Who did you want to speak to on your journey, and why?
A diverse set of people, representing different perspectives. I spoke with climate and forest scientists, foresters, tourism experts, farmers, beekeepers, conservationists, writers, intellectuals, health experts, professional snowboarders and skiers, mountain guides, politicians and environmentalists. They all have in common a close connection to nature; they either depend on nature for their livelihoods or observe and study it, including human adaptations to climate change in the Alps. This connection most interested me.
Did you learn any particularly important lessons?
Firstly, that climate change seemed to be on everybody’s mind – partly because of the dry, hot summer. From literally the first day, on the train from Zurich, people started talking to me about dry agricultural land and lack of water – without me telling them about Tales of Change. This happened throughout the journey.
It was also fascinating to see real-world interdependencies between environmental, social, economic, political and technological spheres. My story on apple plantations in the Vinschgau illustrates this beautifully. I was also in the French Alps when the Gilets Jaunes protests started, triggered by Macron’s eco-tax reform. From a purely environmental perspective, the tax is arguably the right approach. But such taxes always hit the poor hardest, and the reform was one drop too much in France, where many have seen their economic conditions deteriorate. Macron failed to understand people’s worries. A better approach, diverting away from fossil fuels without costing economically stressed people, would have been a policy that taxes fuels while giving rebates, for example through lower heating bills for people in smaller apartments.
What I personally found most valuable was the opportunity to meet people I otherwise would not have in my professional, urban bubble – including people who are still sceptical about the causes of climate change. This was enriching and educational. Although nature was at the heart of the trip, people and what they taught me were my biggest takeaways.