We are a class. A species. We are one. But most people do not know very much about us. They rarely focus on smaller members of my mammalian family of whales. People ride boats to watch the tail fins and gigantic plumes of air and spray. No lamps burning with whale fat today.
Some days all my nuclear empowerment makes me restless. Anxious even. Shark-like, I survey these Arctic waters. Murmansk, Vardø, Svalbard, across to the east coast of Greenland. And I love to lie shallow bays, chortling to myself with my thoughts of how to reveal the mysteries of climate change to the assemblies of scientists and tourists, behind my back, belly laid bare to the midnight sun, I find I become, well, a little reflective.
I am back in Svalbard. The majestic mountains rise above the sea, my sense of perspective challenged each time I return, the glaciers climbing taller as I approach land and the ice cream thick curls of snow exquisitely untouched by anything we can see at a distance. It appears as though climate change has little effect as I punch my tail up and down through the cool water, powered by own motivations, unsure of what this day will reveal. But I know these surface shots are deceptive. There is a big melt coming by mid-century.
En fredags etter-jobb samling av arkitekter i Oslo-området reiste spørsmålet ”Er Sverre Fehn oppskrytt?”. Unge fagfolk synes å oppfatte Fehn som “the Ghost in the machine” i norsk arkitektur. En ånd som både usynlig og utilgjengelig ligger bak den stille kunnskap av verdier, roller og arbeidsmåter som dominerer deler av den norske varianten av disiplinen. Derfor spør de, tilsynelatende vitebegjærlige og åpent og uten ambisjon om ”Ghost busting”: Er Fehn oppskrytt og har arven fra mannen tatt rollen som spøkelse?