Erna and Jonas hunt for the invisible dragon in the sky, believing in a green and beautiful society where you should be happy and not own anything in life.
Norwegian political parties have their annual national meetings at the moment, with climate and the environment being high on the agenda for all the parties. At the Conservative Party’s national meeting, there was internal disagreement about whether the Norwegian forest should be included in the CO₂ account, until Erna Solberg put a lid on the matter.
Of course, Erna had her good reasons for leaving this dead. You don’t need to be a climate scientist or CO₂ expert to understand that if the Norwegian forest had been included in the climate accounting, Norway would have been a long way from reaching its climate goals.
Most other EU countries have included forests in the climate accounting. So why doesn’t Norway do this?
Of course, we must be the best in class.
Is it possible to reach the climate goals without including the forest?
The Conservative Party and the Labor Party are competing to have the best climate policy, in good cooperation with the MDGs.
“We will make a living by saving the climate,” says Støre. “More of everything and faster”, is the message. But is it really possible to reach the climate goals without including the forest?
Hardly with CO₂ capture, electrification of the Norwegian continental shelf, battery factories, wind turbines and solar power. This is symbolic politics of the worst kind.
Common to all climate measures is that they have an enormous cost and are pure utopia.
We see this now, with the CO₂ capture plant at Klemetsrud which is already blowing budgets and is marking serious delays. The same applies to wind turbines where the state has to step in and subsidise the wind power barons.
I think ordinary people are fed up with the climate hysteria, but few care or raise critical questions. Yes, because what can you actually do?
Thorstein Opsahl, machine driver and municipal council candidate for Lier FrP. Photo: Private
No difference between Støre and Erna
We Norwegians forget quickly. At the last parliamentary election, the people wanted Støre, i.e. the man who said in all seriousness that we must live by saving the climate. Now it is the Conservative Party that is in great form and is scoring high in the opinion polls.
But will it get any better with Erna, she who refuses to include the Norwegian forest in the climate accounting? Can someone tell me the big difference?
These two prime ministers pursue roughly the same policy, so the difference is probably whether it is a man or a woman who governs Norway. Erna Solberg is concerned with the sustainability goals of the UN, these are of course firmly rooted in the EU.
But dear Erna, do you really believe that we can fight poverty, equalise differences or increase food production if we continue to pursue the current dysfunctional climate policy?
Clinging to their seats
The first thing to start with is to have cheap energy, but Norway does not have cheap energy anymore. After all, Norway has given our hydropower to the EU, so this is starting to look bleak.
Norway had all the prerequisites to succeed, if only we didn’t have politicians who work for the EU, the UN or mingle with the elite in the World Economic Forum. When will Norwegian politicians wake up and understand that Norway cannot solve the climate crisis?
Climate change exists all over the world, but little Norway cannot take on this global challenge alone.
If the climate crisis had been as serious as some in the UN claim, is it conceivable that larger nations such as China and the USA would have been more troubled? China will increase its emissions up to 2030. It may be something to think about if you are a little worried about not reaching the targets in the Paris Agreement.
The world is bigger than little Norway. We don’t need more hysteria about the climate from politicians clinging to their seats to retain their power and prestige.
What we need are politicians who dare to say that they work for the voters and the people, to take care of Norwegian resources in the best possible way. Erna and Jonas instead get to hunt for the invisible dragon in the atmosphere, in the belief of a green and beautiful society where you should be happy and not own anything in life.
The entry was first published in Nettavisen, 14.05.23 and is reproduced with the author’s kind permission.