Nobel Peace Prize nomination for student climate campaigner Greta

Yahoo – AFP, March 14, 2019

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg (centre) has been nominated for
this year's Nobel Peace Prize (AFP Photo/Axel Heimken)

Oslo (AFP) - Greta Thunberg, the Swedish schoolgirl climate campaigner who has inspired worldwide protests, should be awarded this year's Nobel Peace Prize, Norwegian lawmakers said Thursday.

"We have proposed Greta Thunberg because if we do nothing to halt climate change it will be the cause of wars, conflict and refugees," Norwegian Socialist Left MP Freddy Andre Ovstegard told AFP.

"Greta Thunberg has launched a mass movement which I see as a major contribution to peace," he added.

Six months ago no one knew who Thunberg was when, as a 15-year-old, she camped outside Sweden's parliament next to a hand-written sign: "SCHOOL STRIKE FOR CLIMATE."

Since then she has gone global, striking a chord with younger people disillusioned by the slow progress of the adult world in halting climate change.

Three MPs for the opposition Socialist Left nominated Thunberg for the prize before the January 31 deadline, Ovstegard said, meaning her nomination is valid for the 2019 prize which will be announced on October 11.

"It's obviously a great honour and nice to be nominated for such a big prize," she told Swedish daily Aftonbladet. "It feels unreal, and a little strange."

On Friday, thousands of students are expected to demonstrate in more than 100 countries in what activists say could be a milestone moment in a grassroots campaign to push world leaders into doing more.

"We are only seeing the beginning," Thunberg, now 16, tweeted recently.

"I think that change is on the horizon and the people will stand up for their future."

According to the Nobel Institute, 304 individuals and organisations have been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize this year.

The list of nominees is kept secret for at least 50 years, in line with the Nobel Foundation's statutes.

Thousands of people, including lawmakers and cabinet members from around the world, former laureates and some university professors, are entitled to nominate people for the prize.

Photo: Sabine Joosten/ Hollandse Hoogte

Related Article:

Thousands of school pupils take part in second march against climate change

World's biggest sovereign fund to dump oil and gas stocks: Norway

Yahoo – AFP, March 8, 2019

Norway's sovereign wealth fund, fuelled by the state's oil revenues, is divesting
its oil and gas holdings (AFP Photo/HOMMEDAL MARIT)

Oslo (AFP) - Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the world's biggest and which is fuelled by petrodollars, will divest its oil and gas holdings to reduce its exposure to the oil sector, the Norwegian government announced on Friday.

While the decision is based solely on financial considerations and not on the environment or climate change, a divestment by an investor worth more than $1 trillion will undoubtedly be seen as a major blow to polluting fossil fuels.

The government of Norway, the biggest hydrocarbon producer in western Europe, said it would exclude companies classified as exploration and production companies from the fund.

"The objective is to reduce the vulnerability of our common wealth to a permanent oil price decline," Finance Minister Siv Jensen said in a statement.

The decision follows a recommendation made the Scandinavian country's central bank in 2017.

Oil and gas represent almost half of exports of Norway's and 20 percent of the state's revenues.

The revenue from the state-owned oil and gas companies are placed in the sovereign wealth fund -- commonly referred to as the "oil fund" but formally known as the Government Pension Fund Global -- which Oslo then taps to balance its budget.

At the end of 2018, the fund had holdings worth around $37 billion in the oil sector, with significant stakes in Shell, BP, Total and ExxonMobil among others.

The decision "does not reflect any specific view on the oil price, future profitability or sustainability of the petroleum sector. This assessment is thus independent of the government's current petroleum policy, which remains unchanged," the government said.

Related Articles:

"Recalibration of Free Choice"– Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth, 4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical) 8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“… 4 - Energy (again)

The natural resources of the planet are finite and will not support the continuation of what you've been doing. We've been saying this for a decade. Watch for increased science and increased funding for alternate ways of creating electricity (finally). Watch for the very companies who have the most to lose being the ones who fund it. It is the beginning of a full realization that a change of thinking is at hand. You can take things from Gaia that are energy, instead of physical resources. We speak yet; again about geothermal, about tidal, about wind. Again, we plead with you not to over-engineer this. For one of the things that Human Beings do in a technological age is to over-engineer simple things. Look at nuclear - the most over-engineered and expensive steam engine in existence!

