FryslânDOK on Bosk now showing

‘No en Dan’ (Now and Then) is a three-part FryslânDOK series by Omrop Fryslân about the future and what we as humans can make of it. Last summer, Arcadia kept asking one question across Fryslân: what kind of world do we want to leave behind for our grandchildren?

In his book ‘The Good Ancestor’, Australian philosopher Roman Krznaric issues a single call to action: make sure you’re a good ancestor in every decision and every action you take. Krznaric was a source of inspiration for Arcadia.

But the Ministry of the Future, a national movement founded by Klaas Sietse Spoelstra, also wants to mobilise everyone to think and talk about the big questions of the coming decades.

According to Bruno Doedens, creator of the walking ‘forest’ through Leeuwarden, humankind is behaving like a teenager. It’s high time we tidied our room and grew up, he says. With his forest, Doedens doesn’t just want to get the trees moving, but above all the people. Institutions such as the city council and the courts are being encouraged to give nature a voice in decision-making.

‘No en Dan’ opens with a fiery poem by Frisian writer and activist Aggie van der Meer (95).

She rails against apathetic people, who would rather stand in line for hours at Schiphol than make an effort for their own surroundings. She wonders how people can let themselves be guided by ‘the great misunderstanding’ that they don’t need to be one with the earth.

Watch part 1 again here.

The next two parts will air over the coming two weekends on NPO and Omrop Fryslân, and of course online.