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Inspiring Indigenous Youth through Sweetgrass Programming Featured in a new Documentary by ReGeneration

Independent filmmakers, Carter Kirilenko and Adam Combs, approached The Resilience Institute to explore the inclusion of our work on climate resilience with the Piikani Nation in southern Alberta. They were interested in how Sweetgrass is connecting youth to their cultural heritage and how our partnership exemplifies reconciliation. TRI’s president & CEO spent two days in the community with the film crew:

“It was a rewarding experience to tell our story alongside community members, especially with Noreen Plain Eagle who I’ve collaborated with for so many years. Having a camera in my face while driving was a bit awkward but, in the end, worth it!”

Laura S. Lynes
President and CEO, The Resilience Institute

Episode 3 of ReWork Your Future – Three Restoration Efforts Healing Canada’s Ecosystems – can be viewed here thanks to ReGeneration.

Photo Credit: ReGeneration.

The documentary was produced by ReGeneration, a Canadian youth-led nonprofit empowering the next generation of leaders to rethink how the economy can better serve human and ecological well-being.   

Carter Kirilenko is an award-winning independent film Director & Producer, specializing in original and branded documentary production.   

Adam Combs is a multiform artist based on the west coast of Canada specializing in film creation and storycraft. 

Sara Walsh, PhD

Board Member

Dr. Sara Walsh is a disaster risk reduction and climate resilience specialist with more than 15 years of experience spanning Canada, Nepal, the Middle East, and North Africa. Until November 2025, she served as Thematic Lead for Climate and Resilience with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), where she supported Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to strengthen their climate and risk reduction work across the region. Sara currently works as a freelance consultant with the United Nations, governments, and humanitarian organizations on recovery, risk governance, and community-based resilience. She teaches at a Canadian university and holds a PhD in Disaster Risk Reduction. Her work emphasizes anticipatory action, equity, and bridging research with practice to shape more resilient and sustainable futures.

Alison Criscitiello

Board Member

Ice core scientist and high-altitude mountaineer Alison Criscitiello explores the history of climate and sea ice in polar and high-alpine regions using ice core chemistry. Criscitiello’s work also focuses on environmental contaminant histories in ice cores from the Canadian high Arctic and the water towers of the Canadian Rockies. In 2010, she led the first all-women’s ascent of Lingsarmo, a 22,818-foot peak in the Indian Himalaya. Criscitiello has earned three American Alpine Club (AAC) climbing awards, the John Lauchlan and Mugs Stump alpine climbing awards, as well as the first Ph.D. in Glaciology ever conferred by MIT. Criscitiello is an Assistant Professor and the Director of the Canadian Ice Core Lab at the University of Alberta. She is the co-founder of Girls on Ice Canada.