Necessity (Part I): Oil, Water & Climate Resistance

Necessity: Oil, Water and Climate Resistance traces the fight in Minnesota against the expansion of pipelines carrying highly toxic tar sands oil through Native lands and essential waterways in North America. Front line communities--Native Peoples and communities of color--suffer the most immediate and severe consequences of the climate crisis: impacts on physical and mental health as well as territorial desecration and displacement. The documentary follows Indigenous leaders and white allies, using direct action to protect the sacred and demand justice. Tribal attorney and activist Tara Houska and Honor the Earth water protector Debra Topping guide this journey through critical geographical and political terrain, along with other legal experts who expose the disparate treatment in the justice system and the legal strategy of climate activists in using the necessity defense, which makes a moral case for acts of civil disobedience.

• documentary