you know, we're... we're here.

When you dig away the layers of what started Newtok's problem,

it was a barge from the 1950's that was bringing the school supplies,

but the river narrower and narrower and the barge captain said

"We're gonna offload here".

Offloaded on the wrong side of the river.

On this side.

He should've offloaded on that side.

So it was the old BIA School. Bureau of Indian Affairs School.

Being dropped off here, that started it all.

It's hard to understand what the psychological impacts were

when they said " You no longer can do that or that or that.

And if you don't come here, we're taking your children."

So I would think that, I know they talk about generational trauma..

When you have been doing this for 15,000 years,

and then somebody puts the stop on it,

the consequences are what we have today.

That permafrost is down there.

Now, what is happening to the permafrost in Newtok?

CHILDREN: It's melting.

And because it's melting, it causes erosion.

So how many people have gone and walked along the edge of the river?

Lots of people.

< You might smell poop while walking.

Yeah, because that's where you guys dump your honey buckets.

But if you do walk along there... Oh my God.

...what's happening to all of the shoreline?

Disappearing.

My class last semester, in the fall we went out there and measured

how much the erosion was.

How much do you think we lost last year?

We lost about 35 feet.

> I was close. You were close.

35 feet of ground in just about 3 months while we were measuring.

That's fast. It is fast.

That means the river is 35 feet closer to town than

what it was the year before.

So do you guys think that the river is going to get to Newtok?

(distorted voice on radio)

It's getting awfully close to Nathan's house.

you never know. Maybe the land will break off and Nathan's house

will just go down.

Piece by piece.

Where's your pen?

To me, this feels like the last year.

Last summer,

they said either we could trade our houses in

to get a new house,

or we could just move out.

My house right now, is closest to the erosion.

If I just stay and do nothing,

it's almost like as if I'm saying I don't care about my house falling.

Of course.. I have a kid.

I'm a single parent.

I'm tryin' to be a good dad.

Hey, you're gonna cut yourself.

Don't play with knives.

As long as I have him, nothing affects me.

He gets to see my heritage and learn it.

That's why I brought him here.

I rescued him from OCS and foster people.

Now that's a man.

Yeah, it's stressing me now.

Man.

It's here, man.

I got one, probably less than a year left.

It's crazy.

It's a shack when it comes down to it.

It's a third world shack.

It's basically the last resort for people who want to live in Newtok.

It's created a lot of problems health wise.

I know we've been to the clinic several times in our family.

Strep throats, dysentery and everything else.

This kind of runs rampant through the village at certain times.

Newtok's been moving for the last 10 years.

It's a stalled move.

The frustration level's fairly high so...

So yeah, sometimes you wonder if they're doing this on purpose.

Really when you come down to it, this could be a foreign country,

ignored by any infrastructure at all. We live in The United States.

And this is home. There's no running water whatsoever.

So.. It's a bureaucratic mess.

The bush is really not for everybody.

A lot of teachers come for one, two years and they leave.

They don't never stay.

I guess it's just a culture shock to 'em.

We came in 2007, 2008. School year.

We've been here since.

They was talking about moving the village then.

Let everybody in the village smell.

You couldn't much see the water from my house then.

You could look out like we look out now,

you couldn't see the water.

Now, it's close.

We can see the waves busting over the land.

When it gets rough,

before the ice-up, we can see the land breaking away.

Back home, we have hurricanes.

They jump right in and help people, move 'em, do whatever they gotta do.

It just seems like out here, it's just takin' forever.

I guess that's just what tears me up inside.

Thinkin' you know, come on man.

These people were just like us. There's no difference in these

people and the people in the Lower 48.

We're all human.

They're saying aw, it's just a little village, 300 people.

That's what I'm thinkin'. It's no big deal.

It is a big deal. It's a big deal.

It's their lives.

# (electric guitar plays)

You see that!

The whole thing! I know!

There's a big one. I know. Everything bad's coming right now.

Hug?

Let's go outside. My neck won't get cold.

# (music)

One day, when this erosion comes,

I promise you we'll have a house.

I'm working on something.

I always work on something.

(wind blows)

(dog barks)

(wind howls)

(seabirds call out)

(sound of plane engine)

That's a lot of water out there.

If it breaks over that land and starts pushing stuff in,

and eventually it's gonna wash.

Cos there's nothing to stop it.

There's no wall there.

If they'd have put something up a long time ago,

it would've slowed it down.

But yeah, it's eventually just, eaten it up, eaten it up.

It's isolated. It's really isolated.

I mean we're 90 miles from Bethel.

If something would like, drastic happen,

it would take a while for them to get out here to us.

Hi.

Bye.

CHILDREN: Bye!

If somebody can't get out to trick or treat, they bring two bags.

