While journal articles are the commonplace means to disseminate research results, documentary films are amazingly effective at reaching the general public, students and, through word-of-mouth, politicians and other decision-makers. The earlier part of the research that my team has carried out over the past five years or so – on coastal communities, the hazards they face from the sea, and how they respond to those threats – was introduced in a significant short film, Coastal Communities At The Ready, that we made in collaboration with our partner Nexus Media, led by Don Duchene, and that is freely and publicly available on the MEOPAR website and that of the Community Conservation Research Network (see links below).

We are now at a stage where we have the results of a national survey of coastal municipalities, and an in-depth survey of Nova Scotian coastal communities, covering both issues around marine hazards, and the visions of these communities for the future. This will be perfect material to disseminate as a widely-accessible short film, tentatively titled Coastal Communities Face the Future. The film, like our first, will be aimed at a general audience, suitable for showing in high schools, introductory-level university classes, community meetings across Canada, screenings for politicians and other decision-makers, and a variety of other venues. It will again be produced together with Nexus Media within a strong partnership that also led to a full-length documentary, Sustainable Futures – Communities in Action (see link below).