Episode 13: Try Harder
Episode Length: 30:03
FocuS
Breaking myths about the Arctic and looking at successful examples of people coexisting with their environment
Locations
Greenland, Sweden, Norway
Keywords
climate change, climate adaptation, forests, Sami culture
Episode Outline
These outlines are intended to help you locate ideas and topics more easily, but these are narrative episodes with many interlocking themes and ideas, so you may want to share segments that cross multiple points in the outline.
MINUTES: 00:00 - 05:40
Busting three myths about the Arctic:
Myth number one: that being Indigenous always looks one way or means one thing
Myth number two: that the Arctic is a “frozen wasteland”
Myth number three: that climate change isn’t real
05:40 - 10:35
How our climate compares to other times in the planet’s history:
There’s nothing exactly comparable to climate change right now
Human civilization developed in a period of remarkable climate stability over the past 10,000 years
10:35 - 16:05
Why people should care about the Arctic:
Many different factors on the cusp of significant change
Instant gratification versus long-term thinking
The challenge of adaptation and the consequences for human suffering if we don’t
BREAK
16:06 - 23:00
A tour through a Swedish forest:
History, use, and meaning of lichen and trees for Sámi people
How similar traditions of sustainable tree use are present in Native American tribes and other northern peoples
23:00 - 26:25
Challenging the idea that humans are inherently destructive to the environment:
How adapting to climate change could change humans for the better
26:25 - 29:42
Can the climate crisis become a catalyst for becoming a more just and humane species?