So you'll have somebody come in with two or three bags.

This is for me, this is for my sister, this is for my brother.

He's at the gym doing open gym.

I say well if he wants candy, he should come trick or treat.

Whoa!

Godzilla!

Come on up here!

Whoa!

They're supposed to say trick or treat, right?

And then... you know,

choose to have them do a trick.

Like do a trick for me and you'll get your treat. (laughs)

Aw you should tell one of 'em to do that.

I should, one of the older kids.

I'll do it. Who should we do?

Who would be a good sport about? Uh, Murphy!

Yeah. Let's get Murphy.

(engine roars)

You know I can remember when it would flood one time in the fall,

and one time in the spring. You know, it'd break up. And now,

I mean already three times this year they've had... you know, people

get nervous about the flooding at their houses

and needing to stay at school, or even getting out of Newtok

'cause they're worried about that kinda stuff.

Yeah.

have taken so much away.

You know, people went and measured that last couple storms

and they're like... it knocked off ten, twenty feet in one weekend.

Yeah.

There's been more journals, I have to do journals with the students.

And more often, the kids write in their journals

about their worries about the floods.

I don't think our house would catch on fire, but if our house flooded...

that was the very next thing they all wrote on their own. (laughs)

Was, if our house flooded, we would grab...

and then they've got a plan on some of them.

It was like, "The box of the pictures by the door..."

(laughs) It's like, ah.

They've obviously been stressing about it.

Maleficent, and..?

James Harden.

Okay. What are you?

A burglar?

(laughter)

My first year here, which was 15 years ago,

I thought...

you see these commercials about, you know, helping other countries,

and I'm thinking, "Look at this place.

And why isn't there a commercial to help the people here?"

Like there's not running water in the houses, and... and there's...

so they still have this honey bucket system.

They have to haul their water. Like, this is not America anymore.

You know? Not the America I grew up in, this is like "Wow."

(chatter)

Newtok is a very strong Yup'ik community. With their language,

and their culture, and their assistance,

it's really strong here still. And that's a good thing.

But worst case scenario, my fear, is that a couple of houses are lost,

families are displaced and have to move to other communities.

Or Bethel with other family members.

And yeah, that new village doesn't get built quick enough

for Newtok to move there.

And then the community ends up breaking up.

(car engines)

(cars beeping)

You know what they say, the bigger the truck the...

How many miles on it?

For folks who leave, that sense of belonging is taken away.

So then you have to try to re-establish that feeling of belonging.

(knocking)

You're not thinking every day, "I gotta haul water,

I gotta haul the honey bucket."

you lose is that access to food,

and the access to community. And when you're part of a tribe,

feel a sense of loss.

See this gas station right here?

Some guy was shot here last summer.

He got killed right there.

The gas station up by our house,

somebody got shot and killed there just last week.

Two weekends ago, another guy got shot.

Um... there was a couple gun shots at night time.

It sounded like a 44 and a Glock. Glock 9.

They were... comparing I guess.

But no, it's a city. You gotta keep track of your kids 24/7.

Ya can't just let them out in the village like they do in Newtok.

It takes some adjusting, for sure.

Yeah, I used to.

(indistinct)

Tidal waves. Tidal waves.

'Cause you used to stay in Nathan's house.

Or whose house did you stay in?

(laughter)

Of course.

(laughter)

Donald Trump got taken off the stage in Nevada.

Someone's trying to get him.

Somebody tried to kill him?

Probably. Something happened.

My opinion is I don't like the way they're doing it.

They're doing what they call a pioneer approach.

Which means that all the cost and health everything like that

is born by the kids. So all the kids are sick, all the houses are packed.

Five years later and they said... could move five years.

So at 14 they said they were gonna move within five years?

How old are you now?

25, yeah.

> From my perspective,

it's just become a milk cow for the federal state agencies.

Where they say, "Hey let's do a study. Let's do this.

And we'll fulfil our budget here in Anchorage,

and Fairbanks and somewhere else in order to make a living for us...

at the expense of Newtok people.

Just another study.

Oh shit.

I'm getting low on gas.

Get some gas.

If I had my choice,

we'd still be sitting there out in a house in Newtok.

Even Kevin, Paula and Brandy,

they're leaving Newtok right now.

They've been there the last ten years, they're part of Newtok.

So they're leaving, that's gonna...

it's going to be different for a lot of the kids over there.

It's gonna be a loss for Newtok. That's for sure.

May they have the best luck in their move,

because we're not gonna be a part of it.

We moved. We're moved.

And Kevin, and Brandy, and Paula, they're gonna move too.

(laughs)

So... that's just the way it is.

You become a great hunter out there.

You always respect them.

