IntErviEW
Thorvardur Árnason and the dream of taking climate
change literacy to young Icelanders |
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Published on April 13rd, 2015
To teach, to think, to research, to photograph, to film, to document. These are verbs that illustrate the work of Throrvardur Árnason. The 55-year-old Icelander did not hesitate to accept a partnership with Clima@EduMedia. After photographing the same glacier for seven years, he found differences that have led him to further focus on the issue of climate change. In this interview, he spoke about his work and the dream of taking to Iceland the teachings on the use of media to engage young people in learning this subject and in creating solutions for the future.
When did your career as a photographer and documentary filmmaker start?
I started as an amateur photographer in the last years of high school. I bought my first camera when I was 20, and after that there was no turning back. I was very focused on photography for five or six years, but during that time I became increasingly interested in cinema. At that time, we had movie theatre in Reykjavik and we began to see art films. Every year there was a film festival where the best films from around the world were shown. At the same time, I was studying biology and some of my friends were also very interested in cinema.
One of my friends had a camcorder and all these factors increased my interest in the field of cinema and documentaries. I finished my degree in biology and worked for some years as a teacher. I taught in Ghana, in West Africa, for a year which was a very important experience. After that, I decided to become a filmmaker. At 29 I was accepted in a film course at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. My concept of theatre changed a lot. At first, I wanted to make narrative-based films. But in Canada, I learnt how to make experimental films and documentaries and realized, after a while, they were more my style. I'm especially interested in hybrid films.
I finished this course in 1992, at which time I went to San Francisco in the United States. I started working in the field of Environmental Philosophy and that's how it all started. Then, as I was doing my PhD, I had no time for photography and film, and gradually I stopped working in this area. In 2006, my life took a big turn due to a position I held at a small research centre belonging to the University of Iceland in Hornafjörður in the southeast of the country.
I went back to do photography and, somehow, I rejuvenated as a visual artist. I bought a video camera and started working on a documentary about Hornafjörður (a community in the national park where the glacier Vatnajökull is located). Gradually it became my second job and began to occupy my spare time, afternoons, holidays and all those moments when I’m able to escape and come into contact with nature. In doing this I can, in a way, bring together my two worlds, like a bridge, because I do not merely photograph and record, I do so in nature and for research work.
I started as an amateur photographer in the last years of high school. I bought my first camera when I was 20, and after that there was no turning back. I was very focused on photography for five or six years, but during that time I became increasingly interested in cinema. At that time, we had movie theatre in Reykjavik and we began to see art films. Every year there was a film festival where the best films from around the world were shown. At the same time, I was studying biology and some of my friends were also very interested in cinema.
One of my friends had a camcorder and all these factors increased my interest in the field of cinema and documentaries. I finished my degree in biology and worked for some years as a teacher. I taught in Ghana, in West Africa, for a year which was a very important experience. After that, I decided to become a filmmaker. At 29 I was accepted in a film course at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. My concept of theatre changed a lot. At first, I wanted to make narrative-based films. But in Canada, I learnt how to make experimental films and documentaries and realized, after a while, they were more my style. I'm especially interested in hybrid films.
I finished this course in 1992, at which time I went to San Francisco in the United States. I started working in the field of Environmental Philosophy and that's how it all started. Then, as I was doing my PhD, I had no time for photography and film, and gradually I stopped working in this area. In 2006, my life took a big turn due to a position I held at a small research centre belonging to the University of Iceland in Hornafjörður in the southeast of the country.
I went back to do photography and, somehow, I rejuvenated as a visual artist. I bought a video camera and started working on a documentary about Hornafjörður (a community in the national park where the glacier Vatnajökull is located). Gradually it became my second job and began to occupy my spare time, afternoons, holidays and all those moments when I’m able to escape and come into contact with nature. In doing this I can, in a way, bring together my two worlds, like a bridge, because I do not merely photograph and record, I do so in nature and for research work.
Is your goal to use photography and documentaries in your research and as a means of communicating climate change?
My main research material is repetition in photography. Over the past seven years, I have been photographing a glacier called Hoffellsjökull. I take a photograph from the same site every month. During that time, I have seen great changes.
First, with this approach I seek to understand my own feelings and perceptions of what is happening since I am not a glaciologist.
I know the scientific question and I know why this is happening, but this is not my field of study. I am interested in what I feel, in the way I, as a human being, perceive what I'm experiencing. Climate change is so diffuse, distant and amorphous that it is very hard to see the reality of what is happening.
What I do is to use this material for teaching and, so far, have used these photographs to illustrate the reality to the students who come to visit me and to whom I give guided tours. There are four or five groups of students that come every year to visit the glacier. I also use this material several times in lectures. Show the impact of climate change. This allows me to get in a position where I can speak with some authority on this subject. We cannot touch them or feel them, but they are still real.
My goal is to finish my documentary about Hornafjörður. In this documentary, which I started in 2009, I use pictures and words to convey what I learnt about the glacier.
“The young are the ones who will have to find solutions”
What is your perception of the project Clima@EduMedia? What are your expectations?
I think the project is fantastic, and so is the concept behind it. The approaches are modern and I think the World Wide Web may prove to be our salvation as it is a powerful means of communication. Through the Internet we can reach all people, not just with words but also with pictures, animations, movies and music. I like the idea of working with young people because I think that if there is hope, and if we have it, that hope lies with the younger generation.
