Alaska has experienced more warming in the past four decades than any other state. In the small island community of Sitka, the effects of climate change are omnipresent and immediate: industrialized fishing and the disruption of the salmon life cycle profoundly affect both human and non-human Sitka residents, including the local migratory humpback whales and other cetaceans that pass through Southeast Alaskan waters. With the help of our partners, we have set out to create music that reflects the lived experiences of this community and its interactions with whales in our irreversibly changing environment. Rather than attempting to encapsulate the human and environmental consequences of climate change by painting with broad strokes, Conversations with Whales explores the unique chemistry between Sitka, its inhabitants, and its natural surroundings, blending their words and sounds into music rooted in real people and real changes. This thirty-minute newly composed work will be performed with free admission on July 31, August 1, and August 2, 2020, in Sitka, Alaska.