I mean, one thing I'm gonna miss about if I ever live in a city like this; hunting.

Pulling that trigger, you know?

Us putting food on our tables.

(gunshot)

And the city life, you've gotta go store, pull that trigger, you know,

to get meat, you know?

The biggest, humongous seal I ever caught was six foot.

I remember it was the year 2004.

And that's when I saw my later brother, that day,

I waved him goodbye.

He was going home to Newtok,

were coming home.

I thought he was gonna come over at me but I waved him,

that was my last goodbye to him.

I waved him goodbye.

'Cause right there, he went home to go kill himself.

I still remember it.

# (music)

(speaking a Yup'ik language)

um... signs of suicide.

Uh... if anyone is talking about suicide,

(speaking a Yup'ik language).. you have to tell somebody.

(speaking a Yup'ik language)

Even parents.

# (music) (speaking a Yup'ik language)

# (music)

So it's been a bad year for suicides.

And usually suicides occur when it gets dark and gloomy.

But here we are in spring, and have lots of sunlight.

This girl who committed suicide was being bullied by other students,

and the bullies were saying...

"Just go ahead and do it. I mean, you're worthless.

We won't miss you." You know, that kinda stuff.

And uh, she posted on Facebook. Isn't that illegal? You know,

something that effect. Cyber bullying.

So I'm sure somebody will get in trouble.

# (music)

(chatter)

(engines stops)

Have a good trip, man.

Don't text your number!

(laughter)

(chatter)

Love ya'll. John, take care.

(chatter) Alright.

See you some day. Good luck with the boardwalk step.

> I won't go to another village.

This is my village. I'm never going to go to another village.

It'll be out, it'll be to a road system.

It won't be never to another village.

Even though this one is washing away.

I guess because this village took us in...

like, just took us in real strong.

Like I don't feel like they don't want me here.

(distant chatter)

(engine roars)

> Other places around here, they talk about teachers having hard times.

We never had a hard time here.

That's gonna be the hard part about leaving here.

Sorry.

# (music)

# (chanting, drumming)

# (chanting, drumming)

We're gonna work on building things across the summer.

And that's when, for me, it was... "Oh, it's actually happening.

I mean, these guys are serious."

Finally people are gonna...

just in the nick of time too...

some of the houses are in danger.

Like you can breathe, I'd say.

Okay, we don't have to hold our breath anymore.

(chatter)

Do you want a bag of cookies? No?

Here you go. You want one of those ones?

That one? Yeah, this kind.

Okay, you can have that then!

> The ribbon cutting at the new site, Mertarvik,

was basically orchestrated to celebrate

this 2017 construction season.

congratulate the tribe

and the community for persevering through the process,

and getting to this point, but to also help them recognise

is hope for their future.

And that they're not just being forgotten.

Me, I am going to go across there.

And pioneer across there in fall time.

I'm not gonna stay here.

I am scared for my kids.

(speaks a Yup'ik language) ...I am scared for my kids.

The flood, the high wind,

The flood and the high winds...

(mic cuts out)

Right?!

Right. Right? Right.

Am I right? You're right.

We need help, we need help.

We need help.

(chatter)

Chucky Cheese.

Counting down...

# (piano music)

We used to walk to... somewhere.

Are people gonna be sitting out front here?

(chatter)

People have been so excited about progress occurring,

that people are saying, "Oh we're gonna move."

I mean, there's no ambiguity anymore.

This is Mertarvik, and welcome.

It's a very nice little village, so you call it Mertarvik. (laughs)

# (piano music)

Okay, ready?

One, two, three, go.

So what this is, this is our notice to proceed

from the United States Department

of the Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs.

What we've got is, we've got four house pads build right now.

The four of them are under construction simultaneously.

We've got a crusher crew up at the pit right now,

we've got Aaron and Louis up there driving the trucks.

And they're coming down the hill with the load.

We hope to have the load down to here by October 1st.

Go ahead.

and then through the fall,

we're gonna be working on the design for the community streets,

and then next year we'll be finishing the four houses

that are currently getting started.

And then building one other house. And hopefully more,

if we secure funding for housing, for future houses.

> They've been planning for 20 years, so five years isn't a blink.

I think five years is realistic,

and it also allows the community to gradually build,

um... as the infrastructure comes.

Food, water, shelter. They've got the food,

they're 95 percent subsistence lifestyle.

If they didn't have access to a store, they'd still live.

Water, they have cleaner water there.

Water has been a challenge in Newtok.

Um... they've been on a boil water notice for over ten years.

So having access to clean drinking water is huge.

And then shelter. You know, the homes in Newtok itself,

again, were not built for the Arctic.

They were not built for that environment.

Um... and they're aging and rotting,

because they weren't designed for that place.