FINDING SHETLANDS STORY

ACTIVISM

DEAR NORWAY

with a group of shetlanders, we made a video against the Rosebank oil fields, owned by the Norwegian government. I made this after movie. I got to know people who became my friends, and participants in my own project.

Sella Ness Lodge

The place where both workers from the oil terminal, and from the Viking Energy windfarm live. After many calls I got no permission to film with the workers, but I did talk with them on 2 different days. They are kept away far from the locals, next to the oil terminal. Most of them go here temporarily and have very view interaction with the Shetland culture and society. From both the oil and the windfarm workers, the only motivation to be here was the money. I realised you often need to be privilege to be a climate activist. When you have no choice but to work for companies like Viking or the oil terminal, you don't want to see climate activists pushing for them to stop. I think as the climate activist movement, we should push for collaboration with labor unions. When we want the fossil fuel industry to stop, the workers should get a fair transition to green jobs. Another reason is that the workers have the power to strike.

ALEX

SUE

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Sue is a peat expert. I talked with her about her fight for nature conservation.

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Alex used to be part of Extinction Rebellion in London, but moved to Shetland. His activism has changed with the moving, and he is now part of the Green party.

I am realizing at the moment why I have a resentment against me being an activist in this year. I always had the reason of the negative impact on my mental health since you live from problem to problem as an activist. You only see the negatives. But I now also realize that being an activist makes you less connected to the rest of the world. You have your ideals very high and you are strict towards yourself and others. You judge. And you want everyone to change drastically. This strictness creates a distance from the people, its an judgement to be an activist. You are judging others negatively and makes people who do not agree with your way of activism being very stand ofisch. It makes that nuance doesnt exist. The focus in an activist world is black and white. You focus on action where things are clear, this is the bad guy. If it was nuanced, you could not protest on it and scream on the streets. A nuanced situation needs another approach.

So now that I am diving into the energy transition on the local Shetland scale, it is very nuanced. I cannot approach this as an activist, and the people here seem to know that as well. It is a small community. especially they know what they are risking when they speak up. They know it will effect their connections to others. It creates distance, and in a community like this, you cannot change neighbours.

So I gues my resentment towards activism was also based on this idea that I felt that it enabled me to connect with others. See nuance in stories and listen to other perspectives. As an activist I could still talk with other perspectives, but I wouldn’t fully put myself in their footsteps because I was holding on to my believes. This year I tried to loosen them. Also to figure out how real they are. Can I fully stand behind them if I open myself up and have full empathy. And I think my approach to activism what too black and white. I still agree that there is a big urgency in the climate crisis and the energy transition should be done as soon as posible. But I now also think it should not be done rushed. We need to look into how its being done. When I look at the damage that is being done with a windfarm like this. As a climate activist you try to ignore these thinks because you dont want any negative information on renewables because it is slowing the proces. And its true. But you need to learn from past experiences. When fossil fuels came into the picture, people went into it without consciously thinking about the damage in the future. With renewable energy we shouldn’t make that mistake. Here you can make long lasting mistakes, with the facade of being green, but not being so. This needs to be talked about. Decisions need to be made carefully and researched. The community needs to be involved. The nature needs to be reserved. It needs to be a just transition.

I am still the activist that I was, but I feel like I am more understanding of what a just transition means and how important the just part is for me.

I REFLECTED A LOT IN VOICE MEMOS, THIS IS ONE EXAMPLE

TRYING TO FIND OUT THE REASON BEHIND THIS PROJECT

MANY OBSTICLES, LIKE WHEN THE WHOLE ISLAND HAD NO CONNECTION FOR MULTIPLE DAYS

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I followed a writing course, in which I got to know 2 people who ended up going to my workshops. Genny, the teacher, also coached me with the preperation of my own workshops.