It is also their future. My children and grandchildren are going to have to cope with these problems for a longer period of time; longer than my generation. Young people will have to find solutions.
We can try to make them more involved. I like the idea of not teaching them; we are educating them to learn independently. With this project, we are giving them skills that are not only important to learn more about climate change, but also to give meaning to their lives, to have media literacy, critical thinking and knowledge of how to communicate through different media.
I have high hopes for this project. I find it very visionary.
My main research material is repetition in photography. Over the past seven years, I have been photographing a glacier called Hoffellsjökull. I take a photograph from the same site every month. During that time, I have seen great changes.
First, with this approach I seek to understand my own feelings and perceptions of what is happening since I am not a glaciologist.
I know the scientific question and I know why this is happening, but this is not my field of study. I am interested in what I feel, in the way I, as a human being, perceive what I'm experiencing. Climate change is so diffuse, distant and amorphous that it is very hard to see the reality of what is happening.
What I do is to use this material for teaching and, so far, have used these photographs to illustrate the reality to the students who come to visit me and to whom I give guided tours. There are four or five groups of students that come every year to visit the glacier. I also use this material several times in lectures. Show the impact of climate change. This allows me to get in a position where I can speak with some authority on this subject. We cannot touch them or feel them, but they are still real.
My goal is to finish my documentary about Hornafjörður. In this documentary, which I started in 2009, I use pictures and words to convey what I learnt about the glacier.
“The young are the ones who will have to find solutions”
What is your perception of the project Clima@EduMedia? What are your expectations?
I think the project is fantastic, and so is the concept behind it. The approaches are modern and I think the World Wide Web may prove to be our salvation as it is a powerful means of communication. Through the Internet we can reach all people, not just with words but also with pictures, animations, movies and music. I like the idea of working with young people because I think that if there is hope, and if we have it, that hope lies with the younger generation.
It is also their future. My children and grandchildren are going to have to cope with these problems for a longer period of time; longer than my generation. Young people will have to find solutions.
We can try to make them more involved. I like the idea of not teaching them; we are educating them to learn independently. With this project, we are giving them skills that are not only important to learn more about climate change, but also to give meaning to their lives, to have media literacy, critical thinking and knowledge of how to communicate through different media.
I have high hopes for this project. I find it very visionary.
Returning to Iceland. What are the main impacts of climate change in your country?
There are several. In the short-term, the most visible ones are the glaciers. About 10 percent of our country is covered by glaciers, and one of them is the largest outside the polar regions. These glaciers are disappearing quickly. Our largest glacier, Vatnajökull, is huge and the most realistic scenarios point to its total disappearance in 200 years. It's a big change.
As we are on an island, the sea has a major impact on our country. We can expect some coastal areas to be affected by rising sea levels and extreme weather conditions.
Because of warmer weather we can expect changes in vegetation. In a way, this can even be positive, but on the other hand, we have invasive species that can appear and become a bigger problem with the increasing temperature.
The biggest problem we are facing is in the marine ecosystem. We can already see some changes. We have some fish species that are very important for us that are likely to move further north with the warming of the seawater. On the other hand, species whose habitat has been more in the south are moving to the north. This is causing economic and social problems.
There are a few scenarios. The climate we have is warmer than it should be because we have warm ocean water coming from the Gulf of Mexico, and there is a current that comes from the coast of Iceland and continues through Norway, which is known as Gulf Stream.
There are also scenarios that suggest that the system of ocean currents will be so strongly affected that the Gulf Stream will stop reaching Iceland, causing global warming to become more of a global cooling for us. It is still not clear if it will happen.
“If we do not educate teachers, how will we educate students?”
What should be the communication strategy with schools when it comes to climate change education?
At the moment, I think the concept of peer education is very important. Environmental education in Iceland is included in the curriculum of compulsory education schools, integrated into a number of different courses.
The intention was good and they considered climate change as an important issue that should be linked to other areas. In practice, it was not good because it disappeared. Teachers receive very limited training on environmental issues. If we do not educate teachers, how do will we educate students? I also think that this linear and hierarchical way of learning may work for some audiences, but to teach about climate change, which is so global and complex, we need to find a way to directly involve students in this subject and let them try to find solutions. This may be a more powerful way of changing ideas and attitudes. It is much more modern. In this way, we are putting trust and responsibility in students because we know that they will do things well. If we can trust them, we might have a brighter future.
People my age live in a very different world, and that world no longer exists. We cannot try to integrate our children in that world. The reality now is different. We try to be part of this reality, but it is up to the young to take advantage of it.
What is your contribution to the project Clima@EduMedia?
I intend to contribute with my experience, my knowledge and the materials of the projects I participated in. I intend to create a dialogue and have a feedback of what they are doing. For me it will be an important learning experience and, if all goes well, as I hope it will, we can initiate projects like this in Iceland and elsewhere in the world. It would be my dream and I would like to develop something based on this experience. Outline good practices in a manual and take this project to the Icelandic context.
Gradually we can create a global community of young people who have the skills, the means and the motivation to educate themselves and among themselves on climate change and on what needs to be done. Maybe that way we can have a bright future.
By: Renata Silva