Did it use to be colder than it is today? Did it rain the same amount? The project ‘Testimonis del Clima’ (Weather Memories) captures the city’s meteorological memory. Based on a series of interviews with the elderly who spoke about the weather between 1940 and 1965, the City Council, in conjunction with the University of Barcelona, collected data by conducting surveys at culture centres and produced the documentary entitled ‘Testimonis del Clima’ which explains what five residents of the city – Manel Sunyer, Isidre Amat, María Vicente, Valeriana Domínguez and Maria Comas – really experienced. The documentary compares their memories and personal experiences with the university’s data and knowledge and reveals that climate change is real.
According to scientists, the climate is changing year after year, more and more quickly. And this can primarily be gleaned from analysing the recorded data, but also through people’s climate memory. The stories of the elderly, testimonials of a climate different to the one we have today, are extraordinarily interesting from both the scientific and human vantage point. They encompass anecdotes and unique experiences, such as the way the puddles would ice over in February, the huge snowfall in 1962, the punctual arrival of certain animal species, the water that usually flowed down through Sant Climent stream at certain times of year and the way people would hang out on the street on summer nights to enjoy the cooler air. Yet most importantly, both the people who appear in the documentary and those who participated in the survey agreed that it used to be colder in the past.
The documentary ‘Testimonis del Clima’ was presented in the Espai Vilawatt de la Gent. The acting town councillor for Public Space, Jordi Mazón, explained that the Vilawatt Space was the ideal venue because “it hosts deep discussions on energy, and we have to be aware that the more conventional energy we consume, the more greenhouse gas is produced”. The project, in addition to “helping ensure that our climate memory does not fall into oblivion”, also aims to keep working “to become an educational programme for schools”. So, on 23 July, under the framework of the Juga amb energia (Play with energy) event, it will be presented to the city’s summer camps. It will also be presented at another event involving all the primary schools in Viladecans in October.
At the presentation, Mazón also expressed his gratitude to all the people who made the documentary possible, and he mentioned that ‘Testimonis del Clima’ was shown at the European Meteorology Conference held in Budapest last September, where not only was it deemed pioneering, it also inspired other similar initiatives.
The development of this project, just like Vilawatt, the city’s new electrical company that is pioneering the energy and ecological transition nationwide, helps raise new generations’ awareness of the speed at which the Earth is warming and of the urgent need to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions.
Climate change is a global problem that spans an environmental, political, economic and social perspective. The energy revolution to minimise its consequences is in the hands of citizens.
