ADAPTATION: KENTUCKY / U.S.A. / LOUISIANA PREMIERE

Despite the growing persistence of environmental change, human resourcefulness remains alive and well as people across the globe experiment with adaptive methods on the ground. In ADAPTATION: Kentucky, scientist and National Geographic Explorer Alizé Carrère travels to a small town in western Kentucky to meet Angie Yu, a Chinese-American woman who is turning the Mississippi River’s invasive Asian Carp problem into an environmental and economic triumph. While Americans may want nothing to do with this bony fish, other parts of the world consider carp a resource – one to be cherished and celebrated. Can Americans learn to do the same?

Cast: Alizé Carrère, Angie Yu, Jeff Smith, Lining He

Director Biography

Alizé Carrère is a National Geographic Explorer, filmmaker, and PhD student researching and documenting human adaptations to environmental change. In 2013, Alizé received support from National Geographic to conduct research in Madagascar, where she spent several months uncovering an unlikely agricultural adaptation in response to severe deforestation. Learning of farmers who were turning erosional gullies into fertile pockets of farmland, her work evolved into a greater story of creativity and resourcefulness amongst the oft-repeated narrative of climate doom. Traveling to places as diverse as Bangladesh, Norway, Vanuatu, and the United States, she continues to study innovative adaptations to climate change, and is working on a film project that highlights the remarkable resilience of the human species. Alizé received both her B.A. and M.Sc. at McGill University, and is now pursuing her PhD at the University of Miami in Ecosystem Science & Policy.