In Duty / Karolina Baranowska

(Poland) Short Film
 
On April 19, 2020, one of the largest fires in modern Polish history occurred. What is worse, it took place in the largest Polish National Park - Biebrza National Park. It took 7 days to extinguish the fire, during which 5,500 thousand hectares were burnt. The fire was extinguished by a total of 1,540 people and took 11,300 hours. The employees of the Park played an important role in extinguishing the fire, as they acted as guides in the difficult terrain for other services, and actively extinguished the fire themselves every day during the day and night. "We felt like our home was on fire," said the employees. "Swamps burned - areas that should have been wet." According to the workers, the scale of the fire was caused by the progressing climate crisis - they had been observing drought and low water levels in the swamps for several years. In Duty tells their story about their work and the fire.
 
Action: Volunteer with NYC Parks or parks near you to maintain and take care of local urban greenspace. https://www.nycgovparks.org/events/volunteer
 
Bio: Karolina Baranowska is a Sociologist, anthropologist, director of documentary films - a graduate of the Wajda School in Warsaw and Inter-Faculty Individual Studies in the Humanities at the Jagiellonian University.