Bruno Rinvolucri

This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. As the arctic warms four times faster than the global average, Europe’s only indigenous population is under threat. For centuries, the Sámi people have herded reindeer throughout northern Europe. Now, warmer winters are turning the snow the reindeer dig through to find food into ice, blocking their only source of sustenance. In the last two years, 10,000 reindeer died.

Until 2006, what is now Gillett square was a car park in the centre of Dalston. Just over a decade later, it’s one of London’s most celebrated public spaces. Over those 11 years, the square’s inhabitants have become a loving, dysfunctional family. Without meaning to, they’ve created an exemplar of what civic life can be. Now though, the chemistry that makes the square what it is may be threatened by development.