Your current ideas of capturing energy from tidal and wave motion don't have to be technical marvels. Think paddle wheel on a pier with waves, which will create energy in both directions [waves coming and going] tied to a generator that can power dozens of neighborhoods, not full cities. Think simple and decentralize the idea of utilities. The same goes for wind and geothermal. Think of utilities for groups of homes in a cluster. You won't have a grid failure if there is no grid. This is the way of the future, and you'll be more inclined to have it sooner than later if you do this, and it won't cost as much…

Water

We've told you that one of the greatest natural resources of the planet, which is going to shift and change and be mysterious to you, is fresh water. It's going to be the next gold, dear ones. So, we have also given you some hints and examples and again we plead: Even before the potentials of running out of it, learn how to desalinate water in real time without heat. It's there, it's doable, and some already have it in the lab. This will create inexpensive fresh water for the planet. 

There is a change of attitude that is starting to occur. Slowly you're starting to see it and the only thing getting in the way of it are those companies with the big money who currently have the old system. That's starting to change as well. For the big money always wants to invest in what it knows is coming next, but it wants to create what is coming next within the framework of what it has "on the shelf." What is on the shelf is oil, coal, dams, and non-renewable resource usage. It hasn't changed much in the last 100 years, has it? Now you will see a change of free choice. You're going to see decisions made in the boardrooms that would have curled the toes of those two generations ago. Now "the worst thing they could do" might become "the best thing they could do." That, dear ones, is a change of free choice concept. When the thinkers of tomorrow see options that were never options before, that is a shift. That was number four.”

THE RELATIONSHIP TO GAIA - April 2010 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)

New Mini Ice Age

"The weather you have today, and all the alarming attributes of it, is a scenario of what was scheduled to happen on Earth anyway. I review again that the weather changes you are seeing prophesied by myself, 21 years ago, are not a surprise. The changes are not caused by the pollutants you put in the air. You call it global warming and that's a nice phrase, and perhaps that will get you to put less pollutants in the air – a very good thing. But what you are seeing in the weather shift today was not caused by Humans putting things into the air. It would have happened anyway in about 300 years."

"We've called this process the water cycle, since it's all about water, not about air. The water is the predominant attribute of Gaia and of the weather cycle you're seeing. More predominant is the temperature of it. The cycle is ice to water and water to ice, and has been repeated on this planet over and over and over. It is not new. It is not exceptional. It is not frightening. But it's a cycle that modern humanity has not seen before, and it's a long cycle that is beyond the life span of a Human Being. Therefore, it tends to be overlooked or not seen at all !"

"In the days of the Lemurians, the water level of the Pacific Ocean was almost 400 feet lower, and that's only 50,000 years ago. [Kryon invites science to check this out – the water level at that time.] That was a water cycle working, and the reason it was lower was due to so much of the water being stored as ice. Today you're going through another water cycle that will eventually lead to cooling. The last one was in the 1400s."

"Science sees that at about 1650. As mentioned, they are so slow there is no remembrance that a Human has of them except in past writings and in the rings of the trees. The time span of the changes is so great that environmental record keeping does not exist in the form that it does today. But you can still look at the rings of the trees and at the striations of the rocks and can generally figure out that a few hundred years ago, you had a mini-ice age. Now you're going to have another one." 

20TH KRYON SUMMER LIGHT CONFERENCE, US (7), June 2-4, 2017 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) (Text version "The State of the Earth")

"....  A mini ice age is coming. "Kryon, isn't that doom for the planet?"  Many have seen the artist's rendering of major earth cities under ice and all of the other things that go very well with science fiction movies. That's simply a painting of someone's doom scenario, not reality based in the history of the cycle. If you want to know what a mini ice age is like, just flash back in history and study what took place in about 1650. That was a mini ice age. Due to the change in the Gulf Stream (the ocean), the river Thames froze in London. Dear ones, it was cold, but it did not doom the planet. That's a mini ice age.

That's what you're facing, and I'll say it again. If you live in a cold climate, heed this advice: It's going to get colder. Get off the grid! Within the next 15 years, find a way of producing electricity independently or in smaller groups. This can be done neighborhood-wide or separately in homes. You're going to need this, dear ones, because the grid as it exists right now all over the world is not prepared for this coming cold, and the grid will fail. That's not doom and gloom, that's just practical, commonly known information. Your electricity infrastructure is delicate, too delicate. Prepare for a cold spell that may last for a couple of decades. That's all it is. Technology is racing forward to allow this. Don't let your politics get in the way of your survival. ..."

