Christianity and climate change collide on Tangier Island, where a close-knit fishing community faces an existential threat as rising seas encroach upon their shores. Their centuries-old way of life, sustained by faith and the rhythms of the Chesapeake Bay, is now at a poignant crossroads—one that may force them from the only home they’ve ever known.
Through intimate cinema verité, BEEN HERE STAY HERE, explores the quiet yet profound crisis unfolding on Tangier Island, where climate change isn’t an abstract concept but a daily reality threatening to erase an entire community. The film follows three generations living on the island: Ooker Eskridge, the resolute mayor, whose family has called this place home for six generations; Cameron Evans, a young man caught between the pull of tradition and the allure of opportunities beyond the island; and Jacob Parks, a seven-year-old boy learning the deep maritime history that may soon slip away from him.
The deeply held Christian faith of Tangier’s residents becomes both their compass and their refuge, as they search for meaning and solace in the face of an uncertain future. Filmmaker David Usui documents their struggle, offering a powerful meditation on survival, faith, and the human desire for home amidst the inexorable forces of a changing planet. It’s a story not just about loss, but about the ways we hold on, even as the world shifts beneath us.
The stakes are high, and the film doesn’t shy away from the harsh realities facing Tangier Island. Yet, it also offers a space for hope, for the possibility of bridging gaps and building new connections in a world more desperate than ever for sustainability. In doing so, it invites us all to fall in love again—with people, with places, and with the world that we must fight to protect together.
THE ISSUE
As the climate crisis accelerates, threatening thousands of American communities, the need for national consensus becomes ever more urgent. Tangier Island stands as a poignant wake-up call. Yet, consensus is in short supply in America. The debates that dominate our national discourse—over democracy, race, identity, public health, and ecology—are increasingly polarized. Climate change is at the heart of this polarization, where moral nuance often yields to rigid, binary notions of right and wrong, stifling the complexity needed for genuine understanding.
BEEN HERE STAY HERE is not just a climate documentary; it’s a work of art that uses the story of Tangier Island as a catalyst for broader conversations about moral imagination, our relationship to the natural world, and the urgent need to reconnect with our shared humanity. By centering on a marginalized, faith-driven community, it transcends the typical climate narratives, addressing the deepening dilemma of how to respond to imperiled coastal communities while underscoring the need for a unified, compassionate response to the climate crisis.
The narrative arc of BEEN HERE STAY HERE doesn’t just document the erosion of land; it explores the erosion of certainty, the strain on our collective nervous system, and the deepening dilemma of how we address the imperiled communities downstream from our decisions. It invites us to explore rather than explain, to empathize rather than judge, and to find our shared humanity in the face of crisis.
THE CAST
For nearly 15 years, Ooker has been the island’s public face serving as their mayor. This position he might say is in title only. In the local parlance he is what they call a “stay here” – a name reserved for those who have roots that go back at least two generations. As an 8th generation Tangierman, he has more than qualified. He learned his trade from his father, who learned from his father — seven times over. And his two sons have learned from him.
His priority as the island’s mayor has been to help get the word out about their plight. Funding for their sea wall he argues will only come if people know and understand what they’re up against.
He maintains that he hasn’t seen any noticeable rise in the sea level and that their primary threat remains to be coastal erosion, which he says is, “threatening to take them away”. He has no plans to relocate.
JAMES “OOKER” ESKRIDGE
Cameron Evans is a Tangier Island native who is currently studying at Virginia Wesleyan University. Ask the old-timers on the island who among the island’s boys reminds them most of themselves coming up, and they’d tell you it’s Cameron. As a kid, he earned pocket money busting up blue crabs for the mayor. And over the years he has developed an extrasensory ability to read the water. He has mud between his toes, as the islanders say.
As graduation nears he is caught between his potential new life on the mainland or maintaining his familiar life on Tangier. His dilemma is familiar on the island and one of the main reasons the community has become so small — the younger generation see’s no opportunity at home and most have already been forced to move away. As the newest member of the town council, we’ll see Cameron as an advocate for change, as he himself considers whether to stay or go.
CAMERON EVANS
Seven-year-old Jacob embodies the spirit of Tangier Island, living on Hog’s Ridge with his father, Allen—a native son of Tangier and a lifelong commercial crabber—his mother, and his two-year-old brother, Judah. His childhood unfolds in a place that seems untouched by the relentless pace of the outside world, a life many imagine as lost to time.
Through Jacob, we step into a world shaped by tides and tradition, where generations of Tangier’s fishing practices continue in the simple, practiced ways of father and son. Jacob moves through his days unburdened by what lies ahead, exploring the world around him with the curious eyes of a child. Through his gaze, we glimpse the simple beauty of Tangier’s way of life, balanced against an uncertain future.
JACOB PARKS