We Are Nature

Footage from the SMSC Wacipi 2018

As the brutal Chicago winter draws near, Deirdre, Helen and Jennefer—avid open water swimmers—make a pact to continue through the snow and ice as the pandemic rages on. This intense commitment becomes their salvation from lockdown and helps alleviate each of their personal struggles. Initially just acquaintances, Swimming Through follows their friendship as it coalesces around their commitment to the daily ritual of swimming at sunrise in Lake Michigan.

Longleaf Forever is a short documentary film that plunges viewers into one of the most biologically diverse ecosystems on the planet. Home to hundreds of rare plants and animals, longleaf pine forests once covered 90 million acres in the American South. Today, conservationists and land managers are turning a history of habitat loss and decline into a hopeful environmental story of renewal...

Climbers are out there—we climb the highest peaks, roam deserts, and explore the woods for the most inspiring boulders. And the climbing community has been increasingly seeing anecdotal evidence of climate change impacting our climbing landscapes. But stories are one thing–scientific evidence, on the other hand, can be our topo for advocating for change...

Stunning, sacred, and threatened: embark on a visual journey through the vibrant deserts, rich forests, and ancient ruins of the region of southeastern Utah known as Bears Ears, while the battle for conservation and indigenous sovereignty continues on.

A Redhead MTB Park Original Production: To most people, Chisholm, MN is barely a dot on the map. But this small town on the Mesabi Iron Range once provided the ore that built the tanks and planes of WWII and the skyscrapers of New York. Chisholm built America and the people prospered. But as time went on, the demand for Chisholm’s ore declined. Now, the community and industry that built this town are banding together to revitalize a forgotten piece of America. Can Chisholm make the leap from mining town to outdoor capital?

This is a film about Atlanta based artist Michi Meko whose life is expressed in multiple layers of mystical meaning. It’s a film experience about journeys, navigation, cartography and way finding into the unknown and the uncharted. It’s a narrative about the buoyancy of our souls and survival, keeping our heavy heads filled with heavy thoughts above water...

Belonging documents students’ experiences during the 2023 Cohort of GCST 1970, Environmental Justice and Nature Immersion Program at YMCA Camp Northern Lights. Founded in 2021, GCST 1970 is a partnership between higher education, five K-12 school districts, the YMCA and Three Rivers Park District to create place-based learning opportunities for college and high school students...