"...  This is controversial. The planet can't just "change the water". It does it instead with a "reboot of life in the ocean" using the water cycle. Watch for evidence of this as it occurs, and then remember this channel. This weather cycle is to refresh the life in the ocean so that everyone on the planet will have needed food from the ocean. Gaia does this by itself, has done it before, and it does it for a reason - so it will not stagnate.

Dear ones, indeed, you have put compromising things into the air and the water, but it has not caused this cycle. We have said for a very long time, stop killing the environment! The reason? It's going to kill you, not Gaia. Gaia is spectacularly resilient and will survive anything you do. However, it is you who may not survive if you continue polluting. All this is starting to change with your awareness, and you're starting to see this and move with it. But Humans are not causing the current weather shift. This will be known eventually.

What is happening has happened before, and it's almost like a reboot for the oceans and it carries a lot of dichotomous events. You're going to see reports of a dying ocean, but at the same time you're going to see unusual reports of too many fish and other sea life in places that were supposed to have a decline. You're going to see the life cycle of the ocean itself start to change and reboot.

The chief player in this renewal is a place you would not expect: Antarctica. I want you to watch for magic in Antarctica. It has always been the core of the refreshing of microbes and other kinds of life in your oceans and it's especially active during these mini ice ages. The process will cause currents under the sea to be filled with new life, delivering it to both hemispheres almost like an under-sea conveyor belt. ..."

Dead fish to power Norwegian cruise liners

Yahoo – AFP, November 26, 2018

Leftover dead fish from Norway's large fishing industry will be mixed with other
organic waste to make a liquified biogas to be used instead of heavy fuel oil, said
Hurtigruten, which runs cruises to the Arctic and Antarctica, among other locations.

Norwegian cruise operator Hurtigruten plans to use dead fish to power some of its ships, it said on Monday, as it seeks to reduce its pollution and climate change impact.

Leftover dead fish from Norway's large fishing industry will be mixed with other organic waste to make a liquified biogas to be used instead of heavy fuel oil, said Hurtigruten, which runs cruises to the Arctic and Antarctica, among other locations.

"What others see as a problem, we see as a resource and a solution," the company's chief executive Daniel Skjeldam said.

"By introducing biogas as fuel for cruise ships, Hurtigruten will be the first cruise company to power ships with fossil-free fuel," he added.

The first biogas ship could be ready as soon as the end of next year, according to spokesman Rune Thomas Ege.

The company aims to have six of its 17 ships capable of using a combination of biogas, batteries and liquified natural gas, the cleanest of fossil fuels, by 2021.

Norway, which already has buses that run on biogas, has large fishing and forestry industries which produce vast amounts of organic waste.

The announcement comes as the cruise sector faces heavy criticism for its climate footprint and its impact on air quality.

A large cruise ship powered by highly-polluting heavy fuel oil emits almost as many fine particles daily as one million cars, according to German environmental group Nabu.

On Monday, a French court fined cruise company P&O and its US captain 100,000 euros ($114,000) for knowingly using fuel with excessive sulphur levels, the first such ruling in France.

Norway has a "zero emission" target for cruise ships and ferries navigating its fjords listed as world heritage sites by UNESCO by 2026 at the latest.

Hurtigruten, which aims to become carbon neutral by 2050, has ordered three hybrid battery/diesel vessels which the company said will be "the first cruise ships in the world that will be able to operate completely emission free for periods of time".

The spokesman said that is "and something deemed almost impossible just a few years back".

The first of those three ships should enter into service in May 2019.

Related Articles:

World shipping industry agrees to halve carbon emissions by 2050
Maritime countries agree first ever shipping emissions regulation

Dutch ports to reward environmentally ‘clean’ ships

Shipping to steer cleaner carbon course

Antarctic nations plan tough new shipping controls

Proposal mandates stricter pollution controls for ships

The 16 Ships Create As Much Pollution As All Cars in The World

Faced with global warming, aviation aims to turn green

Yahoo – AFP, Pierre-Henry DESHAYES, April 8, 2018

A computer generated image of the hybrid-electric regional aircraft being developed
by Zunum Aero, a start-up partly financed by US aeronautics group Boeing that could
enter service as soon as in 2022. (AFP Photo)

Oslo (AFP) - Will we someday be able to fly without the guilt of causing environmental damage? A handful of firms and regulators hope that the electric revolution in cars will also take to the skies, helping the industry cope with an expected boom in travel and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

"Many people say that we must get rid of air transport because we will never be able to deal with emissions and noise, but this is an outdated approach," said Norwegian Transport Minister Ketil Solvik-Olsen, who recently hosted an aviation conference in Oslo.

