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December 19th:
Leave Göteborg 2.30 pm, reach Rättvik 11 pm after a two-hour train delay. People from Greenpeace pick me up and I spend the night with them. I much appreciate Greenpeace working with boreal forest issues again after prioritizing other things for many years.
December 20th:
Slightly above freezing, overcast. We drive out to the forest, the Greenpeace people put up a banner, people from various other organizations and a reporter show up. We also put up a huge army tent. The Greenpeace people film their banner and the camp with a fancy drone camera, which I admit does result in good photos. I and a couple of others stay behind and sleep there. My inflatable sleeping pad slowly leaks out all its air, possibly because of the cold? Who knows. I am cold with only one non-inflatable one. Brr.
December 21st:
Some clouds, some sun, colder. We drive to check out another threatened forest in the area; no harvesters in sight. We almost collide head-on with a timber truck on the narrow road, both vehicles skidding to a stop with two meters to spare. The driver is rude, which, fuck him. He's in the larger vehicle. We obtain more sleeping pads for me, then the others leave and I am alone. The sun sets at 3 pm. I try and fail to light the weird army stove which you feed with firewood from a narrow slot on top--how are you supposed to set up the tinder etc?? After that my day is pretty much: ski around for a while to get warm, sit and read, eat something, get cold. Repeat as needed. I daydream about the thick winter boots with removable thermal inner boots that I borrow when dogsledding. Must obtain a pair. With the new sleeping pads I am very comfy at night though; I love my winter sleeping bag. Also, I have a tradition of sleeping outdoors on the winter solstice, so this is perfect! I sleep from 9 pm to 9 am.
December 22nd:
Cold and sunny, windless, beautiful sunrise at 9 am. Obvious that cellphone coverage correlates with cloud cover; there is just enough to send text messages when it's overcast, not so much when it's sunny. Probably the waves bounce on the clouds? I check out the threatened forest, though the terrain is rugged and hard to navigate in the snow. Snowshoes would be good, skis not much use. A forest company guy comes by to discuss, we obviously disagree but we are jovial at each other. Anyway he's their nature conservation specialist and not the one deciding when the logging starts. At 7 pm a friend of mine arrives (together with a local guy) and it's good to see her! Not because I'm lonely but because I haven't seen her in a while. We drive around to check another entrance road to the other threatened forest. Road is not plowed, so no danger there. There is no moon and the stars are gorgeous!
December 23rd:
My friend, who is taking over the forest watch, drives me to Rättvik and I spend the next seven hours on the train to get back to Göteborg. Would stay longer, but family Christmas.
Leave Göteborg 2.30 pm, reach Rättvik 11 pm after a two-hour train delay. People from Greenpeace pick me up and I spend the night with them. I much appreciate Greenpeace working with boreal forest issues again after prioritizing other things for many years.
December 20th:
Slightly above freezing, overcast. We drive out to the forest, the Greenpeace people put up a banner, people from various other organizations and a reporter show up. We also put up a huge army tent. The Greenpeace people film their banner and the camp with a fancy drone camera, which I admit does result in good photos. I and a couple of others stay behind and sleep there. My inflatable sleeping pad slowly leaks out all its air, possibly because of the cold? Who knows. I am cold with only one non-inflatable one. Brr.
December 21st:
Some clouds, some sun, colder. We drive to check out another threatened forest in the area; no harvesters in sight. We almost collide head-on with a timber truck on the narrow road, both vehicles skidding to a stop with two meters to spare. The driver is rude, which, fuck him. He's in the larger vehicle. We obtain more sleeping pads for me, then the others leave and I am alone. The sun sets at 3 pm. I try and fail to light the weird army stove which you feed with firewood from a narrow slot on top--how are you supposed to set up the tinder etc?? After that my day is pretty much: ski around for a while to get warm, sit and read, eat something, get cold. Repeat as needed. I daydream about the thick winter boots with removable thermal inner boots that I borrow when dogsledding. Must obtain a pair. With the new sleeping pads I am very comfy at night though; I love my winter sleeping bag. Also, I have a tradition of sleeping outdoors on the winter solstice, so this is perfect! I sleep from 9 pm to 9 am.
December 22nd:
Cold and sunny, windless, beautiful sunrise at 9 am. Obvious that cellphone coverage correlates with cloud cover; there is just enough to send text messages when it's overcast, not so much when it's sunny. Probably the waves bounce on the clouds? I check out the threatened forest, though the terrain is rugged and hard to navigate in the snow. Snowshoes would be good, skis not much use. A forest company guy comes by to discuss, we obviously disagree but we are jovial at each other. Anyway he's their nature conservation specialist and not the one deciding when the logging starts. At 7 pm a friend of mine arrives (together with a local guy) and it's good to see her! Not because I'm lonely but because I haven't seen her in a while. We drive around to check another entrance road to the other threatened forest. Road is not plowed, so no danger there. There is no moon and the stars are gorgeous!
December 23rd:
My friend, who is taking over the forest watch, drives me to Rättvik and I spend the next seven hours on the train to get back to Göteborg. Would stay longer, but family Christmas.
