Today, at 18.14 people all over the world are invited to show their solidarity with the Norwegian climate lawsuit. We light a candle at 18.14 to symbolise the Norwegian Constitution that was written in 1814. We believe that Norway is breaking article 112 in the Constitution that states;
‘Every person has the right to an environment that is conducive to health and to a natural environment whose productivity and diversity are maintained. Natural resources shall be managed on the basis of comprehensive long-term considerations which will safeguard this right for future generations as well. The authorities of the state shall take measures for the implementation of these principles’.
Norway has opened up for oil drilling in the Arctic. The burning of this oil will cause more climate change that WILL NOT help future and living generations to a safe and sustainable climate. If you agree, you are hereby invited to show your solidarity. Light a candle at home, use the #klimasøksmål and #peoplevsarcticoil and follow the lawsuit in Supreme Court from tomorrow via Klimasøksmål Arktis Facebook.
How Big Oil won access to the South-East Barents Sea on false economical promises
"...the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy asked the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate to remove the information that oil drilling could become unprofitable from the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate’s annual resource report for 2013 and asked the Directorate to withhold any reference to it from Parliament while they were considering opening the area." (see the full article here on Greenpeace website)
This is how powerful the Norwegian oil lobby is. Absolutely atrocious. It puts all our green initiatives to shame.
Hopefully with the climate court case, which is now coming up in the Supreme Court in less than two weeks, will we see that the government must be held accountable for their complete lack of environmental concern. The time period of Big Oil is over.
Picture borrowed from Greenpeace. Follow the climate court case via their Facebook page.
Two happy climate news!
Two amazing and wonderful things for the climate and the environment has happened these past two days so this is a celebratory post in honour of Earth day 2020, the 50th year anniversary of Earth Day!
First - yesterday the Norwegian court agreed to take the climate court case I used to work for to the Supreme Court in Norway! This is rare and it’s an extraordinary opportunity to finally make oil policies that is in line with what our common world needs.
The second great news is that XR Sør has collected 300 signatures from residents in Kristiansand (myself included) to ask the commune to declare ecological and climate crisis!
And all this on the yearly Earth Day! Now more than ever we need good climate and environment news! I celebrate this with a close up of my samoyed Kit!
Kit, celebrating nature every day.
Norsk oljepolitikk er skumlere enn Halloween
Illustrasjonsbilde av #Halloween gresskar fordi oljepolitikken Norge fører nå er virkelig skummel. Som klima- og miljøengasjert er det to saker du bør sette deg inn i nå; den første er at #trænarevet trues nå av at oljeselskapet @wintershalldea planlegger å prøvebore her, og hva som er verre er at «klima- og miljøministeren» vår Ola Elvestuen, har gitt grønt lys til dette!
Dagen etter kom nyheten om at oljeutslipp utenfor Lofoten, Vesterålen og Senja vil endre økosystemet i Norskehavet og Barentshavet permanent (NRK) Den andre saken som begynner snart, 5.november, er andre runde med #klimasøksmål fordi oljeboringen i Barentshavet bryter med Norges grunnlov på punktet om at nålevende og fremtidige generasjoner har rett til et levelig klima. Det blir veldig vanskelig å love fremtidige generasjoner dette mens vi fortsatt leter etter og henter opp rekordmye olje.
Denne regjeringen har delt ut flere tillatelser til olje enn noen tidligere regjering, og det er en grusomt skummel rekord å ha i den tiden vi lever i nå. Tiden vi lever i nå er tiden med #skolestreikforklimaet og @fridaysforfuture og @klimasoksmal ikke tiden der man tviholder på fossile energikilder som eskalerer klimakrisen.
Så; les deg opp, engasjer deg, finn ut om det er noe du kan delta på der du bor og del dette videre med de du går på skole med eller der du jobber og på de sosiale mediene du bruker. For dette er det skumleste som skjer i Norge på klima og miljøfronten akkurat nå og det går ikke an å sitte stille og se på! 📣🔥🌍Jeg deler forøvrig flere og oftere klima og miljønyheter på Twitter på @charlottesynnve på Twitter.
Norway's first climate lawsuit!
Something historical will happen this following week. On Tuesday the 14th of November, in Oslo District Court, the climate article 112 will be tested for the first time ever. The article reads:
'Every person has the right to an environment that is conducive to health and to a natural environment whose productivity and diversity are maintained. Natural resources shall be managed on the basis of comprehensive long-term considerations which will safeguard this right for future generations as well. The authorities of the state shall take measures for the implementation of these principles'.
This is a brilliant article because it says that the state is responsible for a liveable environment, not just for us, but also for future generations. This means that the actions we make today must be morally just towards the environment because it will affect the environment of the future.
I believe, and so does the wonderful workplace that I am proud to call my job - Greenpeace, that drilling for more oil, and especially in the Arctic, is not in agreement with this article. We believe that it violates this article, and when the Norwegian government handed out new oil licences for oil drilling in the Arctic, against all environmental advices, that this would not be in the best interests of a liveable climate for the future.
I first wrote about this lawsuit over a year ago, which you can read here, before I even worked in Greenpeace, because I as a global citizen care about and feel deeply committed to global climate justice and belive in the slogan that 'what happens in the Arctic doesn't stay in the Arctic' - meaning that the oil and gas that is extracted from the Norwegian continental shelf will, when burned somewhere else, further escalate global warming.
In two days it is finally happening. At 09.00 in Oslo District Court we will meet the states representatives and lay forward our best arguments. I hope with all my heart that we are heard and understood. If we were to win this case, it would set a global precedence. Literally, the world is looking towards Oslo these next two weeks. Here, you can read about it in Al Jazeera.
There will be a myriad of cultural and other events linked to the lawsuit, that you can attend here, if you are in Oslo. Otherwise, for the best coverage, if you want to follow the court case, I would encourage you to follow Greenpeace Norge on both Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and even Snapchat. Also, follow Klimasøksmål Arktis on Facebook. It will be press coverage in both Norwegian and English. For purely English content, I would recommend following Save The Arctic on Facebook and Greenpeace International. Also, I will do my best to update on social media as well, so find me at The Climate School on Instagram.
I am so very exited about these two upcoming weeks and I know that there is massive global support to this case. Over 400 000 people have signed up at Save The Arctic to add their names as witness statements. At the same time as this historical lawsuit is taking place in Oslo, there is the COP happening in Bonn, where Norway advocates for ways for create a better climate for the future. By looking towards ourselves first, we could make a significant impact in bettering the climate conditions by being the example that the world so sorely needs. Thank you to everyone that helps bring this message forward in the coming two weeks.