Norway, the largest oil and gas producer in western Europe, is paradoxically a pioneer in the field of electric transport. The Nordic nation aims for all new vehicle registrations to be zero emission by 2025 and launched a first electric ferry in early 2015.

After land and water, the northern kingdom is now turning to the sky with the goal of electrifying all short haul flights in just over 20 years.

"In my mind, there is no doubt: by 2040 Norway will be operating totally electric," said Dag Falk-Petersen, head of the country's public airport operator, Avinor.

Tesla of the skies?

Air transportation's impact on global warming is estimated at around five percent through CO2 emissions and other substances, including nitrogen oxide and water vapour.

As the number of air passengers is expected to almost double by 2036 to 7.8 billion per year, according to the International Air Transport Association's (IATA) projections, aviation's impact is on a course to increase substantially if nothing is done.

Meanwhile, the airline industry aims to cut its CO2 emissions in half by 2050 from 2005 levels.

Zunum Aero hopes that cheaper operating costs will entice airlines to
go electric (AFP Photo)

While the international umbrella group Climate Action Network (CAN) says these goals are unrealistic, some airlines are beginning to look at electric-powered aircraft as an answer.

The small regional carrier Wideroe Airlines, operating in Norway's far north, plans to renew its fleet of twin-engine Bombardier Dash 8 planes with electric-powered aircraft by 2030.

"Aircraft producers see that they have to do it because otherwise there will be a new Tesla taking their positions," said Falk-Petersen, referring to how the upstart US electric car manufacturer has shaken up the traditional automobile industry.

Both of the major manufacturers of large passenger aircraft, Airbus and Boeing, are exploring the viability of electric planes.

Airbus aims to develop a hybrid model called E-Fan X, and has teamed up with British engine maker Rolls Royce and German industrial group Siemens. The first flight is planned for 2020.

"One of the biggest challenges is electricity storage," Glenn Llewellyn, general manager for electrification at Airbus, told AFP.

As with cars, the performance of batteries is a critical element, with the added problem that they are heavier than fuel and carrying them into the air is the most-energy intensive part of the flight.

"But at the same time battery technology is probably the technology in the world which has the most investment. So it will evolve," added Llewellyn.

'Any place in the world'

Zunum Aero, a start-up partly financed by US aeronautics group Boeing, meanwhile plans to bring a 12-seat hybrid plane to the market by 2022.

"The price that we're targeting is very much in line with the current aircraft but the operation cost is just a fraction, it's literally 60 to 70 percent lower than an equivalent aircraft in operation right now," said the startup's founder Matt Knapp.

The expected lower operating costs of electric planes, both due to cheap electricity and simpler motors, means that the highly competitive airline industry could end up adopting them quickly.

Airbus offered several years ago updated aircraft with 15 percent fuel savings, and as jet fuel is a major cost for airlines, they quickly placed orders for thousands as they tried to get ahead of rivals.

The transition to electric could also provide another advantage: they are much quieter, meaning they may win exceptions to restrictions imposed due to noise near residential areas.

Combined with the fact that electric planes don't need such long runways, they could be used at some smaller airports close to city centres.

Avinor said switching to electric would also help airlines avoid any climate change related penalties that regulators could impose, such as higher taxes and flying restrictions.

Norway sees itself as a good test bed for electric planes.

"There are a lot of issues to deal with, with icy conditions, with heavy winds," says Widero CEO Stein Nilsen.

"But if we can do that here in Norway, I'm certain that this air plane will cope with any conditions in any place in the world."

Related Article:

Google guru Page tests flying taxis in New Zealand

'Noah's Ark' seed vault chalks up a million crop varieties

Yahoo – AFP, February 26, 2018

Since opening on February 26, 2008, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault has taken
in more than a million different seed varieties (AFP Photo/Larsen, Hakon Mosvold)

Longyearbyen (AFP) - Norway's 'doomsday' seed bank, which seeks to protect the world's crops from natural disasters, on Monday said it had gathered more than a million varieties as it marked its 10-year anniversary.

Dubbed the "Noah's Ark" of food crops, the Global Seed Vault is located deep inside a mountain on Svalbard, a remote Arctic island in a Norwegian archipelago and has the capacity to store up to 4.5 billion seeds.

