Changing Climates, Changing Times

Can fiction overcome the reality of global warming?

Year 2075. Climate predictions made at the beginning of the 21st century have turned out to be dramatically true: global warming of the Earth's atmosphere now has serious consequences on the every day lives of our grandchildren.

Julia, in her forties, is fighting desperately to keep her family¹s vineyard alive, a sorry shadow of the domain it used to be. Years of hard work, trying to adapt the vines to these changes, have only delayed the unavoidable and heartbreaking choices she will be forced make. Lucas, her grandfather, born in a blessed time when France was still part of a temperate climate zone, is the only lasting memory of this land as it used to be, this land which she can¹t resign herself to abandon. Surprisingly, the many challenges she faces, once again, will only seem to strengthen her resolve, and her attachment to the place where she was born.

Idri is also deeply rooted in the land of his ancestors, but the terrible drought that has been hitting his village in the south of the Sahara feels like it will never end. This determined African teenager can see no alternative but to leave his family and risk everything to make it to the North. With his older friend Faouzi, he will survive crossing the terrible Sahara desert, and reach the Mediterranean sea, only to be confronted to one last challenge. Indeed, all the African would-be immigrants who get here are regrouped in a huge "selection centre" that will decide, definitively, their admission to the European Eldorados or not. Ultimately, only Idri, though younger and weaker, will pass the test, and then make it all the way to Julia's domain. Where a long-awaited rainfall will seal a lasting solidarity between these victims of climate changes.

Niels is a young German biologist who jumps on the first opportunity he finds to travel to Canada and meet his youth idol, Grace Lajoie, a monument in the field of natural sciences. Disgusted by the disappearance of so much of the Earth¹s bio-diversity, and after years of fighting humanity's indifference, she now lives like an old recluse, cynical and bitter. Whereas Niels's hopeful enthusiasm has little effect on her, the sudden news of what could be the last living polar bear will rekindle the old woman's life passion. Braving danger, they will travel North together to what little unstable icefield there remains, to meet this mythical animal. Where Grace's sacrifice might finally help to save its precious life, and that of others.

Lotte, Niels's wife, pregnant of their future child, is a brilliant lawyer fighting with Environmental NGOs to forward the adoption of an International Charter of Protection of the Earth. She will find herself dramatically threatened by one of these recurring floods that now affect the northern part of Europe every year, a startling contrast with the gradual desertification witnessed in the south. Fortunately, she and her baby will survive to see the cause she pleaded make legal history. A strong message of hope for the future of Lotte, Niels, and their newborn child.

Each of these stories will evolve in parallel and interact with the others. They will strongly illustrate the probable consequences of this global warming of which we are already feeling the forewarning signals.

Pariscience 2008
: Sunday 12th October 2008 from 18h30 to 20h30