Meet the grandmother who refuses to let Mexico City forget its roots – or its gardens.
In Xochimilco, once a vast lake and now a fragile wetland at the edge of Mexico City, 86-year-old Doña Susana is one of the last chinamperas, farmers who tend chinampas, ancient floating gardens built on water. For generations, these waterways fed communities in harmony with nature. Today, pollution, urban sprawl, and neglect are pushing this ancestral system to the brink.
Still, Doña Susana continues to plant, teach, and protect what remains, determined to pass on her knowledge before it’s lost.
This is Episode 3 of Mother Nature, our 7-part series spotlighting women who are defending land, culture, and community – not as victims of climate crisis, but as leaders and visionaries shaping radical futures.
CREDITS
Earthrise Executive Producers
@joixlee and
@aliceaedy
Director
@isabelazawist
Producer
@staubit
DOP
@rosa_hadit
Editor Fernando De Yolanda
1ST AC Tristan Smith
Assistant Editor
@saamdwich
AP + Stills Photographer
@mariaguisaa
Colorist
@rzcinema
Post Production Support Jessica Kenney
Featuring Doña Susana Marina Sandoval
Edited with footage from the upcoming documentary
@companionofthesettingsunfilm
Special thanks to
@chinampa_temachtiani 
