This 34-minute documentary explores the provocative question: Can a small island truly achieve sustainability? Drawing on the powerful analogy that islands, much like living organisms, metabolize materials and energy to sustain their populations, the film reveals how unsustainable resource-use patterns—an “island metabolism” out of balance—can weaken resilience and amplify vulnerability to climate shocks.
The Metabolism of Islands introduces a groundbreaking, evidence-based systems perspective that moves beyond short-term fixes toward holistic strategies for long-term sustainability. Featuring voices from across the world’s small island nations, the documentary brings together science, storytelling, and lived experience to illuminate both the challenges and pathways to resilience.
Conceived and directed by Simron Singh, and edited by Alexandra Ulacio, the film is a collaborative global effort produced and funded by the International Society for Industrial Ecology (ISIE), in partnership with Metabolism of Islands (MoI) and the Climate Adaptation and Resilience (CLARE) program of the U.K. and Canada.