Alizé Carrère is a

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

filmmaker Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

and science communicator. As a

social scientist Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among members within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the ...

, she studies how humans adapt to changing physical environments, particularly with respect to climate change. Her academic research and filmmaking focus on the theme of human resilience to environmental change. In 2013, while attending

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

Montreal, Canada Montreal is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest in Canada, and the ninth-largest in North America. It was founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", and is now named after Mount Royal, the triple-pe ...

, she won a grant from

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

and she used the funds to travel to

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

to study how farmers were adapting to

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. Ab ...

. Learning of farmers who were using erosional gullies as unique places to grow crops, she went on to study other ways that people were learning to adapt to profound environmental change. She received two additional grants from the National Geographic Society and filmmaker grants from The Redford Center and PBS to support the completion of a film series based on this work, titled ''ADAPTATION''. Carrère is the creator, producer and host of the series, which is distributed by PBS. The first episode documented community adaptations to

sea level rise The sea level has been rising from the end of the last ice age, which was around 20,000 years ago. Between 1901 and 2018, the average sea level rose by , with an increase of per year since the 1970s. This was faster than the sea level had e ...

in Bangladesh, such as the use of floating farms, schools and hospitals. The floating farms are made of bamboo and water hyacinth. It won Best Short Film at the New York WILD Film Festival and the Norman Vaughn Indomitable Spirit Award at Telluride Mountainfilm Festival. The second episode examines how an invasive species of freshwater fish, Asian carp, has taken over rivers and lakes in the United States and what communities along the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers are doing to manage the problem. Previously she worked for Lindblad Expeditions, designing and leading expeditions around coastal Europe aboard the fleet's 102-passenger vessel the National Geographic Orion. As a child, Carrère grew up in a

tree house A tree house, tree fort or treeshed, is a platform or building constructed around, next to or among the trunk or branches of one or more mature trees while above ground level. Tree houses can be used for recreation, work space, habitation, a ha ...

built by her father along the shores of Lake Cayuga in

Ithaca, New York Ithaca () is a city in and the county seat of Tompkins County, New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes region of New York (state), New York, Ithaca is the largest community in the Ithaca metrop ...

. In 2021, she was pursuing a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

degree in Ecosystem Science & Policy at the Abess Center at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...

References

External links

Official website

''Adaptation'' series on PBS
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carrere, Alize McGill University alumni University of Miami alumni People from Ithaca, New York National Geographic Society American cultural anthropologists American climatologists 21st-century American explorers Living people American documentary filmmakers 1989 births