A Conversation about Climate Action on the Continental Divide Trail

 My name is Connor DeVane. I feel like I’m constantly reeling, unable to stop myself from keeping up with the sleepless circus that is our national news cycle — maybe you can relate. Though it’s certainly gotten worse since January of 2017, it’s not a new experience for me. Reading about the disruption of our planet's natural systems, the extraction and consumption that drive this destruction, and the political climate that allows it is a source of despair for many people, myself included. In many ways, it's counterproductive. It can feel as if the stories we tell about our changing climate weigh us down into apathy, hopelessness.

As a global community, we understand the threats that a changing climate poses, but hardly anyone is acting accordingly. We seem to be paralyzed by the doom and gloom of the seemingly looming climate crisis, when in fact the situation is urgent. Even those who grasp the urgency seem overwhelmed by the scale and gravity of the challenge. Talking about climate change and the future reminds me of talking about death; it's as if there's an unspoken agreement amongst everyone to not bring it up. But that's the thing - everyone is affected by climate. We need to get ourselves off the sidelines. Is there any hope? 

Hike The Divide is a storytelling project that answers: YES! Hope is right here, if only you choose it!

What if the stories we tell about our changing climate could inspire people to stand up and take action instead of instilling dread? This is the mission of Hike the Divide. Hike the Divide shares stories that breathe life into the sparks of hope we all harbor: stories that stoke the embers of engagement. These stories remind us that, as Rebecca Solnit said, “Hope is not a lottery ticket you can sit on the sofa and clutch, feeling lucky. It is an axe you break down doors with in an emergency.”

The Journey

In 2016, I set out to hike the Continental Divide Trail from Canada to Mexico: over 2,800 miles through the Rocky Mountains of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico. For five months, I walked up and down mountains, through all weather conditions, carrying everything I needed on my back. I slept beneath the stars, drank from the earth, and absolutely destroyed a few pairs of shoes. I did all this for a number of reasons. One reason is that hiking is my practice. The Trail is where I feel most at home in myself, and at peace with my place in the universe. 

But the driving motivation of my journey was to dispel apathy. Throughout my hike I sought out folks who are taking matters into their own hands: people who aren’t waiting around for anyone else to take the reins; people working towards a more livable future. I wanted to see what kinds of action people like that are taking, especially in places that don't get much attention. I wanted to know where these people find courage, what keeps their fires burning. 

Now, I want to share these stories with you

We are the people we’ve been waiting for. 

Since finishing my hike in November of 2016, I’ve been working with Brave Alice Productions and Goodluck Productions on a field documentary that gives my journey a radical purpose. Hike the Divide gives a platform to unsung heroes leading the way on our collective response to climate change. Their stories inspire audiences to take local action to build a future that isn’t shaped by climate disruptions and provide a framework for doing so. The people you'll hear from share a broad wealth of experience, bringing to light stories of unlikely cooperation, creativity, and fierce resolve to shape not just a livable planet, but an equitable one. They range from a retired railroad brakeman to a middle school student; fourth-generation rancher to university professor; former UN worker to Navajo grandmother and more. You’ll be surprised how much these people share in common.
 

The goal is to inspire people to take local action to combat the climate crisis and provide a few examples for doing so. I’ll be bringing to light stories of unlikely cooperation, creativity, and fierce resolve to build a better future, and hopefully, in the process, stirring up hope and courage.

Hope is not a weighing of odds; nor is it blind optimism. Hope is a recognition that the future has not been decided, and that uncertainty allows for agency. There is a world of difference between "best case scenario" and "worst case scenario," especially with climate change.

We don't know exactly how bad the climate crisis will get, and we have power today to make an impact on our shared future: to choose, steer towards, and strive for a livable planet. We need to be reminding ourselves of our agency, of the power we hold together. We ought to be telling stories of how the people have risen against the odds to change history, time and time again. We ought to be reminding ourselves and one another what it looks like to be engaged in the shaping of our world, and that if we don't shape it, someone else - say, the fossil fuel industry - will. This film is my attempt to do just that.

Like the CDT, traversing the steep and unpredictable terrain of documentary storytelling has been both challenging and immeasurably rewarding. We’ve woven together stories spanning the length of the US into a compelling, informative, and empowering tool to activate both individuals and communities. With over twenty-six hours of dense and revelatory interviews, finding the heart of the story was a meditation of deep listening, bridging, and supporting the universal concepts behind winning climate struggles. The story we found is beautiful.

Flipping the Script

The "environmental movement" has, since its conception, been dominated by people of privilege: people like me, frankly. Hike the Divide aims to leverage my privilege to boost the stories of some who may not have the same access to audiences as I do. Wouldn't you rather hear straight from the people whose lived experiences created the stories anyway? 

The people you'll hear from share a broad wealth of experience, ranging from civil disobedience to energy municipalization, regenerative agriculture to indigenous resistance and more. Some of their stories can already be found in my Follow the Journey blog. 

The Project

I’m happy to say that the documentary is finished. It screened as an official selection of the 2019 Portland Eco Film Festival and Chicago’s One Earth Film Festival 2020; it has been shown in many community screenings around the nation (want to host one?), as part of Continental Divide Trail Coalition’s annual Trail Days event two years running, and there are a few more exciting opportunities on the horizon that I can’t yet divulge. Most exciting of all, the film is now available to stream for free, right here on this website. Watch the film now