Googler en bilder av ‘arktisk tundra’ vil en kanskje med første øyekast tenke at “her finnes det ikke mye liv”. Men ser en litt nærmere, vil en finne et mangfold av dyr og planter. Noen av disse er truet på grunn av klimaendringer. Hva skjer hvis en art minsker i antall eller...forsvinner helt? Hva kan det gjøre med resten av økosystemet den er en del av?

Kunstner Marit Landsend (keramiker basert på Troms Fylkeskultursenter, Tromsø) og forsker Dorothee Ehrich (Klimaøkologisk Obsersvasjonssystem for Arktisk Tundra - COAT, UiT) ønsker begge å utforske disse temaene, fra hvert sitt ståsted. Vi blir med de inn i en samtale om klimaendringer, fjellrev og smågnagere på den arktiske tundraen, og spør: hva kan vi mennesker gjøre?

LENKER FOR MER INFORMASJON

Dorothee Ehrich: https://uit.no/om/enhet/ansatte/person?p_document_id=41186&p_dimension_id=88165

Marit Landsend: http://www.maritlandsend.no/file/Welcome.html

COAT - Klimaøkologisk Observarsjonssystem for Arktisk Tundra: https://www.coat.no

Arktiske arter kan dø ut: https://framsenteret.no/arkiv/arktiske-arter-kan-doe-ut-5062774-146437/

Smågnagere på tundraen: https://www.coat.no/Smagnagere

Dyr og klimaendringer:

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  https://www.wwf.no/klima-og-energi/dyr-og-klimaendringer

  
  
  
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  https://www.miljostatus.no/tema/klima/klimainorge/klimaendringer-norsk-natur/

  
  
  
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  https://www.artsdatabanken.no/Rodliste/Klimaendringer

  
  
  
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  https://www.miljostatus.no/isbjorn

  
  
  

Filosof Arne Johan Vetlesen: https://morgenbladet.no/profil/arne-johan-vetlesen

Polarrev/Arctic Fox: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_fox

Lemen/Lemming: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemming

ENGLISH TRANSCRIPT

The innocents

If you google pictures of ‘the Arctic tundra’ you might think there’s not much life in this part of the world. But if you look closer, you will find a diversity of animals and plants. Some of these are threatened because of climate change. What happens if a specie decreases in numbers or...disappears completely? What might that do to the ecosystem it is a part of?

Artist Marit Landsend (based at Troms Fylkeskultursenter, Tromsø, Northern Norway) and researcher Dorothee Ehrich (working for COAT, UiT) both have a wish to explore these topics. We join them in a conversation about climate change, polar foxes and lemmings on the Arctic tundra, and ask: What can we humans do?

DOROTHEE: ...it takes time, and we humans are creatures of habit.

MARIT: We’re also very greedy. It’s the greedy side of humans that has created this, I believe.

DOROTHEE :Yes, greedy and lazy. I mean, I drove here today, because I was too lazy. There you have it.

MARIT: (laughs) Yes, there we have it.

NARRATOR: Hello X and welcome to a new episode of the hello X podcast! I’m Anneli Stiberg.

In this episode, you’ll meet artist Marit Landsend and scientist Dorothee Eirich, who I invited to talk to me about climate change. Both of them deal with human-induced environmental changes in their respective works, but each of them from their particular perspective.

I was curious to learn more about which projects they were working on. I remember hearing about Marit’s project with the animals in Norway that change colours and how climate change is affecting them. That made me stop and think, and I wanted to hear more about it.

When meeting Dorothee during a public event at Fram - High North Research Centre for Climate and the Environment, I thought it would be interesting to hear from her perspective as well, as a researcher with a special interest in arctic ecosystems. Fast forward to a few months ago, when the three of us sat down here at Kysten for a conversation that includes, among others, lemming, polar fox, ceramics, gratefulness and adaptation.

DOROTHEE: My name is Dorothee Ehrich and I work as a scientist at the University of Tromsø, at the institute of arctic and marine biology. For the last years I’ve been working on a project, COAT - Climate-ecological Observatory for Arctic Tundra. The goal is to build an observatory, which isn’t an actual building, but a knowledge institution that does research on how the tundra ecosystem changes with climate change and what the most important drivers are...and what kind of management measures are needed to manage the ecosystems in the best possible way.

