Rising Above the Heat
In Arizona, extreme heat isn’t just a season; it’s a way of life — one that shapes how we move, work, grow food and protect the people and places we care about. It’s also the driving force behind “Rising Together: Belonging Beyond Borders,” a new documentary made by Phoenix-based nonprofit Reel Earth Films.
Led by conservation filmmaker and storyteller Alan Lacy, the project explores how communities across Arizona are adapting to a hotter future. It marks a shift for Reel Earth, expanding its lens from wildlife and conservation to include the people doing the work on the ground, in real time, with urgency and heart.
It Started With A Howl
For Lacy, storytelling starts with a feeling, a spark of connection that turns awareness into action. He still remembers being 10 years old, out in California’s Central Valley with his dogs, when he saw a coyote and decided to howl.
“It came in,” he said. “It came so close I could see its eyes. I could see its fur. It was like looking into nature itself.”
That moment stuck with him. Years later, after earning a business degree and working in aviation, he found himself pulled back toward nature. He began volunteering at Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center in north Scottsdale, where he learned about the endangered Mexican gray wolf. That experience led to his first documentary, “Gray Area: Wolves of he Southwest.”
An intimate look at the endangered Mexican gray wolf, the species that first called Lacy away from aviation and back to the wild.
Drawing on his background, Lacy utilizes aerial views to document the scale of Arizona’s changing environment
Reel Earth’s work goes beyond the screen, creating physical sanctuary for species losing ground to urban sprawl.
Reel Earth’s work goes beyond the screen, creating physical sanctuary for species losing ground to urban sprawl.
From Awareness to Action
But for Lacy, filmmaking alone wasn’t enough. He wanted his work to give back, to be part of the solution.
“So much of wildlife filmmaking can be extractive,” he said. “Filmmakers go in, get the story and leave. Nothing comes back.”
That’s why Reel Earth Films was founded — to pair storytelling with real conservation support. The film company’s first feature, “Burrowing Owls: A Love Story,” included on-the-ground work, including installing artificial burrows and supporting habitat restoration. It wasn’t just a film. It was action.
Founded in August 2022 and now a registered nonprofit, Reel Earth continues to center community impact. As climate change intensifies across the Southwest, their mission is growing, too.
“The environment includes people,” Lacy said. “If we want people to fall in love with nature, we have to show how that nature connects to their lives.”
Three Pillars of Resilience
“Rising Together” focuses on three intertwined themes: heat-resilience hubs, wildlife corridors and food systems. Instead of chasing a single solution, the film looks at the network of efforts playing out across Arizona.
On the Hopi Nation, Lacy filmed gabions, rock structures that slow down storm runoff, reduce erosion and help capture moisture for farming in arid land. Then he traveled south to see similar methods used by the teams at Borderlands Restoration Network, which restores grasslands and reseeds native plants.
And there’s the Colorado River — or what’s left of it. “When you get to the Cocopah Nation near Yuma, 90 percent of the river’s water has been diverted. You literally watch it disappear into sand,” he said.
What ties these stories together isn’t just the land. It’s the shared knowledge and the people passing it along. “There’s no one fix,” Lacy said. “It’s all interconnected.”
The Power Behind the Partnership
Supporting this effort is the Arizona Community Foundation, which provided grant funding for “Rising Together” as part of a broader commitment to environmental resilience.
ACF’s director of environmental strategy, Nic de la Fuente, said the foundation recently clarified three core focus areas: housing and homelessness, education, and environment. Within that last category, the work focuses on food systems, conservation and extreme heat.
But the funding gap is massive. “Only about 2 percent of global philanthropy goes toward environmental issues,” de la Fuente said, citing national philanthropic reports. “And it’s about the same here in Arizona.”
To help close that gap, ACF launched the Environmental Accelerator Project, a statewide effort to identify Arizona’s most scalable environmental work and introduce it to national funders. Reel Earth is also part of a separate ACF-supported project: “Wild Arizona!,” a documentary series on Arizona PBS that Lacy describes as, “‘Planet Earth’ meets Arizona.”
While the series showcases our state’s ecological splendor, it is designed with a deeper purpose. Much like the film “Rising Together,” it aims to directly give back to the people and places we love through conservation efforts. Arizona PBS is excited about this partnership, which extends the project’s massive state impact through classroom education and strategic partnerships with conservation organizations.
Traditional farming techniques offer a blueprint for survival in an increasingly arid Southwest.
Traditional farming techniques offer a blueprint for survival in an increasingly arid Southwest.
Traditional farming techniques offer a blueprint for survival in an increasingly arid Southwest.
A Film With Purpose
While “Wild Arizona!” celebrates the state’s natural beauty, “Rising Together” is more urgent and emotional. It’s a call to connect the dots — between water and food, between cities and ecosystems, between people who may never have met, but are solving the same problems in parallel.
The film will premiere ahead of a major environmental convening this December, hosted by ACF and named “122°” in recognition of the highest temperature recorded in Phoenix on June 26, 1990. The idea is to use the film to build momentum, spark connection and show what’s already happening across Arizona, from rural watersheds to urban heat hubs.
“People working in nonprofits are often so head down,” de la Fuente said. “They don’t always get to connect with others doing similar work. This film helps change that.”
New Tables, Shared Ground
ACF is also working to change how collaboration happens. Instead of stiff boardrooms and power dynamics, their first accelerator gathering took place outdoors — in cabins, with informal sessions in the forest.
“It put everyone on equal ground,” de la Fuente said. “Municipal leaders, nonprofits, universities, foundations — we all came together, as peers.”
Lacy takes the same approach to filmmaking. “My goal is to create intimacy,” he said. “To put people inside the landscape, inside the effort. Visual storytelling becomes the connective tissue.”
ACF hopes the film shows that every conservation effort made today is a legacy gift to the next generation.
ACF hopes the film shows that every conservation effort made today is a legacy gift to the next generation.
ACF hopes the film shows that every conservation effort made today is a legacy gift to the next generation.
ACF hopes the film shows that every conservation effort made today is a legacy gift to the next generation.
From Connection to Action
For Lacy, that connection is the first step toward change. “If people can see it, they can believe it. If they believe it, they might care. And once they care, they might act.”
It echoes a favorite quote from Jane Goodall that has shaped both Lacy’s work and his worldview: “Only if we understand, can we care. Only if we care, will we help. Only if we help, shall we be saved.”
Lacy also draws inspiration from the people he meets along the way. “I’m inspired every day by the folks doing the work on the ground,” he said. One phrase from a Reel Earth board member keeps him grounded: “Every day, ask: What can I do that will still matter 100 years from now?”
That, he said, is what “Rising Together” is all about. A film that documents not just the heat, but the humanity — and how Arizona is rising to meet the moment, together.
To learn more, visit reelearthfilms.org.
