Fire, Water, Earth, Air

When we think about climate change, we think about deforestation in the Amazon,
melting glaciers, hungry polar bears, and Asian Tsunamis. Something happening far
away. But in remote areas of the Nordic region, small local communities are already
seeing direct implications of the climate catastrophe that will soon affect us all. They are fighting to figure out how they can save their homes. This film tells these stories,
weaving together the global crisis with local Nordic experiences of climate change
through the elements of fire, water, earth, and air in places seemingly safe and secure.
FIRE, WATER, EARTH, AIR is a story in four parts, exploring the climate change
resilience in small communities in Sweden, Denmark, the Faroe Islands, and Norway,
told by four local teams of filmmakers who, in close collaboration with Phie Ambo,
create one coherent narrative from the unique stories of their lands. With
unprecedented wildfires, storms, landslides, and flooding, it is clear that the inhabitants
cannot prevent climate change altogether. The change in the place they call home
reflects a global reality: how do we deal with environmental risks by implementing
emergency strategies that teach us how to live with climate change? This call to action
drives the storytelling in FIRE, WATER, EARTH, AIR to inspire hope in a time when
thousands of people face displacement or adaptation.
The film gives the people of small communities living at the brim of the next climate
emergency in the Nordic region center stage. Through the four elements, their stories
complement or contrast one another to show the complexities of understanding what is
at stake. We see them engage in emergency and adaptation exercises by the research
group CliCNord (www.clicnord.org). Many of them are elders, retired farmers, or
fishermen who witness the weather change every season but are too tired to do
anything about it. They hold extensive knowledge of the land, passed down through
generations. Others are families with small children who play in nature, ignorant of
what the future holds. Through the eyes of the locals, the film oscillates between
scientific findings, adaptation strategies, and the daily life of people still figuring out
what climate change truly means for life as they know it.
The local stories of getting by in the eye of the hurricane are embedded in the research
project CliCNord which shows how to prepare for and respond to emergencies. In the
footage, we capture the dust particles after a storm, dive into the mud of landslides,
watch the flames of a wildfire, and submerge in the flooding of small islands. We
watch the researchers in their work to convince locals about their adaptation strategies.
In this way, we experience that the future of small remote communities is, to some
extent, in the hands of scientists and politicians speaking a language of numbers, CO2-reduction targets, tipping points, and sustainable lifestyle choices.