NARRATOR: Dorothee is originally from Switzerland, and I was wondering what brought her so far North.

DOROTHEE: I’ve heard from many that once you’ve been to the Arctic, you either love it or hate it. After I went to the Siberian part of the Arctic as a student, I was always thinking of how I could get back. I wanted to live above the Arctic circle and then I moved to Tromsø.

MARIT: My name is Marit Landsend. I work as a ceramist here in Tromsø. For the last years I’ve worked on a project, “The innocents”. It’s my way of working with my environmental interest. This is something I want to do, like so many others.

NARRATOR:Dorothee isn’t the only one who chose Tromsø as her second home. Marit tells me about why she moved from the south of Norway to the north.

MARIT: It was because of family...I never thought I would stay here. It was trial period and I just stayed longer. I liked it more and more. Originally, I come from a farm in the countryside, in Valdres. Nature has always been close to my heart. It’s the most important thing to me. I’ve lived in cities for longer periods. Coming here was kind of like coming home, back to nature. Through my project I’ve become more conscious of that we humans are part of nature. We believe that when we live in cities we are apart from nature, but we aren’t, because everything in the city is also nature.

NARRATOR: With her project The Innocents, Marit chose to focus on the five animals in Norway who change colours in the winter: ptarmigan, polarfox, least weasel, ermine and hare. These animals are more vulnerable now because of climate change, and that’s what Marit wanted to highlight in her work.

MARIT: I talked with scientists at the University, because I was wondering why these animals were changing color. I thought it had something to do with the snow. They told me that it’s the darkness that makes them change. Because of hormones. They’ll change color whether or not the snow comes...when it gets darker in winter. Then, they become easier prey for carnivores, easier to spot. I thought this was interesting. The environmental changes happen faster than the animals manage to adapt to.

NARRATOR: In the beginning her art project took the shape of two boxes placed in the exhibition space, one black and one white. The black one was made of plastic, which also smelled quite bad. Inside that dark, black box, she placed plexiglass boxes in which animals made in ceramics were ‘trapped’. This represented the bad side of humans. On the other hand, the white box…

MARIT: The white room, the snow world, the natural world. A table with a white cloth with all these white birds. It’s a symbol of the balance of nature. It’s from the nature we get our food. That’s why there’s this table there. It’s not about the birds, but about nature. There needs to be seasons, so we get food on the table.

NARRATOR: The main point of intersection between Dorothee and Marit is that Dorothee’s research is also linked to the challenges that climate change pose to the Arctic fauna. She works primarily with the tundra.

DOROTHEE: The tundra is the mountain plateau or northern Arctic plateau, meaning the areas that are north of or above the tree line. We work mostly with the Arctic tundra, the area north of the tree line. On the mainland of Norway, you’ll find most of it in east of finnmark, in Varangerhalvøya.

NARRATOR: There are many animals that live on the tundra, everything from small insects to bigger animals, like reindeer and moskus. But we’re about to hear about one animal in particular, who used to spend its winters relatively safe under the thick layer of snow until global warming started threatening its survival, as Dorothee tells me.

DOROTHEE: Very important animals are the small rodents, especially the lemming. It’s called a keystone specie. It’s a herbivore, and if you think of it in terms of food webs, the lemming connects the plants with the predators. It eats plants and is also a desirable food source for the predators. During winter time it’s very active, living under the snow. At the bottom, you can find a layer of crumbled snow. This layer is created due to heat from the earth and when the layer above is very cold, the water molecules evaporate and rise, making the snow crumble. This creates a nice space for the lemming, where it can move around, find plants and get protection from predators. The lemmings need this to increase in population, because the summers are short, with predators hunting them. Least weasel and ermine also lives under the snow and hunts the lemming, but most predators move away during winter time, and snow owl and polar fox don’t manage to get a hold of the lemming so easily when the lemming is protected by the snow. That’s why the snow is important.

What we are observing now is that periods of mild weather is happening more and more often. It rains so much that the rain goes all the way through the snow and to the ground. The water freezes on the ground and the lemming gets trapped in small areas and can not get to the plants. They then move to the top of the snow to go to other areas, but then they are vulnerable to predators, or can freeze to death.

