One day,

men in ties came

to a fisherman’s village.

A little village it was.

On a windy island.

In a snowy land.

The men said

they would bring money.

Loads of it.

If only

they could drill the seas for oil.

Yeah sure

the fish would get hurt

but the money would solve that.

Many were tempted.

The fisherman did not like it.

“Fish," he said softly, aloud, "I'll stay with you until I am dead.”

(free, after a paragraph in Old Man and the Sea)

ALL IMAGES WERE TAKEN IN NORWAY: ANDENES AND BLEIK (VESTERÄLEN), KABELVÅG (LOFOTEN), HAMMERFEST

We depend heavily on fossil fuels, of which the burning is, that is a fact, responsible for 80 percent of the CO2 emissions. Billions of revenues out of fossil fuels are still in the ground, on and offshore and if we want to slow down the sixth extinction process or more euphemistically ‘climate change’, then it should stay that way. Science knows, if we do not succeed, we face a 2 degree rise in global temperature and an exponential Armageddon: frequent floods, water wars, millions of refugees, extreme poverty and deaths on a massive scale. Big Oil, that knows about climate change and their own destructive impact on the planet since the seventies of the previous century, did not act upon it. On the contrary, production since the seventies rose sky-high. The pressure of Big Oil and interested parties on governments and politicians is tremendous now, to dig out all they possibly can in the 30 years to come. Since, in 2050 the whole world should be clear of fossil fuels as an energy source.

Bjornar Nicholaisen is 65 years old. He learned 10 years ago that Statoil, the Norwegian state oil company, wanted to drill the coasts of Lofoten, Vesterälen and Senja for oil and gas. Statoil estimated that there are some 13 billion euros of oil and gas revenues in the sea ground there. It would be a terrible waste, they claimed, for the pension reserves, for Statoil -now called Equinor- and for the region’s employment, to let it go to waste.

Bjornar, a sturdy fellow, not one for big drama, got upset. This location is the only one along the Norwegian shores of the Northern and Norwegian Sea that has not been exploited yet by the oil company. Because of the cod breading places, because of the shallow rifs. With all his energy, the support of his wife and his own money he began to rumble and talk about it, he played the media and did his own little thing. Gradually his actions became noticed, many people chipped in, especially young people. It became a movement, ngo’s took over and in April 2019, the biggest political party in Norway, the Labour Party, traditionally an ally of the oil business because of job promises, decided after many years of fighting this, to change camps: in practice they pledged to permanently keep Lofoten, Vesterälen and Senja oil-free. Great outcome, thanks to one man’s guts.