Launched in 2008, the Svalbard vault was on Monday marking its 10th anniversary by taking shipments of more than 76,000 seed samples, with depositors from all over the world delivering crops such as black-eyed peas, the Bambara groundnut and the Estonian onion potato.

Although housed in Norway, the seeds belong to the donor states and institutions and they can withdraw them at their convenience.

The delivery raises to 1,059,646 the overall number of unique crop varieties deposited in the so-called "doomsday vault" since it opened on February 26, 2008 with the aim of providing a "fail-safe seed storage facility, built to stand the test of time and the challenge of natural or man-made disasters."

"I am extremely happy to announce that more than one million seeds will pass through this door to be secured forever," said Norway's Agriculture Minister Jon Georg Dale.

The vault currently has 967,216 varities as some Syrian grains were withdrawn with the aim of re-introducing local strains after the fighting in Aleppo ended.

There are 1,700 gene banks around the world that safeguard collections of food crops and many of these are exposed to natural disasters and wars, according to the independent Global Crop Diversity Trust.

Located 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) from the North Pole, the Svalbard archipelago, which is twice the size of Belgium, counts 2,300 inhabitants and is considered the ideal place for the vault due to its remoteness, far from civil strife.

"Noah's Ark" seed vault, located deep inside a mountain on Svalbard, chalks up a million crop varieties https://t.co/d9W5RmE1px pic.twitter.com/FXAbqwbwLj

— AFP news agency (@AFP) February 27, 2018

Norway solar firm signs 2.5 bn-euro deal with Iran

Yahoo – AFP, Eric Randolph, POctober 17, 2017

Norway's Saga Energy will work with Iran's Amin Energy Developers to install two
gigawatts of solar panels around the central desert region (AFP Photo/
CHANDAN KHANNA)

Tehran (AFP) - Just days after US President Donald Trump called for further isolation of Iran, a Norwegian solar company signed a deal Tuesday to invest 2.5 billion euros in the country over the next five years.

"Norway is fully committed to the JCPOA (nuclear deal) and this is proof that we have taken the opening very seriously, and we will see more investment very soon," Norwegian ambassador Lars Nordrum told AFP.

He was hosting the signing at his Tehran residence between Norway's Saga Energy and Iran's Amin Energy Developers, who will work together to install two gigawatts of solar panels in multiple sites around the central desert region.

That makes it the second-largest investment deal in Iran since the 2015 nuclear deal eased global sanctions, and dwarfs the 600 megawatt solar project finalised just last month between Iran and British investment fund Quercus.

The timing was coincidental, but comes just days after Trump's bellicose speech in which he called for further sanctions on Iran.

It underlines the challenge Washington hardliners will face in trying to convince Europeans, who have remained firmly behind the nuclear deal, to abandon their burgeoning ties with the Islamic republic.

The Norwegian project is being financed by a consortium of European private and state investors, and backed by a sovereign guarantee from the Iranian government.

"I'd like to thank Norway, which has always been one of the best friends to Iran, for this exciting opportunity," said Saeid Zakeri, head of international affairs for Amin.

Business risk

European and Asian businesses have shown great interest in tapping into Iran's relatively wealthy and largely untouched market of 80 million people.

But continuing US sanctions on Iran, and Trump's aggressive rhetoric, have bred a crippling uncertainty that mean many investment plans are stuck on the drawing board.

There have been a few big deals, most notably France's Total, which signed a $5 billion gas deal in June alongside China's CNPC.

A few other major firms such as Siemens, Renault and Peugeot have extensive investments.

Solar projects are particularly important for Iran, which has severe pollution problems, as well as facing existential environmental threats from desertification and warming temperatures.

"We expect there to be some business risk in the Middle East, and Europe stands united in its support of the JCPOA," said Nordrum.

"This is a great win because Iran really needs renewables and this is a new sector for us," he added.

Saga is a young company, formed by former oil and gas project managers and engineers who shifted into the renewables sector after traditional energy markets were badly hit by falling prices.

A partnership with Taiwan's Delta Electronics, a major player in the solar sector, has helped them mobilise large amounts of capital from Europe.

"We are a small company with mighty partners," said Saga's development manager Gaute Steinkopf at the signing.

"We hope to build a factory in Iran to build the panels so that we are also generating jobs here," he added.

The tough climatic conditions in Iran offer a chance for research as well as business.

"To withstand the heat here, you need very good panels. This is the huge challenge," said Saga director Rune Haaland.

"We want to learn more about this, and we're hoping to establish a relationship between a university here and in Norway," he said.