NARRATOR: And since the lemming’s population is directly affected by climate change, this also means that the entire ecosystem is in turn affected, like the polar fox.

DOROTHEE: This has been a huge problem for the polar fox population on the mainland of Norway. The polar fox is usually a very flexible specie. You find it everywhere in the Arctic. It can utilize all kinds of food sources. The polar foxes on Svalbard manage well without lemming. But, on the mainland of Norway you’ve got a lot of other predators, like the red fox, which is much stronger and bigger than the polar fox. It takes over. At the Varangerhalvøya by the sea, you will find only red foxes. So, in Norway the polar fox will only manage in the places which are too harsh for the red fox. There’s two things that endanger the polar fox, the increase of red foxes and fewer years with high population of lemming.

MARIT: Everybody should know about this. When you explain about the lemming, I’m thinking “This is serious!”. It’s horrible to think about it. There’re so many things we don’t know...if people only knew...I think many people would be engaged and understand that this has something to do with the way we live our lives.

I often think, “Why aren’t we happy with what we have?” Why do we feel the need to have everything? What if we could find a way to be happy with what we got. Just be happy to have enough food, not starve, to be warm, have a place to live….this is what’s ruining our world.

So many in the world can’t even imagine being able to take an airplane somewhere. It’s unthinkable, due to lack of money…

DOROTHEE: And the thing is, they also have the right to do this at least once in their lifetime. The big paradox is, on the one hand, we want growth for everybody, but on the other hand, the kind of growth we have now...it’s not sustainable.

MARIT: No, I wonder why….

DOROTHEE: We live in a world where there’s an abundance of information, so many facts. We as scientists produce mostly facts. I think people read what we write and just turn to the next page. I think most people have quite a lot of knowledge about climate change...but, I think people protect themselves, because it’s really frightening. It’s easier to think about the plans for the evening, instead of….I do the same. It’s really sad what’s happening, and maybe we have the feeling that we can’t really do anything about, at this moment.

NARRATOR: Hearing Dorothee and Marit exchange so many interesting reflections about changes to the environment, the complex connections in an ecosystem and the feelings it may trigger in people, I’m brought back to the idea of adaptation. What about animals, for example the polar fox, do they have a chance to adapt to the fast changes that are taking place now?

DOROTHEE: When it comes to the polar fox on the mainland we don’t see any adaptations, unfortunately. We’re trying to implement conservation measures and at the Varangerhalvøya, the polar fox would have become extinct if we hadn’t helped it. It didn’t manage to adapt.

Other places, like at Svalbard, the polar fox manages quite well. If there’s no food on the sea ice, because the sea ice is gone, it’ll find other kinds of food by the coastline. Maybe it has stored bird eggs in the ground. They’re good at adapting….

MARIT: So, it has basically put the eggs in a freezer.

DOROTHEE: Yes, they do this all the time.

MARIT: Clever.

DOROTHEE: I think it’s interesting…animals can adapt in different ways. Either they have a certain behaviour or physiological reaction...if the temperature changes, they can change behaviour or change their fur. They can do this within a certain frame, which is genetically decided. Then, it’s also genetically decided that they can’t change beyond this. Some things aren’t very flexible. They’ve discovered, like you mentioned, that the time in which animals can change the color of their fur or feathers, like hares and ptarmigans, is not flexible.

If you consider a longer time span...there are variations concerning individuals within a population. Through evolution, a more flexible or phenotypic plasticity, which it is called, they can increase the time span of change...this takes a lot of time though.

NARRATOR: Dorothee insists that many variables play a role in the capacity of species to adapt to the fast changes that global warming has triggered. And one factor that is as important as it is still uncertain, is the degree to which temperatures will rise in coming years.

DOROTHEE: Especially here in the north, a rise in 1,5 or 2 degrees, it has a very different effect depending on where it’s on the temperature scale. For example, if the winter temperature changes from -15 to -13, it doesn’t really have a big impact on the ecosystem...but, if it changes from -1 to +1, it changes a lot. That limit where the water melts is really important.

MARIT: Do you think we can stop this?

