A woman is going through the ice in miniature games with a torch in her hands. A bare-chested man finds himself pulled by a buck on a ski. In his left hand he holds a flag which reads “Salla 2032”. This small Finnish city is the coldest in the country and the temperature here is minus 50 degrees Celsius and with this video it is applying for the SUMMER Olympics in 2032.
Should they take place in the snow? No, because residents trust climate change…
▶ ▶ All of this is of course only irony – and sadly. Because with this video and “application” for the Olympics, the village wants to move. Here, in the middle of the forest of Lapland, you can feel a lot of climate change.
“The closer you get to the pole, the more intensely you will feel the effects and consequences of global warming,” says Erdky Parkkinen, mayor of BLD.
“Salla is changing. We already feel it and have to live with it. That is why we submitted an application to draw attention to the climate crisis. The central value of Olympia is to connect people and nations. We need this idea to stop climate change and we want everyone in the world to participate in it. “
A runner is standing in the snow in a thin dress, with “Olympic flag” on his backPhoto: Reuters
The people of Salla live with and with nature, it is very important for them. But Salka and all of Lapland are changing, “not for the best,” says Erkki Parkkinen.
“Our existence has become more difficult. The weather can no longer be estimated accurately, winter comes later and, instead of snow, more and more rain comes, which turns into snow. As a result, reindeer have great difficulty in finding food.
Anyone who lives like this in nature notices changes early. Science also knows this.
The University of Helsinki has a measuring station in Salla for 50 years. Residents go to great lengths to do their work to preserve themselves and our world and have switched to thermal energy since the 1990s. A fifth of Salla is already a protected area, and a new national park is to be built this year. Permanent tourism was also established.
We have done a lot of things to protect the forest around us, but we know that it is not enough. This is the reason for our Olympic application. We hope everyone will participate. Work must continue.
Otherwise Salla could actually host the Summer Olympics in 2032…
