Tidewater
Sea level rise threatens our quality of life, local economies, and the defense objectives of the U.S. military, which has formally identified rising seas as an operational risk and threat to global stability. Unfortunately, the conversation around this issue has been widely politicized, leaving the military and state and local governments facing these dangers with a limited path to meaningful action.
Tidewater carried that framing into the coastal resilience domain, focusing on the danger that rising seas poses to military readiness and to the economic security of coastal communities where servicemembers live. Screenings, panel discussions, and stakeholder briefings brought coastal resilience advocates, military officials, members of Congress, and municipal leaders together across targeted jurisdictions, and post-screening engagement protocols translated the film’s content into specific legislative and policy recommendations.
Key Outcomes:
- The film was deployed as a convening tool to advance coastal resilience funding and policy measures at federal, state, and local levels.
- It strengthened American Resilience Project’s growing reputation as a trusted broker among national security, environmental, and community stakeholders, leading to invitations to brief senior government and military officials, and to present at national and international conferences and training exercises.
- It demonstrated how documentary films could serve as policy instruments beyond just public education alone, with audiences coming to view and use the work as “white papers disguised as films.”