DOROTHEE: I hope we can slow it down. I had hoped more would have come out of this conference...was it in Krakow?...anyway, there’s a lot of people who have the will to make a change. We just have to support them, repeat and talk about why this is so important. We need to do something. We can’t say that it doesn’t help. The temperature will increase, we can’t stop it, but we’ll have to try and slow it down as much as possible. We need drastic political decisions.

NARRATOR: The question that remains is...what can we do? Why are we as a society and as individuals so slow to react?

MARIT: It’s obvious that we as humans have a lot to do with this. We’re controlling our consumption and demand. All the things we produce…if we stop demanding it, there won’t be any production.

DOROTHEE: Yes, it’s interesting to think about what is happening concerning the issue of plastic in the ocean. Because it’s been visible in the media, so frequently, the consciousness surrounding it has grown quite a lot. This has lead to national measures, things have stopped being produced. Many people have stopped using plastic bags. All this have evoked changes of behaviour.

Climate change is a more complex issue. The polar bear floating on a piece of ice has been used a lot in the media, but...it doesn’t have the same effect on people’s behaviour. It’s interesting to think about why this is the case.

MARIT:Yes. When the computer became standard in most private homes, people were talking about not having to fly all the time, because we could just skype, to save the environment. But we don’t to stop...we want to fly too.

DOROTHEE: Yes, but in our jobs we try to use video conferences more and more. I believe that as long as it is as cheap as it is now, people will continue to fly.

MARIT: They need to turn up the prices...

DOROTHEE: I do the same. Especially here in north, we don’t have that many options.

MARIT: The alternative is to stay home. Go on mountain hikes and be happy with this (laughs)

NARRATOR: Besides the material actions we can take, Marit also shares the idea that gratitude can make a difference in building a more sustainable future.

MARIT: If you think about it in a philosophical or artistic way, or poetic...do we show gratitude to the organisms that give up their life to give us life? All the time something is killed so that we can get food. It’s in a way fantastic...or strange...that this is how it is. Animals eat each other. We eat animals and plants. I feel that we’ve forgotten how to be grateful for this. In my childhood we had to give thanks before eating. To show respect and humility for what we had, both for the food and for everything else. Maybe this kind of attitude is needed.

DOROTHEE: Maybe this would have given us a greater respect in terms of taking care of our resources. To not waste so much.

MARIT: It was unheard of before, to throw away food. At least where I was growing up. Probably all over Norway. Before the oil. I try to be happy for what I’ve got.

DOROTHEE: It’s a nice idea, but...I’m a mother of two teenagers...it’s a difficult to convey to them; “We’ve used up all the resources. You just have to be grateful for what you have”. I believe it’s better to convey the message in a different way. Maybe to say “We’ve destroyed a lot. You have to create a new society, build something new. Use more sustainable methods”. I think it’s difficult for young people to be grateful for what they have. It’s we who have seen and done most things in life who is able to sit here and say these things.

NARRATOR: What inspired me about both Marit and Dorothee is that they feel a responsibility to play their part in fighting against global warming, not only in their private lives but also in their profession. They highlight the role that artists and researches can play and the synergy they can build together.

DOROTHEE: Some of the reasons for why people do so little, is because knowledge is not conveyed correctly. Me as a natural scientist might not be the best person...maybe you as an artist...there’s also social scientists who work on these issues. How to convey a message in the best way, so that people take action?

MARIT: We need all the good forces we have. Each in its own way. I was attending a very inspiring lecture by a philosopher, Arne Johan Vetlesen. He is very engaged in environmental issues. His lecture was called: “Why do we do so little, when we know so much?”. He believed that artists could do a lot. He thought that scientists need to focus more on outreach, using a popular language. Scientists talk and share their research, but it might not be understood by others than scientists. He believed that art could awaken people, at the same time as we need both art and science. When I listen to you talk, it’s really inspiring. Really.

DOROTHEE: I also think it’s interesting.

MARIT: It should reach out to people...

NARRATOR: Thanks for listening to the next to last episode of season 1. Next month, Christine Cynn will tell you about the production of X50, the new augmented reality story experience where you can play X in 2070 in downtown Tromsø this autumn. Christine speaks with guest artists Emma Tornero and Steven Keeler who are making images for X50 and who also talk about taking part in Extinction Rebellion's occupation of London in April.

Until then, follow us on facebook (hello X) and our website hellox.me.

See you around!