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'Threshold Podcast' — Season 2, Episode 6: 'The Things I Can See on the Mountains'

October 31, 2018 | Threshold Podcast
By
Amy Martin
Reiulf Aleksandersen and two of his children, Sara Katrine and Ulf Isak. Image by Amy Martin. Norway, 2017.

Reiulf Aleksandersen and two of his children, Sara Katrine and Ulf Isak. Image by Amy Martin. Norway, 2017.

Sara Katrine Aleksandersen pounds a fence post. Image by Amy Martin. Norway, 2017.

Sara Katrine Aleksandersen pounds a fence post. Image by Amy Martin. Norway, 2017.

Reiulf Aleksandersen and his son Ulf Isak. Image by Amy Martin. Norway, 2017.

Reiulf Aleksandersen and his son Ulf Isak. Image by Amy Martin. Norway, 2017.

The Aleksandersen family’s reindeer herding land. Image by Amy Martin. Norway, 2017.

The Aleksandersen family’s reindeer herding land. Image by Amy Martin. Norway, 2017.

Sara Katrine and Reiulf Aleksandersen work together to make a place where they can gather their reindeer herd. Image by Amy Martin. Norway, 2017.

Sara Katrine and Reiulf Aleksandersen work together to make a place where they can gather their reindeer herd. Image by Amy Martin. Norway, 2017.

Risten Aleksandersen. Image courtesy of the Aleksandersen family. Norway, 2017.

Risten Aleksandersen. Image courtesy of the Aleksandersen family. Norway, 2017.

Children in Sámi reindeer herding families are given knives and taught how to use them. Younger children get knives with shorter blades. Image by Amy Martin. Norway, 2017.

Children in Sámi reindeer herding families are given knives and taught how to use them. Younger children get knives with shorter blades. Image by Amy Martin. Norway, 2017.

As they get older and learn how to use their knives for different tasks, the children are given knives with longer blades. Image by Amy Martin. Norway, 2017.

As they get older and learn how to use their knives for different tasks, the children are given knives with longer blades. Image by Amy Martin. Norway, 2017.

Reindeer herding. Image courtesy of the Aleksandersen family. Norway, 2017.

Reindeer herding. Image courtesy of the Aleksandersen family. Norway, 2017.

“I think everything we do with the reindeer, and in the reindeer herding life is special… That is something I want to take care of.” —Sara Katrine Aleksandersen, 16. Image by Amy Martin. Norway, 2017.

“I think everything we do with the reindeer, and in the reindeer herding life is special… That is something I want to take care of.” —Sara Katrine Aleksandersen, 16. Image by Amy Martin. Norway, 2017.

Ulf Isak Aleksandersen is 10 years old, and speaks three languages: Norwegian, Sámi and English. Image by Amy Martin. Norway, 2017.

Ulf Isak Aleksandersen is 10 years old, and speaks three languages: Norwegian, Sámi and English. Image by Amy Martin. Norway, 2017.

After thousands of years of tradition, a shifting climate is forcing changes in the way Sámi families herd reindeer. But some climate solutions are also threatening their way of life. This is the story of the Aleksandersens, a Sámi reindeer herding family in northern Norway. 

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When Project Nordlicht is complete, it will have 67 turbines, supplying 281 megawatts of power. It will be one of the largest on-shore wind energy projects in Europe, and it’s located right on top of the land used the Aleksandersens, a Sámi reindeer herding family in Norway.