After more than a decade of legal wrangling, the go ahead has been given to Shell to begin exploratory drilling off the coast of Alaska, in the Arctic circle.

The goodwill of the tribal council would be helpful to Shell, who send their Alaskan Vice President Pete Slaiby to meet the town elders.

Among them is Caroline Cannon (real name Aqugag), Inupiat grandmother to 26 children, who succeeded in stalling the project for almost four years.

For a people who still rely on hunting for food, an oil spill would cause an ecological disaster that would threaten their very existence.

Recorded in the days before the drilling begins, May Abdalla travels to Point Hope, not far from where the drilling will begin, to meet the Inupiat people and to learn of their fears and hopes of an oil-rich future.

(Image: Three whales bones stacked together Credit: May Abdalla) Show less