The municipality of Salla, home to 3,400 souls north of the Arctic Circle in Finland, officially launched its campaign last week to become the host city of the 2032 Summer Olympics. Known for recording freezing temperatures with a thermometer that regularly indicates the -40 ° C, the municipality posted its promotional clip, soberly titled “Salla 2032”, 2'32 ”of images with an offbeat tone which very quickly discredits the ambitions of the Finnish city.
A humorous clip to warn about global warming
The Salla 2032 logo.
A swimmer who sinks into a lake surrounded by snow with a beautiful Italian ice cream in his hand, a surfer who brushes his forehead with sunscreen in the middle of stalactites or beach volleyballs in full effort in a winter setting , the sequences make you smile.
The matter is however serious.
Behind the humorous tone hides an SOS for the survival of this tourist town and its endangered ski resort.
Salla will not be applying at the premises of the International Olympic Committee in the coming weeks.
Even if the municipality has a website, a logo and even a very successful mascot, representing a reindeer suffocating in an overwhelming heat, Salla obviously has no intention of competing with the files. seriousness from Jakarta, Istanbul and Seoul-Pyongyang to host the event.
Associated with the Fridays for Future movement (student strike for the climate) founded by environmental icon Grea Thunberg, the city near the Russian border wishes to mobilize the general public on the environmental emergency by using the movement of the Olympic Games, go to you unite the nations of the whole world.
“We liked this idea because we are concerned about climate change and also because we live here in the Arctic Circle and we see the changes happening,” said city mayor Erkki Parkkinen.
We want winters to be like before, real winters. ”
“We don't want to be the best place to host the Summer Games.”
Kesa, the reindeer victim of the scorching heat.
In the
Guardian
, the chosen one accurately describes the direct consequences of global warming on the city, which has the reputation of being one of the coldest in the country.
Winters come later than before and the weather has become more unpredictable.
Some days we can get -30 ° C and two days later it's plus a few degrees.
The changes are happening faster than before, ”adds the councilor, who adds without losing his sense of humor:“ We don't want to be the best place to host the Summer Games. ”
Salla's concern at the Arctic Circle echoes the campaign led ten years ago by the Maldives to raise awareness about the consequences of global warming and the worrying rise in sea levels.
In 2009, the local authorities organized a press conference… underwater.
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