FRP-top welcomes the heat wave

– Unfortunately, this is not a happy thing, says Kari Elisabeth Kaski (SV) about the heat wave in Finnmark.

Although she has been elected to the Storting for Oslo, she is concerned about several heat records in her old home county, as Dagbladet has reported in recent days.

Or rather: She is worried about the climate crisis she sees the heat wave as a result of.

As Dagbladet has written, experts see the heat wave in Northern Europe in connection with it even more intense are called in North America. This one has cost 95 lives bare i Oregon.

Under the Finnmark heat

– I treat the Finnmark people good weather and a hot summer, but they live in a place that is not made to withstand such hot summers, Kaski says to Dagbladet.

– What does Finnmark not tolerate?

– What we see is that it particularly affects the Barents Sea, where species that do not live so far north gain a foothold, and displace other species, she says.

Kaski mentions cod as one of the species that is struggling to adapt.

She believes the government is going in the completely wrong direction:

– This is happening at the same time as the government has granted new permits for exploration on the Norwegian shelf, and the development of a new oil field in the North Sea. The heat wave underlines the urgency of cutting greenhouse gas emissions, and diverting us away from fossil energy, says Kaski, who will cut 70 percent by 2030.

Stick to Kaski

When Dagbladet asks if she personally sees any bright sides in that it is so hot in the north, she says that she is in Oslo.

This provokes the following sour remark from her parliamentary colleague Bengt Rune Strifeldt (Progress Party), who has been elected for Finnmark:

– I think it is a bit special that Kaski is in Oslo and is worried about the weather in Finnmark.

Strifeldt sees the heat wave from a completely different angle – both politically and not least geographically: When Dagbladet calls him, he is traveling from Alta to Mehamn and Gamvik.

– I think most people here warmly welcome this, says Strifeldt.

FrP: Appreciates the heat

He is in doubt about Kaski’s crisis description.

– Now there have been climate changes over the decades, and there are perhaps several different reasons. Some may be man-made, but other things may be something else that leads to, he says, but admits that the cod has moved north.

– Do you think there is a connection between that and the climate crisis?

– I do not know if it is due to the climate crisis, but that there are climate changes, I can agree, he says.

Before concluding the interview, he makes the following clear:

– I really appreciate the heat.

Heat wave in Finnmark attracts attention

– Melting away

Farid Shariati also admits that he does. There is otherwise a tremendous political distance between Strifeldt and Shariati, who are the Green Party’s Green Party (MDG)’s first candidate in Finnmark in the parliamentary elections this autumn.

While Strifeldt will continue to invest in oil, both due to jobs and as a key factor in developing new and green technology, Fariati will set an end date for recovery.

– I’m melting away here, Shariati says when Dagbladet calls him at home in Vadsø.

As he talks, he looks around the house for a place to seek shelter from the heat.

– I try to find a place that is cool enough, but I almost have to go out to sea to get a little breeze, he sighs.

– Unacceptable

Although he admits that it is nice to wear shorts, Shariati believes that the heat wave is a danger signal for Finnmark. He has no doubt that the heat wave now, and the drought just three years ago, is due to climate change.

– We have finished discussing whether the earth is flat or round, he says, and adds that the government also believes that the climate crisis is man-made.

– Then it is unacceptable that Norway in the last 30 years has hardly done anything to reduce climate emissions, he says.

According to Shariati, no other county as hard as Finnmark is affected by climate change.

– Must wind up Melkøya

– Instead of reducing emissions, activity in the oil and gas industry is increased, and new exploration areas are approved. What the government must do is set up an oil commission and set an end date for how we will adjust to the oil age, says Shariati.

– But what about the jobs in oil, for example in Hammerfest?

– To take care of the jobs, we must have a plan for what they will do after the oil age, says Shariati.

According to him, the MDGs are the only party that has proposed such a plan.

– On Melkøya in Hammerfest, one must start winding down according to a time-limited plan, he says – and absolutely believes that the chance is there for this message to get him into the Storting.

– Too much glue

Shariati nevertheless admits that the reactions are mixed among people, when he draws the line between the heat wave and the climate crisis.

– After a hard winter, many feel that it is “so nice with a little warmth”, he explains, and says that it is something he understands.

Minister of Climate and Environmental Protection Sveinung Rotevatn (V) also likes the heat.

For him, the problem is what comes with it. When he talks to Dagbladet, he is in Troms. Before that he was three days in Finnmark.

– It is very hot, unusually hot in this part of the country, he says.

– Do you enjoy it?

– I have nothing against the heat, but it comes with a lot of insects and glue. But the problem is not my well-being, but that the ecosystem is struggling to adapt, he says.

Fight against “spout and run”

When he hears what Kari Elisabeth Kaski and Farid Shariati have said about too little action from the government, the answer is already clear.

– I would say that, firstly, we have tightened oil policy, and there has been a halt to expansions into Lofoten, Vesterålen, Senja, Skagerrak, the Møre field, Jan Mayen and the ice edge zone, he says.

The latter is located north of the Barents Sea, and has been a hot topic in the oil debate.

– Significant areas have been protected here, but for me in the Liberal Party, who would like an even more restrictive oil policy, we face the challenge that SV and MDG will also face, in the form of an overwhelming majority in the Storting who want to spout , says Rotevatn.

New plug for Kaski

Finally, he adds a sting to Kaski and Shariati, who after the election may have to cooperate with the Center Party:

– I am not among those who believe that the solution to this is to get Ola Borten Moe (Center Party, former Minister of Petroleum and Energy) back in government, says Sveinung Rotevatn.

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