Climate and economic experts estimate that over one billion people are at risk of being displaced by climate change and climate-related disasters by 2050.
A new film, THE WELCOME TABLE, spotlights the people at the frontlines of climate displacement. The film premiered on June 23 on HBO Max.
Directed by documentary filmmaker and Milanville resident Josh Fox, the film brings together people from around the world to a table in New Orleans to sit, celebrate one another, and learn how climate migration is affecting global communities most at risk for mass displacement.
THE WELCOME TABLE examines how building bigger tables to address immigration and climate migration issues could model a better future for people.
Fox says his latest film builds on Gasland, a 2010 Emmy film that follows the impact of fracking on the Upper Delaware River Basin after a natural gas company offered Fox $100,000 to lease his land.
“If we don’t fight climate change, everything that we saved from fracking will burn or will be flooded, and I don’t want to live in a world where we’re so selfish that when we win our particular battle, we just check out.”
Fox traveled from Boulder, Colorado to Kenya, Tanzania, and the Caribbean for the film and says many of the issues facing the Upper Delaware mirror climate change conditions in other parts of the world.
“ We’re seeing wildfires in Upstate New York Which we would never think we would’ve seen, right? We are seeing extreme weather conditions, tornadoes. There is no geographical answer to where we are safe, and there is no geographical answer in the future to where is home. Home is the community around you,” said Fox.
Fox plans to host screenings up and down the Upper Delaware River region, including a screening at the Narrowsburg Union and local theaters.
Image Credit: HBO Max