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The characters we meet in the film tell the story of their lives, their ancestors, and of the precious island cultures that may be lost.
Watch the quicktime video clips or read what they have to say.
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Penehuro Lefale, climatologist, South Pacific Regional Environment Program
When I grew up we always had to battle natural disasters - my parents told me all the stories about how to survive. When you grow up in an area where it's so climate dependent and weather dependent you notice things so easily in your own environment... something is definitely happening. We feel the trend of tropical cyclones and hurricanes on the increase. You cannot imagine being within a cyclone or hurricane. You just pray to God that there will be another day.
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Peni Pouli Lefale, fisherman, Samoa
Our fishing, our catches I mean, are not normal. We are puzzled why everything is changing. About 10 years back, we used to catch between 400-500 pounds a night, but now we don't even fill the cooler sometimes...
Everything is changed and I'm a little bit worried. I'll only get the fish for us to eat. It means we won't sell any and we won't get the money.
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Teburoro Tito, President, Republic of Kirabiti
Whenever the water rises, you know, by a few centimeters, that is enough to destroy many acres of a crop area. Certain plants depend very much on the fresh water. It must be fresh water. A few drops of sea water on the roots of this plant is enough to destroy it, affecting the livelihood of many hundreds of people who depend on that crop. If the crops are destroyed, they will have to be relocated. That will disrupt the culture in that particular village; you know, people will scatter. We will lose the human values, even before we start losing the islands. The human values that are being nurtured in the culture will be lost.
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Anginette Heffernan, climate change campaigner for Greenpeace and Fiji islander
I want to be that voice of conscience because at the end of the day... developed countries are contributing to our problem in the Pacific; they're making us go under. My immediate hope is that the U.S. actually signs the Kyoto Protocol so we can have some progress in developed countries cutting their emissions because the Pacific doesn't have much time left.
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