Shocking new documentary takes viewers to the front line of the climate crisis

A new documentary has shown the terrifying impact climate change, caused by harmful fossil fuels, is having on the pacific island nation, Tuvalu.

Save Tuvalu, Save The World, which has been released, looks at the climate crisis through the eyes of those living in Tuvalu.

It shows how sea water is pushing up through the land, destroying traditional crops and making the water unfit to drink.

It also shows how high tides are inundating the country, flooding the main island’s only airport, cutting Tuvalu off from the rest of the world.

“Tuvalu is ground zero for the global climate crisis,” said Stephen Long, filmmaker and Senior Fellow at The Australia Institute.

“No nation is more vulnerable than this small Pacific country.”

Climate campaigner Gitty Yee, who features in the documentary, said she is fighting for the future of her country.

“I see myself as a climate warrior,” she said.

“I fight for my country, and I fight for what we believe in. I fight for our right to live, our right to prosper, for our future generations.”

Ms Yee pointed out the hypocrisy of Australia’s climate policies, and how it treats its pacific neighbours.

“My message to Australia is that if Australia wants to be a good big brother, as they say they are to the Pacific, they should really stop expanding and exporting fossil fuels,” she said.

Australia has pledged to fund adaptation and mitigation work in Tuvalu and to offer its citizens a path to migration under an agreement known as the Falepili Union.

However, Tuvaluans argue that is not good enough and Australia must phase out exports of coal and gas that feed the fossil fuel cycle.

“How would you feel if a country that is meant to help to protect is slowly destroying you, little by little?  We feel devastated, of course, because this is our home, and this is the reality that we are facing,” she said.

Tuvaluans are not the only ones who have expressed concern about Australia’s climate rhetoric.

The former president of the Republic of Kiribati, Anote Tong, recently added his voice to the growing chorus of criticism of the Federal Government’s decision to extend Woodside’s highly polluting North West Shelf project in Western Australia.

The North West Shelf gas export terminal is equivalent to building 12 new coal power stations, adding around 90 million tonnes of emissions to the atmosphere each year.

Anote Tong, Kiribati’s former president, has labelled the Albanese government’s decision as “disappointing”.

“It is disappointing that at such a critical time for the health of the planet, the Australian Government decided to extend the highly polluting North West Shelf gas project,” he said.

“This is not consistent with Australia’s rhetoric on climate change.”

That decision came after a recent decision by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which confirmed that states have binding legal obligations under international law to prevent climate harm.

It also came after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese attended the Pacific Islands Forum, looking to strengthen Australia’s relationship with its pacific neighbours.

“Australia cannot have it both ways — claiming leadership in international forums while undermining it in others,” said Director of the Climate & Energy Program at the Australia Institute, Polly Hemming.

“We have legal obligations — not just moral ones — to stop fuelling the climate crisis.”