Gunnar Garfors - Selected Title Author

What inspired you to write this book?

Wildfires, floods, heatwaves, storms, and extreme rainfall are no longer exceptions, but part of the new normal we must contend with, no matter where we are. For years now, week after week, we have been bombarded with reports, research findings, and articles describing or warning against the effects of global warming. One all but drowns out the next, and most of these doomsday warnings come from us in the West – we who “always know best.” After years of travel and visits to every country in the world, I have realized time and again that we are not always right, that we don’t always act most optimally, and that we aren’t actually superior to other cultures in any respect. This was one of the reasons I decided to continue globetrotting – this time to speak with ordinary people who have extraordinary experiences and stories. I sought the perspectives of non-scientists on the ground, in the rivers, and at sea. Because of the pandemic, with its travel restrictions and other logistical challenges, the entire endeavor took significantly longer than I had anticipated; nearly a decade passed from the initial idea to publication.

Who is this book for?

This is a travelogue focusing on climate change, and I hope to make both travel enthusiasts and climate-minded readers pause to think before they go on their next trip – for several reasons. First of all, the climate crisis doesn’t affect everyone equally. Here in Norway, we can afford to buy our way out of the worst of its consequences. That isn’t the case for Indigenous peoples in the Congolese rainforest or for nomads on the Siberian tundra. This is deeply unjust, since no other country on earth has higher climate emissions per inhabitant than Norway*. Moreover, it is far too easy to simply observe when we travel – rather than seek out participation and local knowledge. The people who live in a place, who come from it, are the true experts on their own land. Dialogue builds bridges and offers insider insight into local cultures and conditions. Of course, it’s nice when lots of people “like” the vacation pictures we post on social media. But what, in the end, is the point of traveling if we don’t take part in what is happening wherever we are? If we don’t do that, we miss out on dialogue across borders, and we are left with less knowledge, less understanding, less democracy, and less freedom of expression.

*
Norway has the highest emissions per capita when we include the emissions related to the oil we pump up from the North Sea. However, these emissions are not counted as part of Norway’s emissions because (a) the oil is extracted from the continental shelf, which is not considered part of Norway, and (b) the emissions from the oil we sell abroad are counted in the countries where the oil is used. The calculation comes from my book Elsewhere (Ingenstad), published in 2019, which is cited as a source in Between the Lines (Mellom linjene).

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See full presentation of the book here here

Read more about the author here here

See all NORLA’s Selected Titles for the autumn 2025 here